THE LAST OF THE SUMMER STORIES (maybe)

Before the summer officially ends and I begin school tomorrow, I want to share a couple of final stories from the summer (which is obviously extends later than the US summer..). 

So, (we’re back in Madrid now, ok?, around the middle of August…time got away from me..) it was Monday morning and WYD had just ended the night before.  I was supposed to go back to Spanish classes but felt a slight temptation to self-indulgence (in which I whole-heartedly indulged) in the form of skipping school that morning for a much needed rest.  While relaxing in my room after a little sleep, one of the Oblatas, Emma, came by the house and, seeing my lazy state, invited me to lunch with her community.  Having no previous engagements, I went along for the ride and enjoyed a nice lunch (which somehow turned into a whole-day event with supper included…I told you Spain was great!)

Emma

My other lunch (and supper) companions: Cristina is in the middle...read on

Now, sometime during the lunch several of the other Oblatas stopped by on their way to a retreat up in the north of Spain.  Greeting them and giving a small voice to my lack of ganas (‘want to’) to return to class, the Superior General, Marimar, invited me on retreat with them, saying that the first couple of days would just be vacation time and that Cristina was coming up on Wednesday with the retreat preacher so I could ride with her.  So, not being one to miss a good opportunity, I told her I would check with my superior and let her know.  After the 3 hour lunch (and the unforeseen late supper), I went home and decided to go to class the next morning to try it out.  And in two words I can tell you the result:  BORING and POINTLESS!!  (I had been speaking Spanish fluently for 3 weeks and returning to the grammar was just going to confuse me.)

That problem solved, I emailed my superior, got his permission, packed my bags, and set out on a 5 hour ride to the north.  Somewhere along the way I fell asleep and woke up to the most beautiful, green, and misty landscape I have ever seen.  For a second I thought that we crashed and that I was in heaven!  But no, I am still alive to tell about the beautiful week that followed.  Eventually we arrived at our retreat house (a Discalced Carmelite Convent on the Camino de Santiago, a short 10 min walk from the beach!) after a few missed turns during a rosary (praying and driving is sort of like praying and talking on the phone but with a quicker upward route, btw).  We greeted our long lost sisters who we hadn’t seen in a day, had a loud, familial, very Oblate meal, and went to bed ready for the next day’s silence. 

The beauty

Now, I won’t go into the details of the whole retreat, but I will tell you that it was absolutely, without a doubt, the most intense and yet most beautiful and spiritual retreat of my entire life.  I literally cried every single day, sometimes from the beauty of the moment and singing (women’s voices can really touch a man’s heart after a whole year of deep, manly voices in the house in Rome), sometimes from the memories of the previous year (with many, many changes and challenges), but mostly from the enormous interior work going on.  Even after almost two months, I can tell you positively that something very important changed within me and that a very large vocational step was taken during that blessed time.  The atmosphere was refreshing, the retreat director (a diocesan priest who works with the Oblatas) was really good, and the company of 10 holy, Spirit-driven women somehow proved pivotal and life-changing.  All in all, I came out a new man and wholly renewed; God in his Providence knows what He is doing.  Btw, I don’t want to sound chauvinist (hey, nobody’s perfect, alright!) but my Spanish also GREATLY improved since women (even religious) have a delightfully difficult time staying silent (we went to the beach almost every day in groups :). 

Me! (and the Atlantic Ocean)

Katerin, Raquel, and I out for a drive

Good, homemade Spanish food

Then, as all good things do, the week ended and we returned to Madrid for the Mass for renewal of vows for two of the sisters (but not before I bought the complete works of St. John of the Cross in Spanish, which I can actually read without much trouble even though it is one of the masterpieces of the Spanish language).  I served the Mass in full liturgical get-up (cassock and surplice which, as you know, looks pretty impressive) and finished off my precious time with the sisters in a blaze of glory (hopefully God’s). 

Here we are! (I should learn to pay attention..)

I then had three days to relax and finish visiting Madrid and some friends before finally returning to Rome on Saturday, September 1, but that not before having one last lunch with the sisters on Friday (which also turned into supper and getting home at 10:30PM!).  So, I returned to Rome completely renewed in my vocation, reinvigorated by the many, many new profound friendships I had made, and re-gung hoed (is that a word?) to begin my second year in Rome. 

Thank you, God, for an unforgettable and life changing summer!

P.S. After all my rambling about the Oblatas, you might be interested to find out something more concrete about them… look on their website here:  http://www.oblatas.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Itemid=54&lang=en