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Last Sunday at Home
Well, as I have said before this summer has been absolutely flying by. I guess I will have to have a post here later about the upcoming semester, but for now I'm just going to let you know what has happened today. As always, there is something to be learned from everyday life.
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| estimated duration, I didn't have a watch (probably a good thing) |
This morning dad and I went for a run - well, dad went for a run, I went for something more resembling a crawl. Dad chose this particular route the goes from our house and then hits the hills - and they never stop... We (as always) blew through the first mile. Dad has this nifty GPS running watch and at one point it said that we were hitting a 6:15 min/mile. Anyway, that didn't last long. I guess I figured that I was in OK shape - sure I hadn't ran that much this summer, but I wasn't out of shape by any means. If I could run 13 miles on flat terrain back in May, certainly 5 of 6 miles on hilly terrain would be doable, right? (wrong) After a few hills I started slowing down and dad slowly pulled away. On the last mile I was pretty worn out (even with the slow pace) and my feet hurt (because I just got a new pair of shoes), and my pride hurt (because dad was nowhere in sight), and so I stopped to fix my shoes. That pause was just about to the top of the last big hill, so I was looking at somewhat more flat trek to get home (still a bit uphill, but getting easier), and I, for whatever reason, thought about martyrdom and how (being the humble person I am) I figured that I'd have the courage to be a martyr. Then, as I should have expected, my next thought was like "could you even run all the way home?" - Of course, I didn't hear a booming voice from Heaven or anything, but I certainly knew that God was challenging me (in a tiny way). With that in mind, I forced myself to run all the way home; yeah it hurt, but there was no way I was stopping (God has a sense of humor too, the lights all were green). So I found two things out during the run, I'm not in as good of shape as I thought, and I'm also not as humble as I need to be. I guess that I'll be working on both those deficiencies during this coming semester.
Moving on: Mass today was beautiful. As you may know, I frequently attend the Extraordinary Mass at St. Rose. Fr. Fromageot, who recently moved in as our assistant priest, was (so I have been told) previously the schola director at the FSSP's seminary in Denton NE. Either way, he has a wonderful voice and knows how to use it. Fr. Devillers said Mass at 11:00 AM this morning, so Fr. Fromageot was able to assist the choir. It was incredible the amount that the choir improved with a little coaching before Mass and Fr. Fromageot's extra voice pulling them all together. Kudos to all of them! Father is having a "chant workshop" on Wednesday that I may squeeze in before heading back to Bruté on Thursday. Should be interesting (and challenging).
This afternoon the family (and I) went out to Siloam Springs, a state park 30-40 minutes from Quincy. We had a delicious picnic, threw a Frisbee around for a while, did a short hike, cracked some incredibly bad (but very funny to us) puns, and overall had a wonderful afternoon. What can I say, I love being home with the family, but at the same time I look forward to being back at seminary. Really can't beat life right now - I have a blast when I am at home, and I have a blast when I am in seminary. God has blessed me so much!
I hope all your Sunday's were fantastic - mine was! If you would though, say a quick prayer for an intention of mine. Thanks!
I caught myself laughing between tears of pity for your aching feet as you described your clash with humility....yeah, you are ready to leave the real world of Quincy and take on even bigger challenges of religious lfe. God's Speed!
ReplyDeleteYeah, it wasn't too funny at the time, but looking back one can only laugh. :-) I've got all my books ordered, so tomorrow I guess I'll start packing everything else.
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