Hello all! Next week the seminary community will be busy once again with Mid-semester Exam Week. In fact, you can already tell the difference in the house, there are quite a bit of seminarians beginning to study for their exams, while others don’t know when they have their exams. (It’s kind of weird how that works.) My exam schedule is pretty light. Here is a brief overview:

Monday: Ministerial Practicum

Tuesday: Introduction to New Testament

Wednesday: Drama and Ministry

Thursday: Medieval Philosophy and Catholic Poets

Friday: Nothing – hitting the road immediately following Mass.

As you can see, Friday, I will be heading home at about 8:15 or so in the morning. That means, counting on traffic not being too bad, I should be home by at least 12:00 noon for mid-semester break. I won’t be home too long this time; I will only get a chance to relax a little, but that is in fact what is needed for everyone. I am looking forward to spending some time at my parish and spending time with my family, including meeting my nephew for the first time. Throughout the break, I am going to have a mentality of “work, play, pray, chill” (minus the “work,” of course).

When we return from mid-semester break, we will be immediately heading out to a local retreat center in Miami for three days. This means that I will be cut off from the world (which is not necessarily a bad thing) and spending time with the Lord. I always look forward to these retreats because they give me some time to reflect on how God is working in my life – where he is present, where I have neglected to see his presence, etc. The retreats always leave me with a sense of peace and comfort in knowing that, no matter how much we turn away from Him, He will always be there to accept us into His arms and shower His loving graces upon us.

I hope things are going well for everyone. May God bless you all.

P.S. Please pray for the repose of the soul of Dr. Thomas Collins, former principal of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic School, who died recently.

Bye for now……………