priesting

Friends: My priesting is -- please God -- on Friday at 7:00 p.m. I leave tomorrow and so will continue to be on blogging hiatus. Please pray for me.

My retreat was good. Peaceful and quiet. I read a lot (mainly Jeremy Taylor, George Herbert, and the Bible). I also prayed a lot, mostly in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I felt that the Lord "gave me" (pardon the Evangelicalism) Psalm 43:

Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause
against an ungodly people;
from deceitful and unjust men
deliver me!

For thou art the God in whom I take refuge;
why hast thou cast me off?
Why go I mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?

Oh send out thy light and thy truth;
let them lead me,
let them bring me to thy holy hill
and to thy dwelling!

Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy;
and I will praise thee with the lyre,
O God, my God.

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.

Which you may compare with my own translation from the Vulgate -- one of my spiritual exercises while on retreat:

Judge me, God, and discern my cause from an unholy nation,
From an iniquitous man and from the deceitful, root me out.

Since you are my courage, O God,
Wherefore have you spurned me?
And wherefore do I march along so sorrowful,
while the enemy weakens me?

Send out your light and your truth,
that those same may entice me,
And induce me into the midst of your holy mountain,
and into your tabernacle,

And I will go up to the altar of God,
To God who delights my youthfulness.
I will confess to you on the guitar,
O God, my God.

Why are you sad, O my soul?
And why do you confuse me?
Trust in God, because up till now I have confessed that One,
The salvation of my face, and my God.