Bing was a liar!Remember the beginning of The Bells of St. Mary's? Father O'Malley shows up at the rectory with ONE suitcase? As if all his earthly possessions fit into that one bag? Yeah, right. LIES!
I'm taking a break from packing. It's been exactly one year since I did it last, and I've gotten better at it. I saved the boxes from last year, breaking them down and storing them under my bed. Now, packing is like a big jigsaw puzzle: I put each box back together and then put in it whatever is written on the outside. At this point, it's like a game.
The truth is that a move is a good thing every so often. It gives you the chance to go through things you'd ordinarily leave untouched, and ask yourself, "Do I really need this?", "Have I used this in the last ___ years?", "Did I even open this box from the last time I moved?", "Whatever happened to that puppy they gave me?"
My friend, Fr. Jim Weldon, a Priest of the Diocese of Wichita, had a great blog entry recently on his parish's blog. If any of you know of a Priest who is being transferred, now is the time to offer to help. It's a great way to get free theology books, since he doesn't want to pack them but can't bring himself to throw them away.
8 comments:
I feel your pain! I've moved 17 times in my life and see the next one looming over the horizon. You are correct that moving gives us an often much needed opportunity to declutter our lives. I've often thought of buying a Kindle - think how many books would NOT need packing!!
Best wishes and prayers in your new assignment.
NB Enjoyed your interview on the Journey Home.
Grace and peace.
I'm in the middle of my 6th move in 15 years of priesthood. While I always declutter at each move, I still wonder WHEN DID I ACCUMULATE ALL THIS STUFF?
Will help move for free theology books!
Seriously...any priest within a 2 hour radius from Kansas City. heheh
Jay - you would be happier with only one suitcase.
Chad - my brother, a priest, is moving and has some stuff to get rid of in Wichita, KS
Was that your photo from your first assignment? Nice hat ;-)
Don Giovanni,
Yes, in fact that is me. Back then I was thin and the world was in black and white.
Thank you for sharing Fr. Weldon's blog. Are there any other "Mountie" (i.e. alumni of Mount Saint Mary's Seminary) bloggers out there? If so please share your coordinates.
--Fr. Viego
I love the Bells of St Mary's...
Going My Way, too.
We just had our assoc. pastor transferred...the KofC moved him, BUT he unloaded a bunch of stuff into "free" boxes and put them in our Blessed Sacrament chapel...
It worked!
Five years ago the Good Lord helped me to clean out a bunch of "stuff"...our house flooded!
Water filled the basement & pretty much everything down there went out with the trash :(
We survived! Pax Christi
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