I Don't Want to Go Back to School!

Now that we are in August and school is about to start back up, if you walk by the rectory you may hear me crying, “I don’t want the summer to end!”  Why?  Because ministry at Visitation is about to jump up to full speed again!  From the school classroom visits, to attending the school sporting events, to RE starting back up is just to name a few! 

I find comfort, however, that my response to the summer ending is much like St. Peter’s in the Gospel.  After experiencing the Transfiguration of the Lord, St. Peter wanted didn’t want to leave the mountain with the Lord.  Yet, the Lord leads St. Peter off the mountain.  He was teaching St. Peter, that the experience of the Transfiguration was meant to give him strength to endure the difficulty of the Cross, which would lead to the greater joys of the Resurrection!

For if St. Peter had his way, Jesus would have never left the mountain, he would have never died on the cross, and the gates of heaven would have never been opened to us.  If I had my way about the summer, school would never start, I would not have the encounters with students and their families, and I would miss out in the great joys of my priesthood! 

And so, even though I may have been crying in the rectory with the thought of summer ending, I’m also very excited to see what the Lord has planned for me this coming fall at Visitation.  For it is in our acceptance of the Cross, that we shall experience the joys of the Resurrection!