Rectory living

Priests like me live in a house called a rectory. There is a rectory at or near every Catholic church. It is usually a normal house which is built for priests. Most of the rectories in our area (Archdiocese of Washington) were built decades ago to house several priests. The rectory here at OLVP is an old farm house which has one main suite upstairs and a guest room. It’s a very nice and solid home!

It’s been the topic of conversation here these past few days. First, I mentioned cleaning my bedroom (specifically my closets) in the Sunday homily. Next, I brought the Youth Group to the rectory on Sunday night for a brief video and discussion. They were excited to see the sharks in my fish tank, but found one of them floating in the tank. He had either just died or it happened earlier and I didn’t notice. I was a bit traumatized in front of the teens, and sad about him and for the other baby sharks. Love those guys!

And, as I write this on Tuesday night, the rectory is without heat. Long story, and by the time this is published, it should be fixed. A space heater has been saving me the past few days of 50 degrees indoors. When the regular heat returns, I will be grateful to God lol. We are so blessed to have all of the comforts and conveniences we do; we don’t realize it until they’re gone.

The timing of events is providential and not coincidental because of the series of talks on suffering I’ve been giving on Sundays. You can listen to a few of the talks on our website under “News” (and click on “Cross fit series”). I’ve been “offering up” the penance of living in an igloo! God is good.