Silent Retreat and Week of Homilies

(pictures of the retreat house)

Grace and Peace to you and your loved ones!

My friends, God is good to us, more so than we deserve. Last week, I was priviledged to spend a week in Silent retreat at a Jesuit retreat house in Dronghen. The Grounds were beautiful and the time was so necessary to come to terms with the new life that I am living. I realize that nothing is familiar to me here except my faith, and the foundational relationship with Jesus Christ is all that remains when the other externals are stripped away. I thank you all for your prayers, because even in the midst of such turmoil and change, the Lord has been a constant presence to me here. I must mention also, the effects of your rosaries and mass intentions: Mary has long been my mother, and she, through the mercy and grace of God, has been comforting me during this time of transition. I know, in the depth of my heart, that the Lord will not abandon me, or any of us for that matter. Thanks be to God for His generosity!

In addition to the retreat, we were graced this week to have a homiletics workshop with Fr. Jim Wallace, C.S.S.r. His talks were excellent and I had the opportunity to write my first homily! I hope to be able to continue learning techniques for crafting better sermons and, through prayer and study, grow in deeper awareness of God's mystery.

(picture: a path at Dronghen, metaphor for spiritual journey)


We begin classes on Tuesday! I can hardly wait to get started. God continues to confound me and bless me more than I deserve. According to my study program, I could potentially be finished with my bachelors in one-and a half years! This is a civil degree, but it pairs up with the cannonical degree of S.T.B, which could also be finished in a little under 2 years! Afterwards, I would do my Masters, which pairs with the S.T.L. lasting about 2 years. In 3 and 1/2 years from now, I could be done with what would normally be 5 years! This is both a shock and humbling, for I know it means that I will be working very hard. Yet, I know that I am here by grace anyway, and the Lord will not give me more than I can handle. Please pray that I have wisdom and discernment regarding what exactly God is asking me to do with studies, so that I don't bite off more than I can chew.

I miss you all and hope that you are doing well. May God's love be with each of your families and fill you abundantly this day. I have Skype with an American phone number now, if you would like to call me. Just drop me an email and I'll give it to you. Until next time...

(Just a picture of a rib-dinner that I had with my brothers not too far from the college...amazing food...yes I know I'm random, but I liked it!)

New Life in Leuven!

It has been a wild ride these last few days! Thanks to all for the birthday greetings. I can honestly say that it was one of the most wonderful birthdays I've had, beginning with the airlines upgrading my seat for free--business class is really nice! When I arrived, my luggage was still in London, so I was stuck with the clothes on my back and my computer. Thanks be to God for answered prayer! (don't ask for poverty unless you really want it :)) That evening, we had a BBQ social and my first Belgian beers, which were pretty good. After not sleeping well, we had a full day of orientation conferences and dinner at an Italian restaurant with the priest faculty and new seminarians in town. Yesterday was spent at town hall and the International student office taking care of registration in the morning, followed by a free afternoon of wandering in the city. That evening we watched "Molokai-the story of Fr. Damian" in preparation for today's activities.

Today, we celebrated morning mass at St. Anthony's church, where the relics of Blessed Damian of Molokai (a Belgian saint) are kept. Afterwards, we boarded a bus and drove to his birthplace and took a tour of his home. For those of you unfamiliar with his story, blessed Damian went to the leper colony on the island of Molokai in the 19th century, caring for the sick, building houses and churches, and living in solidarity with the lepers who were quarantined by order of the government. He faced many hardships, since there were an average of 1000 lepers at any given time, no laws or law enforcement, and he was literally their only caregiver. His requests for better aid were largely ignored by both the government and his superior. Yet he endured slander and ridicule with profound humility, and continued to care for the sick and administer the sacraments. Eventually, he contracted leprosy and died from it--but the witness of his life and death changed the world and brought public attention to the disease of leprosy. Largely due to his witness, medicine was developed in the last century to cure it. Incidentally, Blessed Damian's canonization is due this year or next, and we will all go to Rome for the mass when it happens. You are probably wondering what my accommodations look like and such...well, they are modest but quite comfortable. It is probably the same size as my room at Mt. Angel, but it is split into two levels: the ground level with sink, desk and bookshelf, and the loft with my bed and clothes. We are on the fifth floor, so I have a great view of the city and the garden in the backyard. here are a few pictures.

Life is good here. There are 11 of us in the house, so it is very small, but they are all really good men. The Lord is already beginning to work on me, so prayers are appreciated. We begin our retreat this Sunday, so the rest of this week is still orientation stuff. I miss you all and pray that our Lord bless and keep you. Until next time...