New Cardinals and Renewal in the Church

Yesterday was an great day for the entire Church as Pope Benedict elevated 22 new men to the College of Cardinals.  It was also a wonderful day for our College as among those given this title, which carries great honor and heavy burdens (the red of their cassocks symbolizing the blood they are called to be willing to shed for the faith), were two former rectors of the North American College.  Edwin Cardinal O'Brien and Timothy Cardinal Dolan led the College from 1990-1994 and from 1994-2001 respectively.  Following the Consistory, there was a reception here at the College for Cardinals O'Brien and Dolan.  I helped to work the event where we hosted somewhere in the neighborhood of 1500-2000 people who traveled to Rome to share in this special event.

One of the great things about the consistory last year and yesterday was having the opportunity to speak to some of the great people who traveled to Rome from the US.  They are always happy to speak to seminarians and are particularly impressed at seeing or hearing that we have 230 men here studying to become priests.  I was able to speak at length with one couple who asked me how the numbers were looking.  After informing them that our numbers were the highest they have been in years and that many seminaries around the country are seeing similar trends, they proceeded to ask what I thought the reason was for such an increase.  I told them that much of the renewal in the Church and especially in vocations has come from the leadership of great leaders in the Church, including the two men who brought us together for the consistory.  Their faithfulness to the Church and their love for God has spread to the men who were formed at the College during their time as rector.  Those priests who were formed during their time at the College have now been in ministry for up to 20 years and have brought what they learned here back home.  Some of the keys to their success has been the joy with which they live out their priesthood.  They are sure of their call, they know WHO it is that they are serving and the are joyful in the way they live their lives.  (See Point #5 in Cardinal Dolan's address to the College of Cardinals http://cnsblog.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/cardinal-designate-dolans-address-to-pope-benedict-and-the-college-of-cardinals/)  I also added that Blessed Pope John Paul II had a lot to do with the renewal of vocations in the Church.  He worked tirelessly for the promotion of vocations and also guided the Church in developing a new schema for priestly formation.  In a homily this morning here at the College the priest mentioned that we are "in a golden age of vocations in the Church".  What a great time too, because the world needs us more than ever.

Although we cannot discount the efforts of Blessed Pope John Paul II, the Cardinals and others who have put much into priestly vocations, we also cannot fail to realize that none of this growth would be possible without the guidance and power of Jesus Christ ("Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who causes the growth." - 1 Corinthians 3:7).  At this point I would like to make reference to a thought I had a while back, but that did not make it to a blog.

Whenever a person is extremely cold, say due to falling into frigid waters, the body performs in a fascinating way.  The first areas of the body to get frostbite are the fingers and toes, then the hands and feet and it continues to make its way up the arms and legs.  Why is this?  The body, sensing danger, brings blood from the extremities, which a person can live without, into the core to protect the vital organs.  Aside from trying to impress you with my knowledge of something medical, I tell this story to point out that it is natural for something in danger to sacrifice less important things.  The sacrifice of these less important things happens in order to put all effort towards protecting what is vital, the very heart of the matter. 

We have all heard for some time now that there is a shortage of priests and religious.  Though the tide is slowly turning, we are still in need of more priests in most places in the world.  The main point to which I wish to call attention is what the Church and the faithful have turned to during the dangerous time of a decrease in the number of priests, seminarians and men and women in religious formation.

A low number of seminarians is by no means a good thing.  However, if we look prayerfully back on the stressful times that saw less and less men answering the call of Jesus to “come and follow me,” we can see some good things that happened.  Just like the body protects itself in times of danger, the Church also protected itself.  What did the faithful turn to in order to rectify the shortage of priests?  The answer to this question will also be the answer to the question of what is most important to the life of the Church.

The one thing that strikes me as being most important in the life of the Church and for vocations to the priesthood and religious life is a renewal in the belief in and adoration of Christ's true presence in the Blessed Sacrament.  I know in the Diocese of Lafayette the Serrans, who do so much for vocations, lead a Holy Hour each month to pray specifically for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.  The Eucharist is the most precious gift that God has given us and we are right to renew our focus on Christ in the Eucharist during these difficult times.  One of the major changes in priestly formation in the past couple of decades has been the demand of all seminarians to make a daily Holy Hour a priority.  Following the lead of many holy men who have taken on this practice over the years (most notably in recent history has been Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen) the Church has demanded this of Her priests because She knows how crucial it is to their ministry.  As ministers of the Eucharist, we must spend time each day in the presence of our Eucharistic Lord to gain strength and insight for our mission.  Imagine a husband and wife never spending time together to get to know each other...they would not have a very healthy marriage.  Just the same, a priest takes the Church as His bride.  His most important and honored work is the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  This celebration becomes much more meaningful to the priest and to those whom he serves if the priest has a greater realization of what it is he is doing, of who it is he is making present.

Please continue to spend time in prayer for priests, seminarians, religious and those in consecrated life.  Know of my prayers for all of you.  Through prayer, we remain united and able to take on the challenges of the world today.

In Our Eucharistic Lord,

Patrick

Encountering Holiness in His Holiness

As many of you know, this past Thursday January 26th, I had the great privilege of meeting the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI.  This encounter was more than an opportunity for wonderful pictures (though it was that too).  In this blog, I hope to share some of my experience with you.

First, the reason for the visit.  Every five years (ish), every bishop in the world must meet with the Holy Father for what is called their Ad Limina Apostolorum visit.  This literally translates as "to the threshold of the Apostles" (Peter and Paul).  The purpose of this visit is for the bishops to make a pilgrimage to Rome in order to be renewed through prayer at various holy sites, including the Tombs of Sts. Peter and Paul, to gain a renewed sense of their mission as the successors of the Apostles, and to renew their union with the Successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome, the pope.  One of the highlights of this trip is the bishops meeting with the Holy Father.  In this meeting, the bishops are allowed to bring one priest or seminarian.  Though my bishop had a priest who was traveling with him, he arranged for me to go in with another bishop who did not bring anyone with him.

As soon as I learned that the American bishops would be making their visits this year, I was hoping for the chance to meet the Holy Father (actually I was hoping for this before I even came to Rome, but the visits made it more of a possibility).  I remembered seeing a picture from another priest of the diocese who was able to meet Blessed Pope John Paul II during the last Ad Limina visits for the US Bishops.  The bishop arrived to Rome on Sunday January 22nd and after an opening Mass with all of the bishops here at the College that evening I found him to tell him hello.  It was then that he informed me that I would in fact be going to meet the pope...it made for a rather long week of finals waiting for Thursday!

After being brought through a back gate into rarely seen areas of the Vatican, up an elevator, through room after room, waiting in one, moving to another and waiting there and then another, we were finally given instructions and told it wouldn't be long.  One group went in before us and we were brought to the final small waiting room after they finished.  We were arranged in a line with the bishops of New Orleans first, then the rest of us in alphabetical order by diocese.  Since I was with the bishop of Shreveport we were the last in line.  This was great as I was able to be in the room for about 15 minutes and I was able to watch all of the other bishops and priests great the Holy Father.  It was wonderful watching the others interact with the Holy Father, especially my bishop, the priest from our diocese and another priest who was my spiritual director at St. Ben's.  I particularly enjoyed watching the Holy Father perk up and his voice get louder when my former spiritual director was introduced by his bishop as the Vocations Director for his diocese.  Afterwards, I asked him what the Holy Father told him to which he responded, you have a very difficult but very important job (or something close to that!).

Finally, it was my turn.  The bishop of Shreveport was up there speaking to the Holy Father, they posed for their pictures, then the Msgr. turns to me to signal for me to come over.  To be honest, the first thought in my mind as I began walking over was "pick up your feet...it would be really bad to trip on the carpet".  After making it over to the pope, I bent down and gave the traditional sign of respect by kissing his "fisherman's ring".  After this I remembered only a few of the words that I had been rehearsing in my mind for days now.  I was able to utter "Holy Father, thank you for your faithfulness and service to the Church".  He thanked me and said four simple words which I will never forget:  "PLEASE PRAY FOR ME"!  These words may not seem too inspiring to some, but they struck deep in my heart.

After the visit, I recalled my meeting Cardinal Burke the night after he had been raised to the College of Cardinals.  I recalled how before I could ask for his blessing, he uttered those same words, "please pray for me".  Why are these words so amazing to me?  It's simple.  These are men who I look up to and greatly respect because of their holiness, faithfulness to the Church and untiring service on behalf of the Church and the People of God.  To hear them utter these words reminds me that we, that I can do nothing without God.  I know this in my head, but these holy men live it every moment of their lives.  I think that this realization was accentuated because of something I recently read.  In doing research for a practice homily, I came across a quote from an article reporting on one of Pope Benedict's first audiences which he had with a group of German pilgrims.  In that audience, he said how he prayed that he would not become pope.  When he saw that it was likely that he would be elected, he had to come to accept this decision.  He told them of the lesson he learned during the conclave.  The lesson was that “The ways of the Lord are not comfortable, but we were not created for comfort, but for greatness, for good.”  The humility I have witnessed in these two leaders of our Church and in many others, is truly inspiring.  They realize that they are in no way worthy of the great task that has been entrusted to them.  It is only by lives of constant prayer and reliance on God that they are able to carry out the duties their offices require.

I am receiving a rosary before
leaving as a way to remember the visit.

Looking through the pictures from my brief meeting with the Holy Father, I am ever more convinced of his holiness, joy and saintliness.  As I look through the pictures, I see a man doing something that he never wanted to do, but doing it with joy and doing it with love.  His love for God is infectious.  I can see this by the look on my face.  While I was in the room with him, I remember being so joyful, so inspired.  This joy and love shows on my face...I could not stop smiling.  I pray that I will continue to allow this experience to spur me on to a greater love for God and His people.


Having encounters with men of such heroic virtue gives me great hope.  I realize that I am not worthy for the great calling which God has for me, but if I allow myself to rely on Him for strength, I too will be able to do what it is He is asking of me.  Each day at every Mass we pray for Pope Benedict.  Every time I pray the rosary I offer prayers for him too.  Since meeting him and hearing him utter these simple humble words, praying for the Holy Father has taken on a whole new dynamic.  Please join me in praying for him that he may continue to do God's will and lead souls to heaven.  I also ask that you pray for me, that I too will grow ever closer to our God and be more able to carry out His will in my life.  Please be assured of my prayers for all of you.


In Christ,
Patrick


P.S. - Not that anyone is counting, but it is only about 4 1/2 months until I return home for the summer!

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).

I Want You to Want Me

            No, this is not a blog about the song by Cheap Trick, although it is an amazing song.  This will be much better (hard to believe I know), not because of my writing, but because of the subject matter, because of our God!

            Over the holidays, I was blessed to have several people visit me in Rome.  Adding to that greatness, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend several Papal Liturgies with those guests.  Going to holy sites in Rome, especially St. Peter’s Basilica, with people for their first time is always a great joy for me.  It is wonderful seeing the excitement in their faces when they get to witness the splendor of these beautiful houses of prayer dedicated to the worship of God.  One particular liturgy however became particularly special when one of my friends shared her experience with me afterwards.

            For those of you who have ever had the chance of going to a Papal Liturgy, you know what the distribution of Holy Communion is like.  For those of you who have not been, imagine rows not big enough for two people to pass blocked by barricades with people basically crawling over each other to make it to a priest or deacon to receive Holy Communion.  The process is not exactly efficient or orderly.  Several times, it has happened that guys from the College were not able to receive Communion because of the amount of people at a Mass and have had to return to the College to receive from a priest there.

He is my Bigfoot...always blurry!

            After the Mass, as we walked away from the basilica, one of my friends told me of her surprise at how crazy the process of Communion had been.  She said that she became worried at one point that she would not make it to the priest in time and that she would not be able to receive our Lord.  She shared with me how this was a good experience for her because for the first time she could remember, she was afraid at the possibility of not being able to receive Holy Communion.  She expressed to me how badly she wanted to receive our Lord and how determined she was to make it to that priest.

Here it is in her own words...

            "That experience was so powerful for me. I honestly felt anxious that I would not be able to receive the Eucharist, and it really hit me. It's a feeling I will always remember, and cherish. In that very moment of outstreching my hands and extending my body over several chairs I physically, emotionally, and spiritually longed to receive Christ. I didn't want to let anyone stand in my way of receiving Him. It's so beautiful because it really is what Christmas is all about. And against the backdrop of the nativity scene, it was even more powerful for me!"

            What a beautiful thing to reflect on during the Christmas Season.  All of Advent leading up to Christmas is a time of preparation for receiving our Lord anew at Christmas.  We spend time in expectation in order to prepare ourselves for His coming.  We spend time purifying ourselves and noticing areas where we have failed and still need God’s help so that we can allow Him to come in and heal our sinfulness.  This waiting, this anticipation of the coming of Christ should lead us to desire God all the more just as the thought of not receiving Communion inspired my friend.  How differently we would approach each celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass if we took a few minutes to recall this longing for Christ that my friend experienced.  In the last days of the Christmas Season, let us pray that God will continue to inspire us to draw near to Him and to desire Him more and more.  I pray that this reflection will help you and me to realize the great gift we have in the Eucharist and help us never to take it for granted.

In Christ,

Patrick

Our God is Wise, Our God is Sneaky!

I don't think I will get too many arguments about the first half of the title for this entry, however, the second half might be a different story.  Before you accuse me (take a look at yourself) give me a minute to explain.  This entry will be two streams of thought, based on the two statements made in the title, but they both stem from the same event, hence one entry.  I will address the second part of the title first so you are not held in suspense too long.

Yesterday, December 8th was the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.  Many times, this day is thought to be the celebration of the conception of Jesus, but that is another day and another feast (The Annunciation - March 25th).  On December 8th, the Church celebrates Mary's conception which we call Immaculate because we believe, as the Church teaches, that Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, preserved from any stain of original sin by the grace of God (full text of the dogmatic proclamation can be found here: http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius09/p9ineff.htm).  The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is particularly special to us here at the North American College as it is our Patronal Feast.  This means a huge celebration with many distinguished guests, friends, and benefactors   As with many of the major events here at the College this day and celebration meant a bit of work from us seminarians, including myself.  Now, this next part will be hard for you to fathom, but I, a seminarian, actually had the temptation to be bitter about this idea of having to work on a day so special to the College and to me personally.  I know, I have a hard time believing it myself, that a seminarian would complain, but it's true.  I was having these bizarre thoughts as I was walking around the track praying a rosary before Mass.  As I got to one end of the track I was able to see the front gate of the College where several seminarians were working welcoming our guests and making sure that they knew where to go.  As I watched this I saw a group of sisters who help out here at the College and who I have had the pleasure of working with at the U.S. Visitor's Office.  Watching them walk in and head to the chapel gave God the opportunity to knock some sense into me.  At that moment, I was filled with joy seeing them come from their daily tasks to celebrate our patronal feast with us.  They came here to share in our joy and to join us in thanking God for the gift of our Most Holy and Immaculate Mother and for the tremendous gift of this College.  Many of the people who were present do a great deal for the College and it was at that moment that I stopped looking at my duties for the day as a burden and started seeing them as a true gift.  I was able to serve the many people who make my time here possible and most enjoyable.  I was immediately reminded of Jesus saying that he came to serve, NOT to be served.  If I am preparing for the priesthood, preparing to act in persona Christi, to be another Christ, then I too should always be ready to serve and not to be served.  What a great gift from our Lord for this realization.  Now do you see why I call God sneaky?  I do so many things here, going to class, formation meetings, preaching practice, St. Peter's Tours, studying and all of the rest and many times I can lose sight of the end goal.  Many times I feel like I am still so far from the goal, which in many ways I am and I still have lots of room to grow.  However, it took this moment of pouting and God making me realize how selfish I was being to see that He is forming me to be a priest right under my nose.  Despite my best efforts to be a completely unworthy person to serve as God's priest, he still wants to use my imperfections and brokenness to spread His good news to the ends of the earth.

The second point of reflection from yesterday is about the wisdom of God.  There have been a handful of times when I have been completely amazed during the liturgy (not that I don't enjoy them all the time!).  The  times that I can remember being in awe and truly overwhelmed during the liturgy are for the Dedication of the Abbey Church at St. Ben's my first year of seminary, for the final Mass for my pastor before he moved to a new parish two summers ago and the third was yesterday on this feast of Our Lady.  Coming off of the realization of God's love for me before Mass and His continued guidance (even when I fail to realize it) during my priestly formation I had a great experience at Mass.  I was particularly impressed by the wisdom of the different degrees of celebrations that we have in the Church.  While we believe that every Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a holy occasion, there are varying degrees of solemnity.  The Church does this to emphasize the critical events that have happened throughout salvation history.  Christmas, Easter, Corpus Christi and other major celebrations are Solemnities and are treated differently.  For instance, yesterday at the College, there were more candles lit than for a regular daily Mass, we had flowers in the sanctuary, there were Cardinals, Bishops and countless priests present for Mass, the music was more involved (absolutely beautiful!), there was incense...anyway I think you get the picture.  We celebrate big events with more "flair" than smaller events.  Think about it in your own life, the same rules apply.  You probably do things differently for your birthday than you do for most other days of the year.  Even within the realm of birthdays, some birthdays are cause for more celebration than others.  For instance, 16 (drivers license), 18 (voting!), 21 (drinking responsibly), 25 (finally getting to drive that rental car!), 40 (over the hill), usually call for bigger celebrations than say 27 (come on April).  It is not trivial that we do this.  We celebrate big events with more emphasis because the occasions deserve it and so do we.  Back to the liturgy.  Seeing the extra effort put into the liturgy on these occasions helps us to realize that the day is special and that we should treat it as such.  We should spend time on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception in prayer thanking God for the gift of our Most Holy and Immaculate Mother who gave birth to our Savior.  We should spend time in prayer on Christmas (and before during Advent) reflecting on the impact that God being born as a man like ourselves has on our lives and on our world.  All of these special efforts we make are the Church's way of  helping to remind us of the greatness of these feasts.  Pretty amazing if you think about it, which I hope you will!

I hope that I have disarmed any questions that may have come up after reading the title and I hope that my reflections help you to love our God, who loves us more than we could ever imagine, a little more!  I pray that your Advent is filled with anticipation for the celebration of Christ's coming into our world and with time spent with family and friends. Please as always pray for me and know of my prayers for you.

In Christ,

Patrick

"Parrain" Uncle Packet!

On August 13th my sister-in-law gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.  Emily Ryan is my second niece and will be my Goddaughter when she is baptized (thanks for the clarification Padre Vidrine)!  Mom, baby and dad are all doing well.  Thanks to all who have offered support and prayers throughout my sister-in-law's pregnancy and labor!  As we enjoy the company of the new little girl we also continue to away the arrival of my sister's second in December.  She already knows that it is a boy and his name is Carter David.  Next summer will be fantastic as I will finally get to hold the new ones and Chloe who will be almost 4 when I return.

What a great big cousin!

Love the smirk.

Emily's Birthday

Geaux Cajuns!

Who Dat?

Please know of my continued prayers for all of you and please continue to pray for me in return!

In Christ,
Patrick

Our Lady of Lourdes, Pray for us!

View of the Basilica from the bridge

“Mary brought us here”.  I have heard this statement before and I have even heard stories from people about how they were not sure how their trips to different Marian shrines would work out and it took some pretty amazing events for them to get there.  Whenever I heard this, I always thought it was “interesting”.

At the beginning of every year here at the College, we have to write out a list of Goals and Objectives for the upcoming year of formation.  As one of my goals for my first year in Rome, my formation advisor told me to think about making a visit to one of the many Marian shrines throughout Europe.  Over Christmas, I was able to stay in Paris for about ten days and we were no more than a five minute walk from the chapel where Our Blessed Mother appeared to St. Catherine Labore, which we visited quite often for prayer time and Mass.  During the beginning of my summer as I was driving through Ireland, we stopped in Knock, where Our Lady appeared to a handful of people.  These experiences were great and I’m sure Our Lady had her hand in my going to those places, but our Lord’s call to me and Our Lady’s desire was for me to come here to Lourdes.  Soon after I put “to visit a Marian shrine” as one of my formation goals, Our Lady of Lourdes popped up everywhere!  First, I thought of a statue that my classmates and I had given to our Italian tutor and realized it was of Our Lady of Lourdes.  The second thing that helped my decision was that I had been reading John Paul II’s encyclical entitled “The Christian Meaning of Human Suffering” and when I finished it I realized that he had dated it on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.  Next, arriving in Rome I was amazed by the beauty of a mosaic in our chapel at the NAC.  It is an image of Our Lady as The Immaculate Conception.  The dogma of the Immaculate Conception was promulgated in 1854, four years before the apparitions to a poor little girl in Lourdes, but during those apparitions (18 in all) Our Lady told the young girl, “I am the Immaculate Conception”.  This was the only name Our Lady gave herself during these apparitions.  Also, our College’s Patronal Feast is December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

You get the picture!  All of these things and a few others all made it very clear to me that I HAD to visit Lourdes.  Thinking back to when I first arrived in Rome, I remembered how several of the guys in the class above me had spent time in Lourdes as part of their summer program, so I thought that this was ideal!  As I began making summer plans, I knew that working in Lourdes had to be part of them.  Sticking to this decision was actually harder than it seems.  For our first summer there are so many amazing opportunities.  Guys from my class went to China, Africa, India, Norway and many other places.  We had the option to go to several seminars, study different languages in different places work with the Missionaries of Charity and just about anything else you could imagine.  When I looked at my summer plans, they seemed sort of “vanilla” compared to some of the others.  However, through prayer, I realized that the summer plans I had made would serve me and the diocese very well indeed.  Looking back as the summer comes to a close, I am very happy with the summer God had planned for me and I already see that it was a great experience of growth, learning and deepening of my relationship with our good and gracious God!

Back to Lourdes.  My time here has been amazing.  I have not experienced any miraculous healings, but I have witnessed God moving in my life and in the lives of thousands of people around me.  One very moving experience for me has been praying at the Grotto here and watching people walk through.  Young, old, sick, healthy, families, priests, religious, and nuns from all around the world have come to this place to pay honor to God by honoring the Ever Virgin Mother of his Son and to ask for healing both spiritual and physical.  I was almost in tears the first time I prayed at the Grotto.  The most moving thing to me is seeing those who are not able to get to the Grotto themselves having their family bring them through and touching them with water from the rock.  In these simple gestures, they showed me what real faith looks like.  They have so much hope that Our Lady will bring their petitions to her Son and faith that He will hear and answer them.

One thing that really helped to bring my whole Lourdes experience together was going to confession the day before I left.  I happened to go to a priest who I got to know over the two weeks I was there and he helped me to realize something amazing.  When he asked me how my time in Lourdes had been, I replied that it was good, but in the beginning I felt like it would have been better FOR ME to have come as a pilgrim first.  The first days were difficult because I had not seen the sights or done the tours, yet I was having to lead others.  I was wanting time to be reflective and prayerful (which eventually came), but I had come to Lourdes to lead others and to help them to experience God’s love through the story of Saint Bernedette’s apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes.  This is precisely the life of the priest.  He has experienced God’s love and the only worthy response is to return that love to God and to spread it to others.  This brought on an “a ha” moment for me.  I heard a few years back that when we pray the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary, we begin with the Annunciation, God overshadowing Mary and letting her know of His plan and immediately after we go to The Visitation.  Once Mary has an experience of God, she “goes in haste” to help her cousin Elizabeth.  She goes both to serve Elizabeth, who in her old age has conceived a child, and to spread God’s message of goodness and love.  Over the last 11 years, I have come to know Our Lord more and more as he has revealed Himself to me and showed me His love.  I will always continue to grow closer to God and understand His love in new and more intimate ways, but now it is time that I begin focusing more on sharing what I have received from our good and gracious God with others.  I am called to serve Christ by serving others.  My time at Lourdes was an opportunity to put others before myself and to help create a prayerful atmosphere where they could experience God’s infinite love.  At first, it seems like I have to put myself and my own relationship with God aside in order to focus on helping others, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth.  I must continue to grow in my relationship with God so that I can continue to lead others to Him.  Also, as I give myself to others and try to assist them in their spiritual life, my own spiritual life will continue to flourish.  In giving we become more like God, who gives us everything, who, in the fullness of time even sent His only Son to die for love of each one of us. Wow!

As I said before, this trip has been amazingly blessed and I have only just begun to unpack all of the graces and insights from the summer, especially my time in Lourdes.  Please know of my prayers for all of you while I was there and my continued prayers for you always.  Please keep me in your prayers that I may continue to grow closer to Our Lord and that I may continue to be formed into the man he is calling me to be.

With many thanks to Our Blessed Mother for calling me to Lourdes so that my relationship with her Son could be strengthened I head back to Rome to begin another year of formation for the priesthood of Jesus Christ!

In Christ,

Patrick