It’s always good to reflect on the past year. My busy schedule limited my social media updates to Instagram reels, monthly prayer requests and homilies (old and new).
Some free time before the Labor Day weekend allowed me to write this update about my summer. These words can describe my summer: burnout, graces, pause and paws.
Burnout
On Monday June 17, 2024, I had my last exam for the school year. With plenty of God’s help, I passed all my oral exams in Italian. As you see in the above Instagram reel, I was relieved that it was over. My first Roman academic year full of challenges, adjustments and insights had left me burnt out.
But a visit the following day by my American Oblate brothers made me look forward to the summer. It was a joy to chat and eat with them. However, I had to quickly pack up for my summer back in the United States.
Thursday, June 20, I began my trip to Boston through Barcelona that stretched into Friday. (Read about the layover and my visit to the Basilica of Sagrada Familia.)
Graces
For six weeks, I helped cover Masses and Confessions at the St. Francis Chapel and St. Clement Eucharistic Shrine in Boston. Both places evoked nostalgia when I was a seminarian. My Oblate brothers joked that I have again taken up my favorite seat at the dinner table. Yet the present brought many graces. Celebrating the Mass and hearing Confessions in English helped me step away from the academic mindset. The desire of people for the merciful Jesus in the Eucharist and the confessional renewed my gratitude for my priesthood.
Toward the end of July, I traveled to California for the priestly ordination of Fr. Jonathon and Fr. Jorge at St. Peter Chanel in Hawaiian Gardens. A layover in Salt Lake brought a serendipitous meeting with the ordaining bishop, Bishop Joseph A. Williams. It was a honor to lay my hands on the two new priests during the ordination on July 27. The weekend brought many opportunities to reconnect with friends and parishioners.
But the weekend trip brought me jet lag that took a week to recover and sapped my energy. I knew I needed a vacation.
The first profession of Br. Andrew on Aug. 5 was a fitting end to my time in Boston: helping fellow Oblates celebrate in giving themselves to the Lord.
Pause and paws
On Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, I started my yearly retreat at a friend’s rectory in New York. But the cumulative exhaustion since the start of the year caught up to me, forcing me to relax for a few days. The Lord continued to show up, console me and teach me many things throughout the eight days of prayer. Afterward, Mary kept appearing in surprising ways.
Sometimes, I would concelebrate a Mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in South Ozone Park, NY. My visit home coincided as construction of a grotto to the Blessed Virgin was wrapping up. The installation of the statue drew the congregation of the daily Masses. Fr. Tom Ahern, the pastor, would bless the statue on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. After Mass, I would pause at the grotto before heading home. But I couldn’t stay long because someone expected something from me.
My family’s dog, Teddy, might be showing his age, but a walk from me has not slipped from his mind. Every time I returned from church, his excitement picked up because he knew that I would walk him. In a typical walk, Teddy would sniff at everything, pause at every intersection to pick a direction, tire, pant, and finally accept my tugging to return home. Maybe if I’m lucky, we would arrive home in under an hour.
But walking Teddy was part of a refreshing vacation at my family’s house in New York as I caught up with friends and family and helped my mother with various chores and errands. It was freeing not to use an alarm clock to wake up.
My summer interlude closed with an overnight flight to Rome on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. Looking toward the next academic year, I find myself hopeful and humble. Jesus expanded my trust in Him and I am sure that will continue for the months to come.
Happy Labor Day!
God bless.
Live the Essentials 