Update on Life

These past few days have been pretty crazy.

My first day back in the city I spent most of the day at meetings and doing desk work organizing student activities for this coming year.

Dusk at Westminster Abbey.

Then on Friday I went up to Westminster Abbey with two dear friends of mine. We went to morning Mass at their parish church (since we weren't exactly up to 6:30am Mass at the Benedictine monastery) and then headed up to the Abbey. We hung out there praying in the Church, walking around the grounds, having a picnic outside, praying the rosary at the grotto, and visiting with some of the Benedictines we know.

We spent two and a half hours in the afternoon speaking with (or rather listening to) Fr. Boniface OSB, an elderly monk in his mid-eighties who is the librarian at the Abbey. He had some incredible stories to tell. Sitting there listening to him was a real blessing. It's always good for us young ones to meet with people such as Fr. Boniface who have a lifetime of wisdom and life experience to share with us. Fr. Boniface spent quite some time showing us around the rare book room which was really fascinating.

After vespers we went out for dinner and then went grocery shopping and picked up some food for the Poor Clares. These cloistered sisters rely entirely on the providence of God, trusting that people will bring them food. We picked them up some pasta and pasta sauce (though we had to make sure it didn't have meat in it since they don't ever eat meat), granola bars, and a big bucket of ice-cream and ice-cream cones. We figured they deserved a summer treat. We then went to drop off the food (and one of my two friends who spent the weekend with the Poor Clares in their guest house).

My other friend and I had been planning on heading back home but then we remembered that the Benedictines had Benediction after Night Prayer since it was First Friday. . . so. . . we headed back up to the Abbey for prayers and Benediction. Finally, as the sun was setting over the mountains, we headed back home after a wonderful day of prayer, reflection, and fellowship.

Saturday I spent the day at a table welcoming new students to campus and talking to them about the small Catholic college I attend and am working for this year. In the evening I helped get my brothers girlfriend and him to her surprise birthday party. I joined in on the party for a while and then headed home and went to sleep after a long day.

Brunch at the college.

Sunday I spent a large part of the day preparing for and cleaning up from a brunch for new students and their parents (and quite a few returning students who showed up) at the college. In the afternoon a whole bunch of my friends and I went and splashed around in a local free outdoor swimming pool. It was nice to pretend that summer holidays aren't over yet.

And finally, today I spent the day doing more work at the college.

Sigh, life is busy but nothing too exciting going on here. I'm looking forward to classes starting on Thursday.

As a side note, I had an interesting conversation with a ten year old today. She told me she wanted a laptop and I told her that she was a little too young for that. I explained that when I was her age I sure didn't own a laptop. Her response? "Well, that was way back in the olden days. Now a days kids have laptops." Ok, besides the fact that I insist a ten year old does not need a laptop, since when did I fall into the "olden days" category? Yikes!