Solemn Vows

Hello Everyone! Well as you can tell I have not been faithful to my blog at all, but today is a new day!

On September 17, 2011 on the Feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis at St. Casimir Catholic Church in Baltimore, Maryland I professed my Solemn Vows to the Conventual Franciscans along with Nick my classmate. Below is a photo of the inside of the Church. On this day I made the lifelong commitment to live the life as a Franciscan Friar.

Nick and I walking in

 Me Praying

A cool photo of Nick and I

Nick and I prostrating on the Church floor before professing our vows. During this time the Litany of the 

Saints is being prayed by those present at the Liturgy. Before professing our vows we as the saints to be us and guide us.

A close-up of me.

Me professing my vows

 Nick professing his vows

The Fraternal Embrace: this is when Nick and I are welcomed into the community as Solemn Professed friars

 Nick, James (Our Provincial) and I

 Me and my witnesses: Fray Jorge and Br. Tim

Me and my Family

Me and all those who went to CUA - where I met the friars and where my vocation was initially discerned

 The desserts at dinner that night

A photo of my cousin Andre and my niece Sophia. He came out to support me all the way from Canada.

It was a wonderful and powerful experience for me. I am so happy and thankful to God for the grace of my vocation and the support of the friars, friends, and family.

Trilogy of Posts!

Well the internet is acting funny, but as of tomorrow I will put up a trilogy of Posts from my trip to Italy!

Until Tomorrow...God Bless!

Overdue posting...

Hello Everyone! I am back into my blog. I had good 6 week vacation with retreat and time at home after being in Costa Rica. I am back in San Antonio, trying to get everything started for the year. Once my room is not in disaster mode, I will post pictures up from my Solemn Vow Retreat and my visit with family and friends. I hope to have something up by tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest.

Much Love,
Nader

One month of no posts.....

Hello Everyone! Peace be with you! I have recently been accepted to profess my Solemn Vows to the friars on September 17.  Before I make my life long commitment to the Conventual Franciscans, I must do a month long retreat.  I will making this retreat in Italy, thus right now I am either in Rome, Rieti, Assisi or Padua! Please pray for me!

The Months of November and December in 1 Post (aka 7)

Well fellow bloggers or fans of my website, I am back on the blog track. Here is one post that contains 7 posts. Enjoy!

Día del Maestro Part 2 or 3: http://naderata3.blogspot.com/2010/12/dia-del-maestro-part-2-of-3-games-and.html

Día del Maestro Part 3 or 3: http://naderata3.blogspot.com/2010/12/dia-del-maestro-part-3-of-3-favorite.html

Vows x 5: http://naderata3.blogspot.com/2011/06/vows-x-5.html

Birthdays: http://naderata3.blogspot.com/2011/02/birthdays-birthdays-and-more-birthdays.html

MerryThanksAdventGivingChistmas: http://naderata3.blogspot.com/2011/06/merrythanksadventgivingchristmas.html

Graduations Galore and First Communion: http://naderata3.blogspot.com/2010/12/graduations-galore-and-first-communion.html

Gary's Visit, Volcan Poas, and Nature: http://naderata3.blogspot.com/2010/12/garys-visit-volcan-poas-and-some-nature.html

What I forgot to tell you....

The reason why I have been so delayed in my blogging is because I have been so delayed in my e-mails.  In a matter of less than a week I went from 551 e-mails in my in-box to 40. I also deleted form 1700 e-mails from my various folders.  I can proudly say that I am up to day on my both my e-mails and my blogging!

5 words!

I am still feeling sick :(

Lack of a Post on Sunday

I am sorry for not posting anything on Sunday, the friars had a day long retreat and I spent it with out any of my gadgets (cell phone, computer, camera, or Ipod).  It was a very relaxing way to enjoy the day.  During this past week two great things happened in my life.  My niece Sophia celebrated her first birthday on St. Patrick's day and my good friends Ryan and Lauren were married on Saturday. Also there was the Solemnity of St. Joseph - there is a lot to be grateful for.  I hope to post some photos this week. God willing....

Lent has begun....

Hello Blogging World! Peace! This week in the Christian Circles began the season of Lent.  In Costa Rica like all over the world this sacred time began on Ash Wednesday, where ashes are placed on one's forehead in the shape of a cross. The ashes are made from the palm branches used on Palm Sunday. We celebrated 3 masses and a prayer service for the preschool, primary school, and high school.  I was blessed to preach at both the primary school mass and one of the high school masses.  I focused on doing acts of kindness in secret. This related to discourse of Matthew's Gospel about praying, fasting, and alms giving in secret without anyone knowing. I think that it went well, I received more complements than I accepted.

When I was a kind I thought that Lent was only about sin and mortification, but as an adult I am realizing that it is much more than.  Lent is not a time period to be in penance for the sake of penance, rather it is for the sake of living.  When I recognize my own sinfulness, I recognize my need for God, and that need for God helps me to truly live. Lent is not done for the sake of lent, rather for the Holy Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. As my professors at Oblate say "You get to the resurrection without going to Calgary", "There is no Easter Sunday without Holy Thursday and Good Friday", and my favorite "You can't skip the cross and go straight for the resurrection." That is not the way Jesus lived, and same goes for us.

I am excited more for this Lenten journey to Easter than ever before. I know that I have a long way to go, but our daily cross can lead to daily resurrections.

Blessing and Prayers ~ Fray Nader

PS: I will be posting more picture post this week, I have to reorganize all of my photos because I put two different photo libraries together over Christmas break and now I need to organize them.  I have photos from the same events in two or even three different places.

Happy Sunday! As promised I am resuming my weekly updates.  Yesterday I just relaxed after going to the fresh food market in morning and having a wedding following that in Chapel. I spent the afternoon reading Matilda in Spanish for my Spanish Class and organizing our new china cabinet in the friary.  We then had our normal Mass at 4pm and went out to TGIFriday's for a little bit to eat.  It was a long but good day - hence why belated posts have yet to be seen; but patience I will write them soon.

Well I am off to do some more homework. I know this was a short one, but I am preparing to write some big ones.

Peace

Overwhelmed....

Hello family, friends, fellow bloggers, and people I have never meet,

Peace be with you! As you know I have not written anything on my blog since Sunday December 5th. I know that I have not been faithful to my commitment to write on my blog every Sunday. (Thank you to Ileana, Liz, and Sarah for reminding of this).

All I can say is that I have been overwhelmed over the past two months and have not had the time nor the energy to work on my blog. Today I finally logged onto to Facebook after a couple of weeks to respond to the 43 friend requests that I had, many of them being students at St. Francis College. Also the last time I checked I had 574 messages in my e-mail inbox that I have yet to sort through.

I will resume my regular Sunday updates as of next week. Hopefully on Saturday March 5th the two month anniversary since my last post I can do some catch-up posts to bring you up to speed on my life up to now.

Well "Rejoice in hope, be patient under trial, persevere in prayer" Romans 12:12

With Love and Blessings,
Nader

Birthdays, Birthdays, and more Birthdays

Life begins at conception I have no doubt about that, but it would kinda of weird if celebrated Our Conception Dat and not Our Birthday.  This post is about various birthdays that were celebrate during the end of November and the months of December. 

Tom, Jordan, and Mateo, the men of FrancisCorps celebrate their brithdays within less than a week of each other.  Mateo - Nov. 18, Jordan - Nov. 18, and Tom - Nov. 24. 

They requested Ice Cream for their dessert.

Above is an ice cream cake with chocolate chip cookies, chocolate ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup.  Below is an ice cream cake with oreo cookies, ice cream sandwiches, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup.

The Birthday Men!

FrancisCorps with Toño and I

Below is a Birthday Cake the I made for Teacher Cindy.  You can tell from outside, but the inside of the cake is neon green, Cindy's favorite color.

And last but not least of our FrancisCorps Birthdays is Brittany. On February 24, Brittany celebrate her 23rd Birthday.  She asked for a pineapple upside down cake, I arranged the pineapple to spell out her name.  Can you see it?

Here is Brittany with her cake!

Vows x 5!

In the life of the friars, some of the most sacred and memorable moments is when a brother willing and joyfully make the step to profess vows to God, the community, and to the church. During this part of my time in Costa Rica 5 brothers have made this commitment.  Some for a temporary period and other for a life-long commitment.

Below are photos from the Solemn Profession (life-long commitment) of two Capuchin Friars from Costa Rica. 

Below are photos from the First Profession (temporary commitment) of two Conventual Friars who are a part of the Our Lady of Consolation Province in the US.

Last but not least here are two photos of Fray Toño who made his Solemn Profession (life-long commitment) on Saturday, January 15th. Fray Toño and I live in the same friary together in Costa Rica, but I unfortunately was still at my parents house in NJ when his Profession occurred. Below are photos of Toño being Toño.

MerryThanksAdventGivingChristmas!

You are probably wondering what MerryThanksAdventGiving Christmas means.  To be honest it sums up the experience I had of all this holidays and times in the Church during my time in Costa Rica. At the same time there were Christmas Decorations, Thanksgiving Decoration, and Advent Decorations present either at school, the friary, or FrancisCrops.

Here is a photo of the Christmas Tree that was at the FrancisCorps in November.

Below and above are photos of the Thanksgiving Day celebration that we had in the Primary School.  For the first time in 60 years they had a Thanksgiving Celebration in the Primary School for yours' truly. The teacher - one of my families in Costa Rica - wanted to celebrate this day with me.  We had salad, turkey, stuffing, vegetables, mashed potatoes, gravy, and dessert.  It was a Thanksgiving Luncheon to Remember Costa Rican Style. 

Here is a photo of the area outside of the 3/4 grade classrooms decorated for our Christmas Octave of Breakfasts. 

Here is a photo of Roberto (Professor of P.E.) and his wife Alejandra in their house during Advent/Christmas time.

At Mesoamérica we had a Christmas Celebration and was in charge of dessert.  Above is a Christmas Tree made from cupcakes and below is an Advent Wreath made from cupcakes.

Here is Ligia my teacher and Carmen the academic director serving the food.

The following photos are from the Christmas decorations that were present in the Chapel and Friary. I helped out in the Chapel with Fray Jorge as the mastermind, but I was the mastermind in the Friary.