It's almost spring here. I know you don't want to hear that with the weather reports I'm getting out of New England. Hope everyone is doing ok.
I took the books outside today for a while. It was terrific. If tomorrow is anything like today, I'm going to hike back up to the grotto. I want to get those pictures I couldn't get last time bcause the camera battery died. It's charging right now. And I want to spend the time in prayer up there. It really is very inspiring.
Just a quick mention about the interesting people I met in the past 24 hours.
First, workers from the construction and renovations going on next door were at dinner again. A young man and woman who are both trained in Italy at the school for mosaics are doing the terrazzo floors in the dining room. This is a very old techinique of producing a marble quality floor without the expense. Using chips of marble, they mix them with cement. After its dry, they polish the surface. It makes a beautiful finish. last night at dinner, the yougn woman had some great questions about our Catholic faith. It led to a good discussion at table.
Today, a local woman who has lived in this area for over 50 years, her husband tending sheep which she sheared and spun the yarn and did weaving, knitting and crocheting. She was certainly proud of the sheepherding tradition in this valley. And an elderly man and his son who were here for the day were also at table today and that led to some great discussions about politics and lots of questions about the USA. They had visited a number of times, especially the national parks out west.
Tonight, two couples were at dinner who were here to hike.
But this afternoon, two priests poked their head into the dining room and asked, "Is there a French speaking American priest here?" "Here I am", I said. One was a young priest, an American from Illinois who is working in this Diocese with Bishop Rey. The Bishop knew they were coming here and told them about me. The other Priest is Fr. Dean Wilhelm, of Autin Texas. He will be with me in Rome at the sabbatical program at the North American College. After he told me his name, I recognized it from the list they have already sent to me.
So the process moves on.
Bishop Rey's book continues to inspire. I spent more time with the chapter on the Eucharistic nature of the priestly ministry. He talks about the the duty of the priest in some very definitive terms. He essentially says that the only function of the priest ultimately is to give Eucharist to the people. It certainly is a major function, but I'm not sure I would say it the only function. The ordination rite speaks of prayer, of service to the sick, teaching, preaching, and witness to the gospel. Naturally all of these can happen in the context of Eucharist, but they also happen outside of Eucharist. In my personal reflection on priesthood, I think there needs to be a balance. Achieving that balance is not always easy. Often expectations shape what is accomplished in the day to day life of priesthood. But as a respected spiritual director once told me at the seminary, "the only soul God is going to ask you about when you get to heaven is your's."
I agree.
