The intended date for the move to Virginia has been set back by circumstances beyond our control. We are led to admit and embrace our dependence on God's Providence, seeing His will in the current state of affairs. We gratefully accept all that God dispenses because we know His paternal Charity.
IN MANUS TUAS DOMINE
Dear Friends and Benefactors,
This past spring, we thought that we would be able to occupy our Virginia building at the beginning of October. Summer, however, brought us a succession of surprises, and we were reminded of the wisdom of the proverb that tells us that man proposes, but God disposes. Indeed, our building site suffered delays. We had to push back the safety inspection to October 10th and its conclusion should enable us to move in. Perhaps the inspector will find some failures in conforming to regulations. If that is so, we hope that they will be minimal, allowing us to correct them promptly in order finally to be able to move in and take possession of our new seminary. Meanwhile, we wait.
Once the physical move is completed, our work will not be over. We will have to clean the house from top to bottom, for it is now covered with a thick layer of dust. Afterwards, we will have to move in the contents of the six large containers that will follow us to Virginia (we will have at least 3000 boxes, not counting certain tools and another essential items). Then, at the end of October, our seminarians will follow their annual retreat and when that ends we will have the joy of receiving you for the inauguration day, November 4th.
The present circumstances are beyond our control, but we remain in peace. We did all that we could to be ready on time, but events independent of our will have delayed the building process. Why, then, should we fall into vain anxieties? God asks for our trust, while keeping us uncertain of the future. We thank Him for teaching us this beautiful practical lesson in divine Paternity. We are so annoyingly inclined to think and act as if we were the only masters, as if the future belonged to us and as if we had the power to infallibly decide about everything. We must place ourselves into the hands of God.
This spirituality of dependence is what really distinguishes the Christian soul. A spirituality that is not based on its own forces and does not run blindly on its way, but that seeks God’s will in every circumstance and trusts in His grace, because in that grace resides its deepest hope. It is not a question of doing nothing and sinking into a misguided otherworldliness. That would be insulting to God, Who has given us an intelligence to comprehend, a will to achieve and powers to act. But it is necessary to act according to our capacities, keeping in view what God wants.
How difficult it is for us to see God at work in all the details of our lives… while He pursues only one end: our happiness. Being too unaware or reckless, often we rear up against this paternal guidance. We then judge God and refuse to submit, thus bringing about our own misfortune. Let us accept from God the crosses that His mercy wants to send us and let us see in them His goodness towards us.
We ask for your good prayers, so that this delicate situation finds a happy outcome, allowing us quickly into our new home, where we hope to form a true priestly army in love with God and guiding souls onto the path that assuredly leads to Heaven.
In Christo sacerdote et Maria.
Fr. Yves le Roux