My life in Austria thus far (a few short days) has been absolutely incredible. It is so refreshing to be in a completely different environment, in a place I have never seen before, hearing a language I don't understand at all. But at the same time, I feel completely at home. This has something to do with family, I suppose. I have been realizing lately how blessed we are in the Church to truly have a universal family. My mind really used to separate the blessed souls in Heaven from the souls in Purgatory and us on earth, but we are all closer together than we think. We pray for one another in and through time and space. The saints in heaven are constantly interceding for us so that we may too come to know the Lord in a close and intimate way, as they now know Him.
We always hear the Church referred to as "the universal Church". Living in Austria is helping me to grasp that. This morning in an orientation meeting it was pointed us that someone had written us a letter to start off our semester living and studying in the Kartause (which is an old Carthusian monastery built in the 1300s.) The letter was from Fr. Marcellinus who is the Prior of La Grande Chartreuse, which is the head Carthusian monastery, located in France. He said that "our study of Sacred Scripture, Theology, and Philosophy ought to ultimately lead to wisdom and an intimate knowledge of the things of God. The ultimate goal must be to penetrate more deeply into the mystery of God and his plan of salvation. This aim is not possible without a permanent act of worship. For, it is in and through worship, that man grasps how transcendent God really is and, at the same time, realizes God as the true object of all his desires." Such an encouragement, to have that affirmation of what we have been told, and what we seek, but what we can easily forget: God is our ultimate goal, in all things. We seek to glorify Him and learn more about Him through our studies. What is He teaching us? Where is He leading us through our studies? These monks in France now belong to the same order that the monks did that lived here centuries ago, praying for all tho would later live within their walls. Thats us. Here in Gaming, today. We are a part of their lives, walking their halls and receiving their prayers.
At 2 PM today we had a tour of Gaming, and ended up at the Catholic Church downtown for Mass at 3 PM. Going up to Communion, the great beauty of the universal Church really hit me. Distributing the body and the blood was a priest from Austria, one from America, one from China, and one from Siberia. All of these men coming together from across the globe were called by God to the ministerial priesthood to serve His children on earth. The language barrier did not matter and neither did our cultural differences, we were here as a family united in worship, as Christ's bride coming forth receive our Bridegroom. How blessed are we to be called to this banquet! Praise the Lord, we are never alone - our family within the Church is always here.
Something else that has been really penetrating my heart is the presence of the Blessed Mother. She is always with us, and her care and prayers have been especially felt here in Europe. She is our Mother, and is constantly offering her prayers and protection. What a gift from our Lord...
I hope to be updating this as regularly as possible. I love you all and will be praying for you. May the peace of Christ be yours in abundance. Let us trust in Him, because He knows where we need to be, and His timing is perfect.
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