I was recently in Milwaukee at the reception of our new Postulants. Events like these bring many of the friars together. One of the older friars came up to me and said: "You write great stuff. But sometimes you go a little long."

"You sound like a parishioner after Mass!" I told him jokingly, and we had a good laugh.

it's good to know that friars from my Order keep tabs on me, even if they have some helpful criticisms along the way.

I made the decision to wear my habit to class at St. Xavier University today. It's only 10AM, but so the impact has had as much to do with the others as it has with me.

It was 1995 when I last stepped into a classroom, expecting to receive a grade. For the past few months I've been excited for this chance to learn at a higher institution. Now that I'm here, with all the reservations and complications that I bring with me, I find that it is something still new; the first day of school notwithstanding.

Last night I went to Transfer Orientation with two other post-novices at my school: St. Xavier University. It's a required seminar that each student must take before joining. But instead of being oriented with the school I realized the disturbing reality of returning to school as a 35 year old.

Even though I've been in the city for a few weeks, yesterday was our first real "introduction" to the city of Chicago. It's important to know the history of where you live as well as the history of the people who live there. As a way to get us started, we a trip downtown on a beautiful day.

"Do you know what you're getting yourself into?" a little voice in the back of my head asked.

"I mean do you really know what you're about to do? What you are giving up?"

I don't think it was the voice of the Enemy or some malignant Force trying to steal my vocation at the last minute. Rather that little voice that spoke came from me. It's a voice that people who've made commitments are probably familiar with: a voice that - after all the planning, excitement, invitations, preparation, and prayer - drives home the greatest question of the day: Am I doing the right thing?

I know it's bad form for a blogger to take a month-long hiatus from his/her craft, but taking vows to the Order of Capuchin Franciscans has been a pretty big deal.

Numerous guests came to visit, I was able to attend several different functions for the province, I was struck with tonsilitis and a middle-ear infection, I've started my preparation for school at Saint Xavier University, and this week starts different orientations regarding life as a post-novice as well as being orientated to this year's ministry at Saint Lawrence High School in Mt. Calvary, WI.

This morning I look out the window, wondering if rain on the day I take vows is either good or bad luck. While something so important is about more than luck and weather conditions, it's a unique feeling to capstone a long journey with the simplicity of the rain.

With 10 days left of Novitiate, I know I'll be taking a break from blogging for about a month. My schedule from now until the end of August is already filling up, not the least of which is my profession date on July 31st.

But before going on break, I know there are many people that wanted me to put my Novitiate year in some form of perspective - to give understanding to year that is spent to allow people the time, space, and support to discern their call to religious life. While I can't speak for everyone else here in my Novitiate, nor for the guys who decided to leave during the year, I can do my best to explain what the Novitiate year has meant to me.

Today begins the final retreat for the Novitiate year. As of today, there are 20 days left until I return to Chicago.

Unfortunately there won't be any internet access, so I'll be "off the grid" for a while.

One topic of note: I've been recommended for vows, and after making the request to my provincial, I've been approved to take first vows on July 31, 2010 in Milwaukee. There's a lot of thoughts tied into it, however part of our final retreat is to take 10 minutes to discuss the Novitiate year, explain what we've learned, and how it has changed us. It sounds like a great blog article...unfortunately I've decided to wait until after the retreat to share this bit of personal reflection.

Thanks to everyone who's kept me in their prayers this entire time. After this week, it's all about Chicago, returning to college, and living a vowed life.

For those of you who've kept hitting the F.A.Q's button on the menu, I've finally gotten around to getting the page up! Sorry about the delay.

I get a lot of questions about my vocation, how everything worked, and how I made it through difficult experiences in my journey. Even when I started blogging four years ago, I wanted to be able to help people going through the same issues I was. Figuring out what God is asking of us can be a tough job; it can be even tougher if we don't know where to seek help. Hopefully by putting up the page, it will give some people access to ask questions while giving them a chance to ask their own.

Enjoy, and never hesitate to ask questions...especially when God's involved. You can either click the F.A.Q button on the menu or click here.

Peace.

While much of the world's attention is focused on South Africa as some of the greatest names in soccer (or football, if you prefer) play for their nations, there are plenty of peripheral stories tied into this competition. What might surprise some people is existence of stories that involve the World Cup and faith.

Unfortunately, not all the stories have good endings.