Litany of Pleasant Surprises

As I write this blog entry, I am sitting in my room at Holy Trinity Seminary in Irving, TX preparing to start my second year of seminary. I have been here at the seminary for about five days getting settled, attending meetings, and completing incessant amounts of paperwork. Classes start in the morning so tonight will undoubtedly be an early night.

However, before I turn in I thought that I might post a few thoughts that I have had over the past few weeks. After my time in College Station in early August, I traveled to Temple, TX to visit Fr. Ramiro Tarazona at his parish. Fr. Ramiro and I became friends while he was working at my home parish in College Station for two years. He is only ten days older than me and we like to tease each other like brothers even though I call him, “Father.”

After visiting with Fr. Ramiro, I made the short trip across town to Cedarbrake Retreat Center for the annual Seminarian Convocation. This year certainly had a different feel to it than last year. As we were welcoming our new Vocations Director, we were saying goodbye to our beloved Bishop Aymond. We were fortunate to have Archbishop Aymond with us for the entire three days and got to celebrate his last Mass as Bishop of Austin with him. It was difficult for me personally to say goodbye to him as he has had a profound impact on my life, not only as a Bishop, but as a spiritual father and I dare say, a friend.

Once the convocation was over I headed to Hutto where I stayed the night with family before leaving for Corpus Christi the next day. I spent several days with a priest-friend in Banquete, TX, where I was able to read, sleep, and pray in peace. It was a spiritually rewarding time and may become an annual tradition. I then returned back to College Station where I spent nine days with friends and family before heading back to seminary.

I must admit that my head was spinning the first few days that I was back at seminary. It seemed as though I had not left and that summer flew by. I immediately encountered some of the challenges that come with community life, but I also discovered a litany of pleasant surprises. I will list some of them for you here:

- 46 Seminarians from 9 dioceses (welcome Beaumont and Corpus Christi)
- Completely remodeled Refectory (dining hall)
- Remodeled entryway near the Chapel
- Remodeled Student Lounge
- New Faculty members
- New Kitchen Staff (the food is superb right now!)
- Two of the freshmen are talented Jazz musicians. Three of us were sitting in the upstairs TV lounge when we heard them playing and went in search of the source. We were pleasantly surprised to find them jamming out in the music room.
- One of the Pre-Theologians is a talented organist. Again, I was drawn by the music I heard coming from the Chapel and walked in to find Kris from the Diocese of Victoria playing the organ. Many people will remember him from playing the organ at St. Mary’s and St. Thomas Aquinas. He sits next to me in chapel and it is nice to have a familiar face around. Of course, it would be nicer to see some more faces from St. Thomas Aquinas (hint…hint).
- As of right now, I have Tuesdays and Thursdays off from classes although I will have the occasional appointment on those days. It should give me plenty of time to exercise, pray, study, etc.

There are other pleasant changes but I will save them for another time. I am about to go do one of my new favorite daily rituals and that is to take a walk after dinner. I try to invite a different seminarian each time and it gives me a chance to talk with them. I will then return to my room and try to be in bed by 9:30PM or 10:00PM. The alarm goes off at 5:15AM for a full day of class. This year I am taking: Systematic Theology I, Ancient Philosophy, Early Modern Philosophy, and Philosophy of God. I am also taking a Philosophy of Catholic Ethics class correspondence that will require me to travel to Austin 7 or 8 times throughout the year.

I hope that all of you are in good health and good spirits. Feel free to leave comments, questions you would like answered, prayer requests, etc. All of you remain in my prayers daily.

Pax Tecum,
Tom