Yesterday, Monday, March 16, I was trying to make my way back from Houston, TX where I visited a prospective for our community. (He treated me to a wonderful lunch at the restaurant where he works.) I got to Hobby Airport in plenty of time for my 3:35 pm flight which was marked on the signage as "on time." The flight just before it going to Atlanta was canceled and on before that was on a two to three hour delay. So, I got suspicious of the "on time" notification.
Simple story: bad weather in Atlanta messed up flights for hours. We left Houston at 5:30 instead of 3:35. Once I got there I found that my 9:30 pm flight was delayed and we finally left at 11:00. I got to CVG at 12:30 this morning; home at 1:30; and to bed at 2:00.
BUT, not all was misery. While sitting in the Houston airport I began to hear string music. I looked around and found that three young men, all cellists, had decided to play for us. The crowd loved it and it certainly made the time pass more pleasantly. I think someone said that they were in Houston for a recital, but I'm not sure.
As has happened so many times before, the inconvenience of delayed flights tends to get people talking and sharing stories. I always enjoy the people with whom I strike up a conversation on such occasions. People sharing a common situation tend to pull together.
Brother Tim Lamb, O.F.M. (pictured on the left with Carmelite Sister Marie Therese) and I participated in the Here I Am Lord vocation conference in St. Charles IL on march 5-8. There were 55 Religious Communities represented with close to 100 Priests, Brothers and Sister in attendance.
I put together a little video of the experience which I uploaded on Youtube. That and other videos can be found at our channel franciscanvocations.
Fr. Jeff, our Provincial Minister, greets the participants of the Come and See weekend:
Daniel, Jamie, and Adam,
It was good to meet you druing the "Come and See" weekend. I hope that it was helpful to you and your discernment! I pray that God will bless your journey of faith and discipleship. If the Lord leads you to spend your life with us, that will be a great gift to both you and us! Thaks for your goodness and generosity.
Fr. Jeff
Adam sent two comments:
Fr. Don,
Peace be with you!!
The pictures came out great.
The Come and See Weekend is wonderful. I recommended it to anyone who is looking into a religious life.
and
The Come and See weekend was a wonderful experience and helped me grow stonger in faith and now I know that being a Franciscan is what i want to do with my life. All the friars at St. Anthony's are all WONDERFUL men and there is a very strong sense of brotherhood. God Bless you all. I encourage anyone who is thinking about religious life to go to a Come and See Weekend because it is a very eye-opening experience.
Our province was blessed this weekend with three young men who came to Saint Anthony Friary, Cincinnati OH to participate in a Come and Seeweekend. They are (from left to right) Daniel Cornell, 28, from Cincinnati; Jamie Button, 20, of Cincinnati and presently a junior at Miami University, Oxford OH; and Adam Farkas, 20, of Richmond MI.
We are blessed with a steady flow of young men looking into the possibility of joining our fraternity. Thank God for them and for their generosity of spirit.
