What a week

Hello again,

               

This has been a week with a wide variety of prayer.  Not long after I posted my last post here I received news that one of my friends was seriously hurt at his job.  Casey is a guy that went to the same high school and university as me so I have known him for a long time.  At the university Casey got actively involved at the parish and became a member of the RCIA team, to help welcome people into the faith and teach them what the faith is all about.  Casey got married last summer and both him and his wife are involved in the life of the parish.

               

Casey worked in a tree service job and was hurt when a tree fell on him.  He was airlifted to the hospital in Marshfield and through some miracle they were able to save his life.  He had severe injuries that I can’t even begin to describe.  On Wednesday Carolyn received a report from the doctors that there appears to be severe spinal cord injury and it is believed that Casey will be a paraplegic for the rest of his life, if he survives.  It appears now that he is going to survive.  I asked the whole seminary community to pray both for healing for Casey and for strength for him and Carolyn as they grow into their new lifestyle.  The retired archbishop who teaches one of my classes is going to offer Mass for them this Thursday.  This whole event was and still is some obviously emotionally difficult prayer time.

                For some wonderfully joyous prayer I drove to Stevens Point on Friday night and then over to Colby on Saturday for an Ordination of a friend to the deaconate.  I may have mentioned it before but incase you don’t know, while there are men who are permanent deacons in the Catholic Church a man who is going towards the priesthood is ordained a deacon at least six months before his priesthood ordination.  Jeff is one of three of these “transitional” deacons that we have in the La Crosse Diocese this year.  It was a great joy to attend and pray at this event.

               

Aside from those two extremes it was a fairly routine week, nothing spectacular occurred in my classes.  The trip to Stevens Point was of course great.  I draw so much strength from getting to be with the Newman Parish there that I can’t even describe how wonderful it is. 

I guess that this is enough for a short post this week.

Peace,

Adam