Provincial Chapter

June 17, 2010

Peace and Good,

I arrived back in the States safe and sound. The trip was non eventful, but as always, long.

When I got back, I rested for a couple of days at my home friary in Ellicott City. It was very, very good to be home, even if only for a couple of days. I always suffer from horrible jet lag, and this was no exception. Today I am only now feeling OK. Saturday and Sunday my mind was so foggy that I just couldn't think. That was a little bit of a problem, because this week Tuesday at our Provincial Chapter, I had been asked to preach at a Votive Mass in honor of St. Anthony, the patron saint of our province. I decided that the Holy Spirit had to guide me in this. By Monday evening, I was back enough that I was able to put my ideas together. Then on Tuesday afternoon I gave the homily in front of the friars (around 200 of them). It is always toughest to preach before ones own. It went quite well, and the friars were appreciative. It was one of those moments when one feels the Holy Spirit working overtime.

This was also very good to remind me of what the Spirit has called me to do. At times I wonder why I was not asked to be one of the men leading the province, but I realize that this is just my own ego at work. God has other uses for me. I have to surrender to that call and respond with as much generosity as I can.

It has been wonderful to spend a week with the friars of our two provinces (the two eastern provinces which we have now agrees to unite in a few years time). During the chapter, we also decided to take spiritual responsibility for the friars in England and Ireland. They have gone through a several bad years, and their numbers are way down. Our new provincial was in charge of their jurisdiction for the past few years, and our Minister General (the big boss in Rome) asked our province to join with them so that we could help them get back on their feet. We voted overwhelmingly to do that.

I have finished a couple of books. One was a CD book called Echo Park by Michael Connelly. It was a detective novel, and it was quite a good story.

The second was a book called More Blood, More Sweat, and Another Cup of Tea by Tom Reynolds. It was the blogs of a London emergency vehicle worker. It was insightful, funny, tragic, etc. This is certainly a book I would recommend.

Please keep me in your prayers as I travel to Ghana this Saturday to give a retreat to some seminarians. I really don't know if I will have access to the internet there, so if you don't hear from me before June 30th, it doesn't mean that anything is wrong.

My coming schedule is:

June 19 - 30, 2010: St. Victor's Major Seminary, Tamale, Ghana - seminarian retreat

July 4 - 10, 2010: St. Francis Convent, Mishawaka, IN - Retreat for Sisters

July 11 - 18, 2010: Quellen Spiritual Center, Mendham, NJ - Retreat for Sisters

July 19 - 23, 2010: St. Francis of Assisi Friary, Mishawaka, IN - Novice Retreat

July 24 - 31, 2010: Chatauqua Community, Chatauqua, NY - Priest in Residence

August 5 - 15, 2010: Our Lady of Consolation Shrine, Carey, OH - Parish Novena

August 16 - 20, 2010: Maronite Seminary, Washington, D.C. - Seminarian Retreat

August 21 - 27, 2010: Ocean City, MD - vacation

August 28 - September 3, 2010: St. Francis of Assisi Friary, Mishawaka, IN - Novitiate Conferences

God bless and
Shalom

fr. Jude