Vows Tomorrow

We ran through our last rehearsal for vows today with Fr. Moe, who will be our Master of Ceremonies. I signed the paperwork stating that I was making the decision for vows willingly while in the presence of three witnesses, as per the regulations, and a host of other paperwork is left to be signed tomorrow. My dad and his side of the family came by today to see the church and I will see them again tomorrow. My mom is leaving in the morning to get down here for the Mass. My pastor from Ashland is coming to concelebrate. Friars are coming from across the Province. The big day looms near.

It's been a long, strange journey to this point, yet the irony is that it has also gone very quickly. It seems like not so long ago I was standing outside of the church, waiting to proclaim my faith in the holy Catholic Church. Tomorrow I'll stand at the entrance to a church again, this time in different garb, to again proclaim with the fullness of my being that God is real and He loves us and that it is my mission, my vocation, to live in close proximity to Him to proclaim His love and his truth throughout a world ready to turn its back on Him.

It's more than I can really fathom. I'm excited, but nervous; confident, yet doubtful; hopeful, yet anxious. Familiar faces have gone, familiar places are nothing but a memory: my world is filled with what is new and different, which is at one and the same time exciting and terrifying. I stand at the threshold and on the other side of the door is the road to Calvary and behind me is the way to destruction and misery. The road to Calvary is a road to joy, but not always a road of joy. The pain and suffering is there - just as constant a companion as Christ. But in the midst of that joy is found, peace is found, and I go on. Sometimes when the going gets really tough I want to turn back, but behind me is far more pain that I can imagine and I will never find my way home. I'm setting out on the the homeward journey. Home is a long way away, but my faith in Jesus tells me that there is a home waiting there and He wants to walk with me there and when we get there He wants to go in, sit, and share Himself fully with me.

Tomorrow is the day. Pray for me.


St. Bonaventure, bishop and Doctor, pray for me.
St. Michael the Archangel, valiant warrior of God, pray for me.
St. Francis, humble and poor brother, pray for me.
St. Clare, brave and noble lover of poverty and prayer, pray for me.
St. Fidelis of Sigmarigen, noble defender of the faith and Protomartyr for the Order, pray for me.
O most holy and blessed Virgin Mother, my protectress and patroness of the Order of Lesser Brothers, pray for me.
O most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on me.
All you, most holy and noble saints who have paved the way of perfection, intercede for me before the throne of Almighty God that He may smile on me and guide me.