Holy Week at Home

April 8, 2010

Peace and Good,

I was home all of Holy Week, and that was a real joy considering how much I have been travelling this past few months. Even there, though, I did have a few assignments.

Monday of Holy Week I gave a talk at Walter Reed Medical Center. The theme of the talk was our Lenten Practices: Conversion and Prayer. I am always pleased when I talk there. There is a small to medium size group in the chapel, and then it is televised throughout the center.

Tuesday evening I gave a talk to the Knights of Columbus in the local parish. The topic was the Passion Narratives in the Gospels. What a perfect time to give that talk. It was like an extended way of the cross.

From Thursday evening until Sunday noon, I was giving a Triduum retreat at Mariottsville Retreat Center which is not all that far away from our friary (so I was able to sleep at home each evening). There were about 20 on the retreat, and then we had the sisters who live there (The Sisters of Bon Secours) and outsiders joining us for the Triduum services.

I finished two books. I listened to HMS Surprise by Patrick O'Brien. This is a book in the Horatio Hornblower spirit. It was entertaining because it presents an archaic way of thinking. It is set during the Napoleonic Wars, concerning a captain and a ship's doctor who do great deeds of bravery.

I also finished the novella When Night Falls by Margaret Daley. This is a detective novel with a Christian background. Instead of ending up in bed every five minutes, the heroes pray and speak of their faith. The idea is great, the execution a bit heavy handed, but it was worth reading.

My schedule for the next couple of months is:

04/11/10 - 04/16/10 - Hyatt Regency Hotel, Hamburg, NY (Provincial Retreat)

04/17/10 - 06/12/10 - International House of Franciscan Studies, Canterbury, England, U.K.

06/13/10 - 06/18/10 - Hyatt Regency Hotel, Hamburg, NY (Provincial Retreat)

06/19/10 - 07/01/10 - St. Victor's Major Seminary, Tamale, Ghana, West Africa p.o.c. Fr. David Azambawu(Seminarian Retreat)

07/04/10 - 07/10/10 - St. Francis Convent, Mishawaka, IN 46546 p.o.c. Sr. M. Dorothy

07/11/10 - 07/18/10 - Quellen Spiritual Center, Mendham, NJ 07945 p.o.c. Sr. Teresa Marie (Sisters' Retreat)

God Bless

and Shalom

fr. Jude

P.S. A belated Happy Easter!