Reflections from Vacation
Please forgive me for being so self-referential in this Pastor’s Note. When I come back from vacation, lots of people ask me how it went. I find it much easier to simply provide one note here than attempt to answer the same question many times in person.
Visiting the Saints
The greatest gift of my travels was the ability to pray at the tombs of St. Katherine Drexel and St. John Neumann – both American saints, both enshrined in Philadelphia. (Rather than recount their full biographies here, I will link to their Wikipedia entries: Drexel and Neumann.)
At the tomb of St. Katherine Drexel, I asked her to intercede especially for the faith of the Lummi Tribe, and that I and our parish communities would know how best to serve Lummi Catholics.
At the tomb of St. John Neumann, I asked him to intercede especially for our Archbishop and for myself, that the weight of our offices would not overwhelm us. (St. John Neumann famously offered his resignation to the Pope because he thought he was doing a poor job as Archbishop of Philadelphia – a resignation the Pope wisely rejected.) I forgot, at that moment, to pray for our school, but the wonderful thing about the saints is that I can continue to ask for his intercession even now that I am back in Whatcom County.
Reconnecting with my Past Self
Another grace was the ability to revisit my undergraduate college and to recollect some of the happiest and most fulfilling years of my life. I find for myself – and I imagine this is probably true for most people – that there are parts of me that I lose as the years and responsibilities grind me down, and also parts of me that I gain as I grow in virtue and discipline. I find it profoundly helpful to take time to reignite the parts that have faded and give thanks for the parts that have improved.
Entering into Family Life
My last three days – after traveling from Boston to Philadelphia – I stayed in the home of a dear college friend, her husband, her 8-month-old daughter and her 2-year-old son. It is exceedingly rare that I get such an intimate look into family dynamics and all the work it takes just to keep very young children clean, fed, and happy. But I am so thankful that I got to be that close to my friend’s family for even that short amount of time. And it helps me to be a better priest to our families, in whose homes the bulk of the Christian faith is lived day-to-day.
Perspective
For me, the benefit of vacation is not rest (I generally maximize the itinerary) but perspective. Getting away from the day-to-day and changing my environment allows me to rethink my priorities and take the temperature of my life and decisions.
Unfortunately, my post-vacation insight this time is that Partners in the Gospel and the change it has brought to my priesthood have been harder on me that I had previously been willing to admit. It is helpful to realize this about myself and is definitely something I will be following up on with my spiritual director and priest support group.
Fr. Moore 