Welcome, my friends, to the fastest summer on record! You can almost feel it in the air (well I can at least): we have journeyed together through the sands of time, across the oceans of occasion, and scaled the mountains of opportunity. Now we arrive to the impending celestial return of our pastor whose own expedition into the chronicles of Christendom have carried him thousands of miles away into the depths of theological deliberation and development.
Concurrently, this humble wayfarer packs his own ministerial baggage and amasses all his intellectual apparatuses, that he may soon embark upon a new adventure of glorious proportions. He wades silently into the untold crystalline waters of educationem secundarium to observe and catalog that ever-enigmatic species, discipulus adulescentior. Sound mystifying? Buckle up!
In other words, Fr. Chas is making his magnificent return to the parish after finishing his sabbatical, and I am going back to high school! Interesting for me, I spent ten full years in post-secondary education at four different academic institutions, but the good Lord has decided it’s time for me to return to the basics.
So on Monday, I will officially begin my chaplaincy at Lumen Christi and spend the week with our faculty and staff in preparation for the start of the new school year on *gasp* August 21 (already?!).
All things considered, we’ve spent a wonderful spring and summer together, and the pastor will be glad to know that we didn’t burn anything down while he was away, thanks be to Jesus. It’s going to get hectic for the both of us in this next month especially, so your very kind prayers and consideration will be most welcome!
I’ll say this, perhaps you can relate with me: transitions are simultaneously some of my most favorite and least favorite times. I’m always very excited by the exhilaration of a new journey, and I have a sense of wonder at all the possibilities and good things to come.
Transitions also cause me anxiety and nervousness, because “all the unknowns” are simply things I have no control over. And that naturally goes against my sometimes-compulsive need to organize every conceivable detail under the umbrella of my command. Transitions are also hard because I face the reality of “starting over”, and recommitting to the hard work of building new relationships.
It’s a beautiful thing, but not always easy. Which is true of many moments in life. If something has true worth, it also has true cost. So we take it all in stride, the challenges and the blessings, and praise the Lord who walks every step of the journey with us.
As always, I’m grateful to be a priest here, and thank God that His providence continues to guide us. God bless us all!