Recruiting Poster of a Whole Different Kind

Now this is the image of a servant priest. Wow, I am in awe of this poster.

just in case you can't see the website it is



WWW.NYPRIEST.COM

h/t to Godsbody for the link.

Pax

Delaying Obedience is Disobedience . . .

even if it means the difference of just a few years until the end of a career as a professional athlete playing a game you love before you enter the seminary. Or so says Chase Hilgenbrinck, who had opted to retire from his professional soccer career with the New England Revolution to enter the Seminary in the fall.

You can read the entire story here.


What an inspiring message this young man's life is for all of us who are trying to do God's will. He must have had some amazing direction and help along the way.

You can bet his name will go on my list of seminarians that I pray for daily.

Pax

Did I Ever Tell You the One . . .

I think I have written before about how much I am inspired by the homilies that my Pastor gives for daily Mass. Not that his Sunday Homilies aren't inspiring as well, but in this day and age when some priest forgo daily mass homilies all together Fr. Bill will encapsulate in just three or four sentences a great deal of wisdom that will stay with me throughout the day.

Often it will be exactly what I need to hear and will help in ways that I would have never imagined. Take for instance this Wednesday's morning mass. The gospel was the feeding of the four thousand from the gospel of Matthew Chapter 15. Fr. Bill's reflection was that the miracle Jesus performed was to take what the disciples had readily at hand and use it to make something miraculous happen. Perhaps when we are next feeling hopeless we should take what we have readily on hand and begin to use it to take care of the problem and then Jesus can use that to make something miraculous happen.

That struck me on Wednesday as being such an inspiring piece of wisdom. If we have the resources to begin to do something about a problem we shouldn't wait for some huge miracle to complete the process, but we should do what we can with what we have to begin and in the process Jesus will take our efforts and bless them, and in the process miracles will happen.

I really needed to hear that this week. I feel so stressed out this holiday season. I am trying to do what I can to manage the stress of the season, take care of mom's needs in the nursing home and her financial needs, (with help from only one sibling) and get her squared away for a future for which she didn't really prepare, and try not to freak out as I wait in neurotic hope for some word about my finals grades from gradual school. Along the way I am trying to really keep the cost of "Santa's Workshop" to a minimum this year as we have had some very unexpected expenses recently (not the least has been more than $800 keeping my car safe and running).

So, I am doing what I can, with what I have available to make a bright cheery Christmas, for my family. And I am going to try to even find the time to send out some Christmas Cards this year; something I haven't done in a while. I am hoping that making other folks Christmas a little brighter will help me to remember that it is the spirit of the holiday not the trappings that are important.

Pax

I Meet the Nicest People In Gradual School

I have two young men in particular that I would love to tell you all about. They are both future seminarians and they are both in my philosophy classes.

One is named Tim and he is going to be a monk in a very small order dedicated to Our Lady, I wish I could remember the name of the order but I can't. He is so wonderfully excited about learning.

The other is Aaron. He has been living as a Glenmary Missionary and is in the process of preparing for the Seminary (he needs to get 30 hours of Philosophy Courses before he can enter Major Seminary somewhere, so he is taking courses not only at Saint Meinrad, but also will be taking courses at another school closer to his mission post in Kentucky in the fall, then he will be back at Saint Meinrad next Summer. Hopefully he will be ready to begin Seminary training in the Fall of 2008.

I am sure that both of these young men would appreciate your prayers as they follow God's call to the priesthood on the path He has chosen for them. Aaron in particular has been and will continue to work for most of his career in under served areas of the United States where he may be the only Catholic presence for miles. When he talks about the work he does it is very stirring and you can see the Spirit welling up inside him.

I know they will be in my prayers. Won't you join me in praying for them.

Pax

When it Touches You, Let Him Know

I had been struggling with a meditation on my place in the Church for an entire day. I had been trying to wrap my brain around it and make some sense where I fit in the grand scheme of things and what that all was supposed to mean to me and my journey through this imperfect world and I kept coming up empty. I went to bed resigned to the notion that I wasn't going to be able to get the pieces of this particular puzzle to fit together in any coherent way.

I woke up this morning and it was as if somehow I was on the verge of something, but it was just outside of my grasp. I just couldn't focus my eyes quite enough to see it clearly. That was the feeling I had when I went to morning Mass.

I sat in the church and read through the daily Office of Reading and morning prayer for Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent. No inspiration there. Then Fr. Bill came out and started Mass. It was in the simple three sentence homily that he offered after the Gospel that suddenly all those pieces of the puzzle that had been swirling around just out of focus miraculously fell into place in an instant. What I had been agonizing over for an entire day, he had been able to crystallize in just four simple sentences. It was so pure and simple it brought tears to my eyes.

The rest of mass I felt alive with the Spirit. I wanted to sing each response with a new zeal, so that the whole world would know that I had achieved a new level of understanding. The Eucharist even tasted sweeter, well maybe that was just my imagination.

I couldn't wait for Fr. Bill to come out of the sacristy after Mass, because I wanted him to know how much his homily had meant to me.

Here is the funny part. When I told him exactly what I have just told you he said that he was glad because as he was walking away from the ambo after his homily he felt: Well that makes absolutely no sense at all.

I want to encourage all of you if you are positively affected by a homily, please, please take the time to tell the priest (or deacon as the case may be) that you were meant to hear what he had to say. Priests are often discouraged in their ministry, and when they have moments like Fr. Bill had during this mass had I not taken the time to tell him that his words meant so much to me he might have gone through the rest of his day thinking that he was doing a horrible job.

I am still savoring that feeling of wholeness that I got from those three or four sentences, and now I have an ever better look at the "big picture" thanks to Fr. Bill's words that to him made no sense. I am so blessed to have him as my pastor and I fully intend to remember to tell him every time his words are encouraging or challenging in my journey of faith.

Pax

Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Guy

Check out this story from our Diocesan newspaper. It is about the Colts team chaplain Fr. Peter Gallagher. I have had the privilege of meeting Fr. Pete, and he is so genuine in his love of both his faith and the sport of football this is the perfect place for him to be.

Did I mention that The Colts are in Miami this week getting ready to play in the Superbowl on Sunday?

Oh, I thought I had.

Pax

The Sweet Sound of Liturgy Done Well

Today was the first Sunday for our new Pastor. He is a very soft spoken man who in the 21 years of his priesthood has never been a full time pastor until now. Previously he worked in Washington DC, and most recently in our Archdiocese he was part of the Priest Personnel Board and Sacramental Minister at a small rural parish just a few miles from here.

I am so happy that he is here because of the reverence with which he prays the liturgy. Don't get me wrong I loved Fr. Charlie dearly, but I have always struggled with the way he said Mass. But it might be said that in my case a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, because the more I learned about liturgy over the last five years or so as I have been in Gradual School, the harder it has been for me to endure the way that Fr. takes liberties with the wording and pacing of the liturgy. I have been making allowances for his health recently, but he has been doing some of these things as long as he has been at this parish.

I think those days are behind us now though. Fr. Bill, our new Pastor, prayed the Liturgy with a strong clear voice, and everything was in the proper place, and he sang what was supposed to be sung and spoke what was supposed to be spoken and he didn't leave off the ends of prayers. I think I am going to like his Masses. When we left church I shook his hand and thanked him for the wonderful liturgy.

Praise God in heaven for sending Fr. Bill here.

Pax