"10 minutes till next class? Let's play some hack!"

As today featured only one class and a free afternoon, it gave us time to reflect upon what has come to be a favorite past-time of the 2016 pilgrimage squad: the game of Hacky Sack.  Move over, iPhone!  Out of the way, Kindle!  We're going retro on you.  Along with pulling out some puffer vests and 90s music, we seminarians are reaching back in time to middle school for our favorite spare time activity.  Nothing quite grabs the attention of a group of 20-somethings like the small pellet bag of childhood memory.  The game gets contentious.  As many as eight or ten players vie to keep the footbag in the air, with no apparent goal in mind or point system to follow other than a team effort to prevent Hacky from hitting the ground.

We've managed to play Hacky Sack where Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth; we've played it at an ancient monastery on a cliff overlooking the Kidron Valley; we've even played it atop Mt. Masada near the lowest point on Earth, the Dead Sea (pictured below).  Our next mission: play Hacky Sack on the summit of Mount Everest.

While the game of Hacky Sack is merely a way to pass the time and keep us somewhat physically active, it has proven to be an ideal representation of the camaraderie of our class.  It shows that we enjoy being around one another, yet also that we don't take each other seriously.  It shows that we respect each other, but yet that we can playfully talk down to one another and brag about our own lack of skill.  Most importantly, though, it shows that we are united—united in our resolve to be disciples of Christ and to be mutually supportive of one another in this common vocation, and I feel incredibly blessed to have these great guys as classmates and comrades along the road.   

As long as the Hacky sack does not meet its fateful end by falling off a cliff, or landing in the Jordan River, or finding its way to the roof of a really tall bus...it will continue to bounce back and forth between seminarians, representing that sign of communion and fraternity that we pray will accompany us into priesthood.