Secular considerations - Part 2

I have about 2 months left at IBM.
I enter the seminary in about 3 months.

The house is on the market.  It should be in the MLS system by the end of the week.  The price is less than I had hoped for, but the market is still weak.  The condominium that my Dad really wanted to move into went on the market last week.  It is also in my price range.  It also has 2 first floor bedrooms for my Dad and my sister.

Perhaps God is smoothing the way once again.  I'm praying for the patience and flexibility to just "go with the flow" on this house process.

Still sorting, cleaning and packing...

What I am reading...

As you probably know, I am a voracious reader. 
Here is the current pile of books on my bureau.

Complete:
Still Called By Name - Fr Dominic Grassi.  This showed up as an Amazon recommendation.  It was a most enjoyable read.  He writes it 30 years after ordination and still loves every day as a priest.

In Progress:
Bumping into God - Fr Dominic Grassi (again). I liked the other book so much, I grabbed some others by this author.

Living the Mass - Fr. Dominic Grassi and Joe Paprocki.  Subtitled "How one hour a week can change your life".  A most interesting discussion of each part of the Mass.

Next:
My Life With the Saints - James Martin, SJ.  Recommended by my spiritual director. 
The Spiritual Journey of a Show Business Priest - Elwood E. Kiesler. Recommended by my good friend Peg.

The Liturgy of the Hours

My first purchase specifically for the seminary is the 4 volume set of "The Liturgy of the Hours".  We must have the 4 volume set, not the "Shorter Christian Prayer".   My (soon to be) fellow seminarians suggested that I get the large print version.  In their words, "Your eyes are not going to get any stronger!"

 

 The astute reader will comment, "But all the books are there."  Yes, I put book 2 back for the picture.  It is back out and in use as it should be.

Cursillo Witness talk on April 26th

Good evening, my name is Chris Lowe.  I lived my Cursillo weekend in October of 1997 at the table of St Paul.  My Cursillo was not a revelation, but a confirmation of my spiritual life.

My prayer life was pretty good, I was studying and (Lord knows) that I am active in the Church.  I have a reputation of being very busy, but that is just a rumor, except of course, when our music director is out on maternity leave.  I was even doing weekly grouping for 10 years and did not even know it.  Our rehearsals for Sunday morning Mass started with a modified grouping before we did the readings and planned music.

What I did find on my weekend was many kindred spirits and a new community to share with.  You members of the Cursillo community have become a big part of my life.  18 months ago when my wife approached her final days, you were there for us.  And when she went home to heaven, you were there for me.  Your prayers and support got me through her death, funeral and burial.  I cannot image what my life would have been without you there.

A couple of weeks after Carmen died, I woke up to a message.  It was like a voice from above said, “Now will you follow me?”  The next week, in the bulletin, there was a notice for a vocation retreat.  I spoke to Father David about it and a month later I was attending a retreat for prospective priests.  Both the organizers of the retreat and I knew that it was too early to be serious about following this vocation, but the seed had been planted.

Over the next few months the vocation director and I spoke on a regular basis.  While I already had a spiritual director, I was required to find a priest for a spiritual director.  I found an amazing priest, Fr. Rasp.  He has been phenomenal to me in guiding me through my journey.

Getting into the seminary happens in 3 major steps.  First, the vocation director must be comfortable with you and your decision.   Second, the application for sponsorship is filled in and interviews with priests and psychologists occur.  These lead to a recommendation to the cardinal to accept or reject the candidate. Third, the application to the seminary must be filled out and interviews there completed.  The seminary team meets and decides on offering a position in the upcoming class.

This process has taken about 8 months to complete and it was the smoothest undertaking I have ever gone through.   There was not a single obstacle in the path.  The only concern that came up again and again was “It is too soon.  He is still grieving.”  Of course I am.  I hope to be missing Carmen for the rest of my life.

It is interesting to look back and see the signs that were there in place all along.

· Years before she got sick, Carmen told me that if she died, I would just become a priest.

· Just before she died, she asked me if I was happy.  I said “No, I‘m watching you die.”  She asked me to make a list of what made me happy.  It was everything that I do at Church and for Church.

· The cross that I picked for her tombstone was the Bishop’s cross.  I did not know it at the time; I was just drawn to that cross.

· Carmen had a large collection of kaleidoscopes.  The only was that I was drawn to and kept was the one that looks like the rose window at the back of the church.

· I told many people of me plans to enter the seminary.  Nobody was particularly surprised.  They saw something in me that I just realized was there in the last year.

So here I stand, before you making my final preparations before entering the seminary.  I plan on leaving my job at IBM at the end of July and entering the Seminary on August 27^th.

I am putting my house on the market since it makes no sense to own a place that I will only sleep in 5 weeks a year.  I am planning on buying a condo in Maine and moving my Dad and sister into it.  I’ll sleep there on my vacations. 

While I am staring at 4 years with no income, I am blessed that the Cardinal has agreed to pay for room, board, tuition and heath care premiums for my tenure at Blessed John.  I do have savings that should cover my other expenses for those 4 years.

I’ll try not to be a stranger.  I may be around on occasion to play the organ for a Mass.  I do plan, God willing, to be back here in June of 2015 to say my first Mass with you.

I would like to ask you a favor.  It is a favor that I know you will do because you have done it again and again for me.  Please keep me in your prayers, more than ever, in the next 4 years.  The seminary is a refinery, where men are put into the smelter, melted and reformed.  I pray that God grants me the strength, the wisdom and the grace to become a priest for his church.

-De Colores