Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I hope you don’t get tired of hearing or reading that I love being a priest. If you do, I apologize, but I’m not likely to stop communicating it anytime soon. Indeed, in just recently hosting a seminarian, I’m reminded as I try and show young men like Nicholas the ins and outs of parish life, how beautiful a life it truly is. But even the best of lives come with the occasional challenge as well. That’s why I’m looking forward to the upcoming week as I head off for a bit of vacation.
I’m very much looking forward to making my way out to the Pittsburgh area to the small town of Cecil, PA, to spend a week’s vacation visiting my best friend from seminary. As you may recall, our getting together is a roughly annual tradition with me going out to where he is for a week or vice-versa. This time around it’s my turn to drive a large stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike to get out to him.
While I look forward to be a couch potato and eating junk food, it’s not the primary reason these get-togethers are so enjoyable and important to me. Yes, I enjoy catching up on TV shows and playing video games, and possibly catching a movie or two in the theaters. But the real joy is found in the company and the friendship that we share. Even though we communicate pretty much on a weekly basis, nothing is quite the same as dedicated time shared together in person.
We’ve shared both our joys and sorrows, our triumphs and failures, the extraordinary and the mundane over the years. And I’m the stronger for it. Everyone needs and deserves the kind of relationship and support that encourages us to continue to grow as individuals. A true friend does that. Some of us find such people in siblings, others in spouses, still others in friends we make along the way. But in whatever form they may come, they’re so necessary for our life.
And so, I’m very much looking forward to this upcoming vacation. It comes at a good time for me to recharge and come back energized to the parish thereafter. I hope and pray that you are also connecting or reconnecting with those important people in your life as well. If you can, try to get some rest too. Life is a beautiful thing, but getting some vacation now and again is a good and necessary part of a healthy lifestyle.
Peace and Goodness,
Fr. Dan
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