Christmas Break = Success!

This Christmas was extremely blessed.  What seems like the constant stream of visitors continued with my sister's best friend and her husband (who are also my friends!) and then with four of my very good friends from high school.  The visits were filled with food, laughter, catching up, visits to churches and typically Roman sites, food, papal liturgies, museums and food!  With the second group, I was also able to make it to Assisi for a few days, which is one of my favorite places ever.

Visitors from home are always a true blessing.  Time with them is usually filled with events and sleep gets put on the back burner, which is fine for the duration of their visit since they came here to see me.  Seeing great friends, spending the last days and hours of my "year of exile" (the calendar year in which I did not see the USA)  and welcoming the New Year with them gave me a nice little boost to push through the last 5 months before I come home in early June!

After the visits I was in need of some R&R and some time to get through some school work.  Luckily, this past summer I ran into a seminarian in Lourdes with whom I studied in pre-theology.  During this encounter I found out that his parents had moved to Holland for work and they offered me to stay with them whenever I wanted. Remembering this and knowing I would want to relax at the end of the break, I set up a trip to visit them for about five days.  This was just what I needed.  I flew into Amsterdam, which is a short train ride from their town, and was greeted by my friends mom at the airport.  She led me to their home on the train making it effortless for me!  I spent the next five days at their home being treated like a king.  It was great to be in a home where I could read and study in front of the fireplace, where I could enjoy three meals a day (including great breakfasts and family dinners!), where we frequently rode bikes to Mass, once to dinner and to the North Sea on my last day, where I was able to help out at the soup kitchen run by the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Theresa's order), where I was able to watch a great movie (The Blind Side) with my hosts after dinner one night and play cards another night, and where I was able to be around people who lived in Louisiana for 22 years!  Rather than making me homesick, this was a great time of rejuvenation for me.  Yes, it did make me even more ready and excited to come home this summer, but in a good way.  I was with a family and that is what I miss most about home.  My family (blood relatives), the family of my friends, the family of my home parish and the diocese (especially the priests and seminarians), and the family of our Cajun culture all of which have been so formative for me.

From my bike ride to the North Sea.

Thank you God for this wonderful break.  Help me never to forget how amazingly blessed I am, especially in these last five months before I return home, which at times will certainly be challenging.  To all of you who will read this, know how much I love and miss you and how much I look forward to seeing you this summer!

In Christ,
Patrick

P.S. - Please keep the 22 new Cardinal-elects in your prayers, especially the two Americans, Cardinal-elect Timothy Dolan (Archbishop of New York) and Cardinal-elect Edwin O'Brien (Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepluchre of Jerusalem).