Hello everyone,
Break is flying by, as those things tend to do. It is always amazing how slow time can seem to go at some points and so very fast at others.
I finished up the quarter pretty well. I think that my tests went about as I expected them to if not a little bit better. I won’t know my grades from last quarter for a while, but they haven’t called and said that I failed out, so that is a good sign.
After my last final on Friday I waited a little bit for one of my classmates to get done so that I could give him a ride home too. We had to go a bit out of our way so that I could pick up something at the Newman Parish in Stevens Point that I was borrowing for the weekend. I was still able to drop him off at home at about 7:30 and I managed to get to my mom’s at about 8:15 or 8:30 at night, truly beginning break.
My nephew had spent the night at my mom’s house and it was great to see him and play with him for a bit both Friday night and Saturday morning before I got to take him home. He is so much fun to be around, I really enjoy the time that I get to spend with him.
After taking Alex home I spent a good part of the day preparing for a friend’s bachelor party that I was hosting since I am going to be the best man in the wedding. Obviously when you have a seminarian planning your bachelor party it is going to be fairly low key, but that is what he wanted anyways. It was a bunch of fun to get together with him and some of our other friends.
Sunday was pretty much just church and hanging out with my mom and her husband. On Monday I got up and went to Mass in La Crosse with a wonderful lady, the one who helped me to be able to begin seminary this year. It was great to be able to see her and attend Mass with her. I didn’t get to spend much time with her because I had a doctor’s appointment to get to. This was my big check to make sure that the cancer hasn’t come back. Due to switching insurance companies when I left my job I had to switch hospitals so the doctor spent a bit of time getting to know me and what has gone on and then I had an ultrasound of the area that the cancer had been and some blood-work done. Everything came back clean, so that is great.
On Tuesday I went to St. Elizabeth’s in Holmen for Mass and then stopped at my old office in La Crescent, MN to see people before heading over to Stevens Point for a while. It was great to get back to Stevens Point and see the wonderful people here.
I didn’t do a whole lot on Tuesday but on Wednesday I gave the first of three talks that I am giving to the eighth graders at St. Peter’s Middle School. I have a good friend who is an eighth grade teacher and asked me to come in and talk to her class so I am talking to all three of the eighth grade religion classes. Since they meet at the same time it has to be on three separate days. I gave one on Wednesday, but Thursday is the school Mass so that takes the place of religion class so I gave my second one on Friday and will give another one on Monday. My talk is just a general vocation talk, for people to figure out what vocation is right for them and I also take some time to tell them a bit about the life of a seminarian. The kids really seem to get into it, so that is fun.
I ended up substitute teaching for the religious education at the Newman Parish on Wednesday night, another fun experience for me. Wednesday night also has the late-night Mass which is attended by somewhere between 40 and 60 students from the University. I really enjoy the energy and enthusiasm at that Mass. The parish had an all-night prayer vigil for peace and justice in the world after the Mass. There was adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with Exposition (meaning you can see the Body of Christ while praying). I was asked to spend the whole night incase someone who had signed up for an hour didn’t show in the early morning hours. We had some organized prayer times throughout the night such as a period of Taize prayer, night prayer, the Rosary, Memorare, the Magnificate, and morning prayer. The vigil ended with Benediction (taking down the exposed sacrament) and the morning Mass on Thursday. I had been up all night but when more people started showing up at about 5:00 am I started thinking about taking a quick nap. I went upstairs at about 5:30ish and was planning on getting up at 6:25 since I was scheduled to do a reading during morning prayer. I know I set my alarm, but am not sure if I didn’t turn it on, or if I turned it off without fully waking up but I woke up at 6:59 and raced downstairs for the 7:00 morning prayer, cutting it very close.
I think this is long enough, I’ll write more in another post in a couple of days.
Peace,
Adam
No comments:
Post a Comment