St. Louis's Cardinals Ain't Got Nothin'

Pax Christi vobiscum! Come Holy Spirit!


Wow, what a day...actually, what a week. There has been a lot going on lately...where to begin?


Last weekend: Three of my seminarian brothers and I all went to Leuven, Belgium. I of course immediately thought of the McDonald's theme, "Ba da da da daaa, I'm Leuven it." (That should tell you how it's pronounced.) And I really was: we got to eat some Belgian waffles, fries, and chocolate. I will now begin the penitential season of Lent early to make up for the inordinate amount of food I consumed. And yes, we did have some good ole Belgian beer (I'm old enough now--okay, Mom?).


The crowning point of the whole trip was getting to stop in the chapel where Blessed Peter Damian of Molokai is buried. He was the Priest who went to the Hawaiian Island of Molokai to serve the leprous people there. He would always begin his homilees at Mass with the words, "My Lepers." One day after serving them for quite some time, he began with the words, "My fellow Lepers," letting them know that their Priest was now one of them. He died there, heroically sacrificing his life that others may have the Life, Jesus Christ.


So we prayed our Holy Hour there, and I prayed for all of you readers, in fact. So you have Blessed Peter Damian praying for you, and he's pretty darn close to God right now...which is sweet...and an understatement.


This last week we also had our Thanksgiving dinner. We were allowed to miss classes, which were still held since the Italians do not celebrate that holiday--a faculty encouraged skip day...got to love it. We had the New Man/Old Man (flag) football game, known affectionately as "The Spaghetti Bowl." We lost the game, but we did beat them in the second half (we outscored them there, but they way outscored us in the first half).


And we finished it all off with a nice Turkey dinner, and let's just say I am a huge tryptofan. And just so you know: Texas was true to its size. We had 8 tables with a total of 50 guests (or so), compared to most other tables which were grouped by region. So we had 8 tables all to Texas. I guess everything is bigger in Texas (including our egos?).


We come to the present moment, where I just finished helping clean up our main hallways after a reception with tons of guests. This reception was for the consistory where Pope Benedict elevated 23 Archbishops to the College of Cardinals, and the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston was one of those made Cardinal. So I actually got to shake hands and speak (briefly) with his Eminence Daniel Cardinal DiNardo. What a blessing. It's just so cool to see the Church be continually reborn. Allow me to put it into perspective for you: I just met a man who will vote for the next Pope. There's more to it than that, but that should give you a good idea. His Eminence Cardinal Foley was also at our seminary. So we had two Cardinals in the house, and it wasn't because we left the window open.


Well, praise God for His beautiful Church! Like St. Peter in the presence of Christ's Transfiguration, all I can say is, "It is good that we are here" (Luke 9:33). What else can I say? Praise Him!


Alrighty, time to check out. I pray that God blesses you abundantly with an ever greater knowledge of His love for you--may you find the peace that is only found in Him! Pax!


Check back soon for footage from the Consistory!