Icon Progress part 4

Halos are always challenging for me...Fr. Paul helped me a lot on these. Notice also the cool halo effect caused by scratching the gold with a cotton ball.

The other picture is an example of "puddling", a technique which first applies water, then dabs of paint which form "puddles" and diffuse through the water to make unique patterns. (the holy card is of John Vianney, and the small medallion is a relic of St. Faustina).

Icon Progress part 3

Day 3 picture

Icon Progress part 2

After another day of work, prayer, and iconography, here's the results: keep the prayers coming! Blessings to you all and Peace,

Mark
p.s. look at the pictures from the bottom up to see the progression, ditto on the previous post--blogger is not being cooperative...

Icon Progress

Dear Friends,
Thank you for your continued prayers! This week is the final push for me to get the icon done, and I'll be posting the pictures of the progress. Here are pictures from yesterday. There's been a lot of progress today, so stay tuned and keep praying for me! The date I'm aiming to be done by is the 21st of April: the anniversary of my confirmation and my Marian consecration. Blessings to all of you!

Love,
Mark

New Year, New me, Lord's Day, etc.

Dear friends in Christ,
Many blessings and peace to you during this holy Lent! I pray that you are all experiencing the love of Christ in a new and powerful way through your penances, prayer, and alms-giving during these 40 days. As usual, many great things have transpired since the last post, so I hope to share a few of them with you.

Firstly, I completed my second bachelor's in Theology (with the exception of my thesis this June) and have already begun taking Masters classes towards my Licenciate in Theology. Classes are more interesting and challenging, which is great! I've also made a little progress on my icon...which will be pictured in the next post :)

Secondly, at the initiative of Brandon (another seminarian here) and myself, we hosted a "Lord's Day" celebration at the seminary--probably the first one in the history of the American College--which was awesome! You can see some pictures of it below. Brandon made the chili and bread pudding, and I cut the bread bowls and made a strawberry/blueberry/walnut/vinaigrette salad (a first for me). It was a blessed time of community building and I hope that it becomes a tradition. Please pray for continued strengthening of our brotherhood.

Lastly, and most exciting, is that I have been told my pastoral placement for next year: I'll be in Astoria at "Mary Star of the Sea" Parish with Fr. Ken Sampson, a wonderful priest, who I know will be a great mentor for me this next year.

As always, you are in my heart and prayers; each day I yearn more to return home to begin serving you the best I can. Until then, I trust that the Lord will sustain our friendship even across these great distances.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

A Blessed Christmas and New Year to all of you! I am currently home for one more day before heading back to Leuven to start Exams. You have all been in my thoughts and prayers during these days of feasting and family time. Please continue to pray for me, especially during the month of January as I take exams and write papers. Until next time,
Mark

All Souls Day Update

Dear Friends in Christ,
It has been quite a while since my last update. I wish that I was more consistent with blogging, but it has taken the "back-burner" as of late. I promised pictures of the whole process of my last icon, so here they are in reverse order:








I also started a new icon which is going to be far more difficult than the last one, but hopefully even more rewarding. It is an original image inspired by my former spiritual director and written by Brother Claude, OSB. It's an image of Mary giving the stole of the priesthood to John. Here are the first stages:




How is life, you ask? Very busy! We were blessed as a seminary to be able to go to Saint Damien's canonization in Rome, which was wonderful. I couldn't possibly talk about it all here with the time I have left, but it was truly a week of grace and rest. I also got to spend some quality time with my diocesan brother and my dad, which was most welcome. Rome is always wonderful to visit.

In other exciting news, I will be installed as an acolyte on December 8th. This is the "second phase" of 4 on the road to priesthood. After that, it will be candidacy, then diaconate. Time flies so quickly! Please pray for my growth in humility and a desire for service as I approach this awesome ministry at the altar of God.

I will also be coming home for Christmas! Those of you who are in Oregon, look me up if you're around. As always, I love hearing from you. Until next time, blessings from Belgium!