t is incredible to see so many people gathered to support the education of our future priests. It is incredible to see how many people, including people of our parish, contribute to such a large fundraising for the education of our seminarians.

When we are in spiritual consolation and we do not prepare for the desolation, when it comes, we will soon allow ourselves to be convinced that those experiences of God’s love were somehow not authentic or that we had imagined them all along.

It is important to note that Spiritual Consolation is a very different reality from Natural Consolation. The word, consolation, on its own, refers to an action of another person to provide one with feelings of joy, happiness, to life one out of a pain or suffering, to provide a moment of levity or peace. Natural consolations can come in forms of hugs, or phone calls; can be provided to oneself through a piece of chocolate or a glass of wine. These Natural Consolations must never be confused with the greatness of a Spiritual Consolation.

The most important thing to remember is that when I am in desolation, I make no change. In fact, there is really only one thing I should consider changing while in the state of desolation, I should increase my time, frequency, and fervor of my prayer.

When we know how to evaluate the "vital signs" of our spiritual life, we then can more accurately address our spiritual health.

It seems like ever since the Pandemic begin back in the beginning of 2020 (over 2 years ago) the world has changed, and dramatically so. One thing that I have noticed is how ready so many people seem to fight, argue, scream, and pull away from any sense of communal life. Wouldn’t it be nice if the world could go back to the “before times”? Maybe we can!