Papa Benedicto!

 

What's that? What's today?

That's right...The Seventh Anniversary

of the Pontificate of our Holy Father

(he really is a great father, isn't he?).

Basically, it's like his birthday as Pope today!

...or maybe it's more like Father's day just for him!

Whatever you'd like to call today, it's a day to be extremely proud of our Father and to be reminded to pray for him especially today. Can you imagine being a father of billions of children?!

Faith through Family

Greetings from the Don Bosco Formation House!

Yesterday was my twenty-third birthday, and my second birthday away from my family.  I am one of the few guys in the formation house that is an only child.  I was spoiled and I loved it! But I never really felt a disconnect with my family without brothers or sisters.  Truthfully that is only because my parents have led me in my faith and have kept me involved at school as well as in church.  A lot of my friends who have brothers and sisters, speak highly of the relationship and bond that they share.  But there are constant reminders in my life to help me see just how many brothers and sisters I have.  I am so close with most of my friends that we consider each other brothers and sisters.  I understand that you all must feel that way about your friends, but for me it’s a different feeling and understanding.  It is a complete support system in my life, and because of the quality of friends I have, I can stay close to our Lord. 

I feel like the luckiest guy in the world, because of the friends and family that have been so supportive in my faith life.  Yesterday was just another big example for me.  The guys here in the house are no different from my friends back at home.  They are my brothers, and I appreciate them more than they could ever know. 

Family has always been important to me.  My parents and extended family have always been important to me, and now I know that between the friends I have back home, and the men here in the formation house, I have many brothers.  I have surely been blessed.  

It is with a little help from your friends that you achieve holiness and fulfill your baptismal call.  That’s why I know I made the right choice almost two years ago to leave what was familiar to come live in New Jersey.  Never forget you have friends, brothers and sisters in Christ to help you get to  heaven, you don’t have to do it alone. 

Peace in Christ       

Valuing every moment

While sitting in our TV room today, I realized that today marks 2 months until my 21^st birthday. In other words I am officially 20 years and 10 months old, and for whatever reason (most likely the boredom caused by the fact that there is not much to do when it snows 6 inches) I did the math, and realized that today is my 250^th month birthday.

Because of this, I thought back to when I turned 100 months old. I was a cute and adorable 8 year old (if I do say so myself), and my mom asked if I wanted to take a walk around the block, something we did quite often. So I saw nothing out of the ordinary with this question. While we were out, my dad brought out the cake, and returning home, I was welcomed back by my father and brother singing “happy birthday” to me.

Remembering this led me to reflect on how much I have grown since then, and how every experience that we go through leads us to take another step down the road of our lives. I can even remember back to the first day that I entered the house on August 24, 2009, and how much I have grown since then. In the good times and tough, in the fun things and difficult, everything we do has a direct correlation to our growth in our relationship to God.

There is a value to everything we do. Let us remember this, and make every moment of our lives count towards our growth as Salesian Catholic Christians, and keep walking along the path of holiness.

St. Agnes, pray for us