{"id":12698,"date":"2026-05-26T15:44:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T19:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stjuliasilercity.org\/?p=12698"},"modified":"2026-05-26T16:14:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T20:14:01","slug":"a-toast-to-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stjuliasilercity.org\/en\/a-toast-to-life\/","title":{"rendered":"A Toast to Life!\/\u00a1Brindemos por la vida!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t

\"\"<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Let\u2019s Toast to Life!<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

I\u2019m sitting at the airport in Dallas, Texas, working my way back to North Carolina after spending a week in what will be by next assignment in New Mexico.<\/span><\/strong>
\nI\u2019m sitting in an airport restaurant sipping wine, listening to music, and thinking of all of you.<\/span><\/strong>
\nThinking that I will soon leave St. Julia. I\u2019m panicking because I realize that I have to travel next week again to our provincial chapter and I still have to pack. I haven\u2019t even begun to pack!!!<\/span><\/strong>
\nI know I have to do it and I know that I will do it, but I also know that while I pack, my departure will become even more real to me. Not an easy thing for me, to tell you the truth.<\/span><\/strong>
\nI will leave my departing comments for the weekend when you will give me a good-bye send-off party. The weekend following that one will really be my last weekend, but I don\u2019t want to save everything for that weekend.<\/span><\/strong>
\nI want that last weekend to be a happy one with much gratitude and happiness being expressed.<\/span><\/strong>
\nThat last weekend, I will come to the parish with my car packed with whatever I have left and after my last Mass, I will depart straight for Baltimore for our second session of our provincial chapter.<\/span><\/strong>
\nI will not return to our friary in Pittsboro. With all respect to my Franciscan brothers, I want my last memories to be of you.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I raise my wine glass in a toast to you!<\/span><\/strong>
\nIn the meantime, let us toast to life!!!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Love you! Friar Julio<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a1Brindemos por la vida!<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Estoy sentado en el aeropuerto de Dallas, Texas, emprendiendo el regreso a Carolina del Norte tras haber pasado una semana en el que ser\u00e1 mi pr\u00f3ximo destino: Nuevo M\u00e9xico.<\/span><\/strong>
\nMe encuentro en un restaurante del aeropuerto, bebiendo un poco de vino, escuchando m\u00fasica y pensando en todos ustedes.<\/span><\/strong>
\nPensando en que pronto dejar\u00e9 la parroquia de Santa Julia. Estoy entrando un poco en p\u00e1nico al darme cuenta de que la pr\u00f3xima semana tendr\u00e9 que volver a viajar para asistir a nuestro Cap\u00edtulo Provincial,<\/span><\/strong>
\n\u00a1y todav\u00eda tengo que hacer la maleta! \u00a1\u00a1\u00a1Ni siquiera he empezado a empacar!!!<\/span><\/strong>
\nS\u00e9 que tengo que hacerlo, y s\u00e9 que lo har\u00e9; pero tambi\u00e9n s\u00e9 que, mientras preparo el equipaje, mi partida se volver\u00e1 a\u00fan m\u00e1s real para m\u00ed. A decir verdad, no es algo f\u00e1cil para m\u00ed.<\/span><\/strong>
\nDejar\u00e9 mis palabras de despedida para el fin de semana, cuando ustedes me ofrecer\u00e1n una fiesta de despedida. El fin de semana siguiente a ese ser\u00e1, en realidad, mi \u00faltimo fin de semana; pero no quiero reservarlo todo para esa ocasi\u00f3n.<\/span><\/strong>
\nDeseo que ese \u00faltimo fin de semana sea un momento alegre, en el que se manifiesten mucha gratitud y felicidad.<\/span><\/strong>
\nEse \u00faltimo fin de semana, llegar\u00e9 a la parroquia con el coche cargado con todas las pertenencias que me queden; y, tras celebrar mi \u00faltima Misa, partir\u00e9 directamente hacia Baltimore para asistir a la segunda sesi\u00f3n de nuestro Cap\u00edtulo Provincial.<\/span><\/strong>
\nYa no regresar\u00e9 a nuestro convento en Pittsboro. Con todo el respeto que les tengo a mis hermanos franciscanos, quiero que mis \u00faltimos recuerdos sean de ustedes.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a1Alzo mi copa de vino para brindar por ustedes!<\/span><\/strong>
\nMientras tanto, \u00a1brindemos por la vida!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a1Los quiero! Fray Julio<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Toast to Life! I\u2019m sitting at the airport in Dallas, Texas, working my way back to North Carolina after spending a week in what will be by next assignment in New...","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[186],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-heart"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stjuliasilercity.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stjuliasilercity.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stjuliasilercity.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stjuliasilercity.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stjuliasilercity.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12698"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/stjuliasilercity.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12706,"href":"http:\/\/stjuliasilercity.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12698\/revisions\/12706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stjuliasilercity.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stjuliasilercity.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stjuliasilercity.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}