This week’s Gospel message speaks directly to my heart.  This past January the vocations office sent out to all the seminarians a questionnaire.  The purpose of the questionnaire is to find out from each seminarian what ministry or experience we felt we needed to gain experience in during our summer assignment.  Knowing that I would have to teach religious education to youth next year at a parish in Boston, and not having any experience in teaching or working with youth, I responded by asking for a summer assignment that would give me experience in both.  Well, I could not have hand-picked a better parish for my summer assignment.  Truly, when the Lord says “and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” He means the doors will be opened wide!  I experienced in a profound way this summer at JDW the Christian meaning of wide-open doors, both physical and spiritual.    The Lord hears our prayers, but sometimes He answers our prayers in ways we could not have expected.  This happened to me, and I would like to share with you an example of prayers being answered in ways we least expect them. 

We were on the bus returning home from the Steubenville high school retreat.  In the early evening we had sung a Divine Mercy Chaplet.  Afterwards, tears were streaming down my face.  I was somewhat surprised because this doesn’t normally happen to me.  Praying silently, I realized that these were tears of joy and thanksgiving.  Why?  Because I got  it, the Lord was letting me see the real reason why He wanted me here at JDW with all of you for these 8 weeks.  Yes, it was to get some experience and learn about teaching this generation of young adults, but that wasn't the primary reason.  The real reason He wanted me here, was so that I could also be made whole.  That those wounds and scars that were deep within my soul could be healed.   Not by a textbook, or fancy words.  But by living in an authentic Christian community, where God's love is returned to Him by the witness of your love and caring for each other.  I didn't know that there were places inside of me that needed to be fixed.  But God did.  In His infinite wisdom He knew that in order for me to continue to grow in my formation on the path to the priesthood, I first needed spiritual healing and growth.  And He knew exactly where and from whom I should receive it, from you!

The experiences and encounters I had with so many of you over meals and conversation,  and the experiences  that I had with the teens during VBS and Steubenville, culminated in that moment of consolation on the bus as we got closer to home.  This is when I realized that I wasn't here just to learn how to teach teens today.  God placed me here so that by being with you, adults and teens, that I could experience Christian faith, hope, and love, and in doing so be healed and made whole in my own life.  What a far cry from what I wrote on my survey in January.  How glorious is God, how amazing is His love for us.  I know how amazing His love is for me, because He allowed me the blessing of spending these 8 weeks with you.  A gift that has been so great to me, there is no way to measure it in human terms.  I said when I arrived that you have the opportunity to help form me, Iooking back on it now I didn't realize you would take that offer so seriously.  I'm so glad you did!  Thank you for your generosity, love, prayers, and support.  If the promise made to us is a heaven full of souls such as I've encountered here this summer, then what a wonderful life we have waiting for us!  Ask and indeed you shall receive, in ways you can never imagine.

Yours in Christ,