Visiting Home

 I made a brief visit last month to the parish rectory in San Francisco where I still have a room.  The Paulists call it my “visiting home.”  They know I spend most of my time living in a monastery.  I thought it would be a quiet visit.  Wrong.  Two of my six other classmates from ordination showed up.  Talking went on forever.  We reminisced.  We talked about the present/past/future.  I was exhausted as I don’t have all that much conversation in a monastery.  But what I realized is the “bonding” with these two men that has mysteriously taken place over the years.  I had very little to do with them even in the seminary and after ordination.  But over the years, with reunions, a common purpose, and whatever, we have bonded.  They are important in my life, even as they talk a lot.  We have shared common experiences since 1972.  This encounter is all part of God’s plan for this clueless me.