During my time in seminary with the SOLT community in Rome, we would alternate where we would celebrate the Easter Vigil. One year we would attend the Vigil at St. Peter’s Basilica with Pope Saint John Paul II presiding. The next year, in order to have some firsthand experience of organizing, preparing and serving the Easter Vigil, we would celebrate in our humble basement chapel which was within a huge complex belonging to the Christian Brothers of St. John the Baptist de La Salle, from whom we used to rent out a block of rooms. While of course, the papal celebrations were unforgettable in their grandeur, solemnity and beauty, sometimes, the subtle symbolic significance of very profound liturgical gestures would become more apparent while celebrating the Easter Vigil in our basement chapel. There are two such moments that I would like to share with you here.

At the beginning of the Lenten season, I invited myself and all of us in the Diocese of Corpus Christi to embark on a journey that has the potential to transform us and bring us closer to God.  I spoke of bringing to prayer the people who hurt us, those who might not be our friends and pray for them by name. I have experienced in my life that true conversation has its roots in prayer. 

Lent reminds us that we are pilgrims on the path of discipleship, living out the paschal mystery in our lives, each according to our own vocation.

There is something about babbling brooks and running streams that does a soul good. One of the most memorable camping trips that I have ever had was beside such a stream. It was located in a remote part of the Angelina National Forest in East Texas. We had been hiking for a good portion of the day through the thick of the forest, tromping through a lightly trodden trail that had become overrun with brush and vegetation. It appeared that no conservation crews had maintained the trail in a long time, nor had anyone traversed that way for about as long. It was a wonderful feeling of adventure trekking through an area that was far removed from the beaten paths that others had taken.