I had wanted to write this entry after my move to California. But parish life for a deacon was a raging river tossing me to and fro among various activities and liturgies. This blog suffered greatly with no updates from January to June. My apologies to those seeking prayer requests in the spring. I have included them in the July requests.

As I settle down in Rome, the Eternal City, I better recount the past year.

Here is the beginning of a miniseries on my year filled with travels, challenges, joys and graces.

A few days ago, the calendar just turned over to August 2023. It’s amazing that a year ago (August 2022), I had finished giving the 30-day retreat at St. Joseph Retreat House in Milton, Mass. Then, I was scrambling to pack up my things for California.

A conversation at the end of August 2022 summed up my feelings about the retreat house. An older Oblate asked me whether I wanted to stay. I said yes immediately. Giving retreats and meeting people for spiritual direction fulfilled a dream during my vocational discernment in late 2013. I had told a friend that if I wanted to be a priest, then I wanted to do spiritual direction.

There I was, a transitional deacon, not even a priest yet, living out that dream. Helping the retreat house with pulling weeds and buying groceries provided a good change of pace after sitting and meeting with people.

The danger as always was me being too comfortable and not challenging myself. So Jesus, through my superiors, decided to send me to gain pastoral experience in California.

Thus, my first bounce begins.

• My second bounce: New York and New Jersey.
• My third bounce: Boston again.
• Finally, Rome.

God bless.