Saturday, July 10, 2010

Who shall climb the Lord's Mountain..?

This post is long overdue. LONG overdue.

Anyways -- recently I went out to the Monarch Wilderness in California's Sierra National Forest waaaaaaayyyyy up in the mountains. I went out with the other seminarians from our diocese to clear paths and grow closer to God in this "Wilderness Outreach."

The experience was indescribable. I was able to do a ton of physical labor...which for me is a big deal, and I was able to evangelize to a lot of the volunteers with the forest department which was very vocationally fulfilling to me. The views were great, with the sunrise on the mountains, raging rapids, grassland blowing in the wind, giant sequoias -- just amazing.

I think one of my favorite things (besides Eucharist in the woods) was the fraternity that I was able to enter into with my brother seminarians. We all celebrated mass at 6:00am, had morning, midday, evening, and night prayer together, and even said the Angelus with them at every possible occasion. I got to know them on such a personal level and know that I can rely on them to help form me and make me the best at my vocation, presumably the priesthood. I felt as if I grew in my discernment exponentially because of this opportunity.

This next month is also going to be an eventful one. Here in 4 days I'll be 21 officially. In 5 days our diocese will have a new bishop and I'll embark on my huge road trip. A week long retreat with the seminarians and then I'll have a whole month til I have/get to be at school.

My next post will probably be a mix between real life and just jottin down ideas as my previous posts have been...til then my friends I must get up early tomorrow to receive the sacrament of reconciliation! God bless and enjoy the rest of your summer!