Father Tom Lam

            Growing up, the day after Thanksgiving was the kickoff to one of my favorite Christmas traditions.  It was the day when all of the classic Christmas specials began playing on TV.  My three sisters and I would look through the listings of the TV Guide to see when they would air, lest we miss their broadcast and have to wait an entire year to catch it again on TV.  You know the ones: Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer, and the classic A Charlie Brown Christmas.  Then there’re the many versions of the timeless tale, A Christmas Carol.  There’s the one starring Bill Murray called Scrooged and Mickey’s Christmas Carol (my childhood favorite).  I even like the latest one now out in theaters—the one with Jim Carey playing all of the major characters in the movie.  I saw it in 3D as well as on IMAX. 

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            Way before I ever considered becoming a priest, I would ask my parish priest for spiritual advice and guidance.  But it wasn’t until I entered the seminary nine years ago that I had my first experience with spiritual direction, which is different from occasionally asking for spiritual advice.  A spiritual director is a person whom you meet with on a regular basis to receive guidance along the path of holiness.  I remember being excited about having a spiritual director for the first time.  But I was initially frustrated with him.  Don’t get me wrong, I respected my spiritual director immensely.  But every time I asked for guidance on a certain area that I wanted to improve on spiritually, he would point out things about my disposition that I thought was either irrelevant or something I had already addressed. 

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            A few months ago, Fr. John initiated the Vocation Task Force to minister to the growing number of vocations coming out of our large parish.  Sometimes we think of a vocation committee where only a select number of people in the community do the work of encouraging and fostering vocations.  That is in fact the responsibility of all members of the Church.  And so the Vocation Task Force is designed to give all parishioners the opportunity to fulfill that privilege to cooperate with God’s providence. 

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            In middle school and high school, I played in the school orchestra.  I still remember in the sixth grade, my parents took me to a music store and bought me a violin, the first, I believe, in my family’s history.

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