This morning Hugh was out of town, so I was responsible for opening the chapel on the upper campus so students could pray the Laudes with me. I woke up at 5:30 and, since there was no van, walked the 20-some minutes up from our house in the dark. Once there, it took me almost a dozen matches to light the candle and incense. It was actually a broken one that finally worked. I was so mesmerized (and tired) that I nearly burned myself.

All this relates -- somehow -- to my finally getting my application for Weston Jesuit School of Theology in tonight. It feels very right. James Alison might call it 'pacific.' It was even 26 hours before deadline.