Earth Shaking Experience

Early Monday morning and I mean early, (my flight was at 7:00 am) I was on my way to Melbourne.  This time, I was all on my own.  Hmmm whose idea was that?  It actually turned out quite well.  From Monday to Thursday I lived at the Dominican Priory with some of the Fathers and Brothers.  I really didn't know what to expect from the trip and my original contact, Fr. Dom Murphy left Monday afternoon for a Retreat in Brisbane.

Before he left though, he showed me around the ACU campus a bit and said midday mass.  Father then drove me up to the priory in Camberwell and when there, Father Martin gave me a tour and I participated in evening prayer and mass, again.  That night I was sitting in my room wondering what the Lord had in store for me with this part of the trip and I soon realized that I was being given a retreat and time to step back from the first half of my time here. 

I really took that to heart as I spent the week visiting Melbourne, which compared to Sydney seemed to focus a lot more on art and culture and was really obsessed with Australian Football.  I also visited the Dominican founded primary school and went with Father Laurie over to Mannix College which is a Catholic residence hall for Monash University.  Throughout the days I was able to refocus on my prayer life through daily mass, evening prayer, and a new found motivation.  Like the whole fellowship, visiting Melbourne was such a blessing.



There are three things i will remember most from this trip.  First is Fr. Dom's passion for making a difference on campus and his spot on and hilarious Italian accent.  Second, I will always be grateful to Father Martin for taking me under his wing while I was visiting and sharing his stories and his knowledge of the city.  Finally, how could I ever forget the 5.3 magnitude earthquake that shook my bedroom for 30 seconds on Wednesday night.  Yeah I know, I cause devastation everywhere I go.