6The heart of our journey is to awaken to this spirit within. The point is not to have a perfect life and realize every expectation. Something else is at work in life-something with a totally different purpose. I'd spent enough years devoted to how I wanted (expected) life to be. Now it was time to turn to life as it is and begin that pilgrimage. I had to be willing to slow down and move the way life is moving. "Life in the west is up to ninety miles an hour," observed John O'Donohue, "and at ninety miles an hour you can be up to many things, but not presence." I had to join life, move with her ... feel her lifeblood in my own. Fr. John Gordon OMI is part of the religious community of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. He was ordained on June 2, 2001 at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church in Hicksville NY. Presently Fr. John serves as the pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church in San Antonio TX for the last 13 years. He is blessed to serve this wonderful parish family.