It Is Finished

Gallivanting across Europe? Check.

Complete transformation of my entire faith life? Check.

Survive five final exams in three days? Check.

With only five days until I board my flight my life in Gaming, Austria is almost over. And what do I have to show for it?

Well, a wise man once said, "literally - nothing is the same." Thus said the household brother of legend, Elliot Foley when he in the days of yore walked these same hallowed halls. And I can with equal confidence say the same: literally nothing is the same. How I see myself is not the same. How I relate to the world is not the same. How I perceive other people is not the same. My relationship with God is not the same. Nothing is the same. Everything is different.

Now, I move on. I go home. But that will not be the same either. Sometimes it may be tempting to try and put things back the way they were but I know in my heart that that is not, and never will be, The Plan. Now is the challenge. Even now I hear the battle cry: it is time to leave the pilgrimages and the holy men and women and Maria Thron behind . . . and face the world. Austria has changed me; God has changed me; now I need to go change the world in the million little ways that will be required of me.

Even now my heart thumps against my chest with a curious mix of eager anticipation, a dynamic drive, and a tinge of anxiety. Do I have what it takes? No. But God does, He resides in my heart, and He gives me the strength I need. When I stepped off that plane for the first time onto European soil I had a heart of broken glass. Now, when I step on to that plane to go back to the United States I will have a heart of Blood and Fire, a Pierced heart, Jesus' Heart.

I came, a boy; I leave, a true man. St. Joseph pray for us.