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(Note, this upcoming week is finals week and graduation. I will not be posting next friday, but I will resume the following week with tales from graduation.)
I was asked to give a toast to the Josephinum during our 2022 Good Shepherd Dinner, where we invited friends, donors, board members and alumni to join us in the Jessing Center for a meal and several presentations. The Apostolic Nuncio and Chancellor of the Josephinum Archbishop Pierre was there, as well as Bishop-elect Earl Fernandes of Columbus, my bishop, and several other bishops from around the country. Here's what I said. I first experienced the Josephinum on the opening day of orientation in August of 2021. I remember driving up and seeing the bell tower peeking over the trees. It sounds cheesy, but when I first saw the campus, I was struck with the feeling of being home. I spent much of my first day exploring on my own. I fell in love with the old stone, the intricate woodwork, the grounds full of history and tradition. But I've also felt a youthful energy that seems to animate the place. I credit this beautiful dynamic to the people that make the Josephinum come alive. I've been blessed to enter into a real brotherhood with my fellow seminarians. The care and attention of the priests, faculty, and staff is self-evident and clearly imitates the Holy Family. My experiences throughout this first year of formation have further assured me that the Pontifical College Josephinum really is the House of St. Joseph. I pray that St. Joseph continues to intercede for the Josephinum and everyone involved with her mission. Please raise your glasses. To the priests who present Christ to us and form us, that they be strengthened in their fatherly love. To the teachers who share their wisdom, experience, time, and effort with us, that blessings be theirs in abundance. To the staff who attend to every detail, for their health and their families - that God continues to reward them for their good work. To the Friends of the Josephinum and all who support us, may God bless them for their generosity, prayers, and acts of kindness. And to the seminarians, that we will constantly grow in holiness, virtue, and in imitation of Christ, through our Mother Mary and our patron, St. Joseph. To the Josephinum! (clink)
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One of the many confirmations that God has given me for my vocation is the experience of being home. After months in seminary, it started to feel like I was doing homework for homework's sake. While I was at home, I got to serve for Holy Week and Easter liturgies at my home parish. I attended the two Chrism masses in our diocese and the clergy dinners which preceded them. At the Chrism masses, the Holy Oils are blessed. These Oils are used for Baptism, Confirmation, Anointing of the Sick, Ordinations, and to anoint Catechumens as they prepare to enter the church. At the mass, the priests present renew the priestly promises they made at their Ordinations. The Chrism mass is a symbol of the entire work of the church, and particularly the diocese, of which I'm a part and in which I will be working, possibly for the rest of my life and ministry.
I'm back at the Josephinum now. Classes have resumed. The challenge of paying complete attention is back as well. I have a philosophy course immediately after lunch - a notoriously difficult class period - and today's lunch featured a Polish table where we share Polish food and culture so we can expand our horizons. I left the table full of sausage and very sleepy, the perfect state of mind for a long and challenging class. Still, through all the challenges, I return to the Josephinum with a renewed sense of purpose. This has been a theme in my posts throughout the year. Everything I do at seminary, although seemingly disconnected from my diocese, difficult, and demanding, points me back toward prayer and my vocation. My work becomes the subject of my prayer - the challenges and joys I face daily. I pray that I might be a good seminarian, so that I can be formed into a priest who loves the people of God in my diocese and in the whole church. I'm currently writing a paper about the beauty of marble sculpture, and I found this in my research. "Christ at the Column" by Permoser depicts the flagellation of Christ during his passion. The marble is 'imperfect' and filled with naturally occurring red streaks, which vividly represent Christ's wounds. https://verlag.sandstein.de/reader/98-514_Skulpturen-engl/34/ Palm Sunday, ten years ago, I altar served for the first time. I remember it very vividly: searching for a cassock that fit, listening to the directions of the older servers, strongly resisting the urge to scratch my nose... not sure why I still remember that detail. Most importantly, I remember how how amazing it was to be that close to the altar as the priest said the words of consecration and how much easier it was for me to give Our Lord in the Eucharist the focus and attention he deserves.
I'll be returning home again for Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter. God willing, I'll be serving Palm Sunday mass at the same parish that I did a decade previously. I've come a long way since then. As much as I've always wanted to be a priest, my younger self thought seminary was an eternity away. Turns out I was pleasantly proven wrong. Seminary is the natural continuation of all the seeds God planted in my heart through altar serving, namely, the desire to be close to Him in the mass and to give my life in service to Him. I pray you all have a blessed Holy Week and Easter! The next post will be on the Friday after Easter. On Wednesday night, the Josephinum invited Monsignor James Shea to be our Spring '22 guest lecturer. He is the President of the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota and Catholic Identity Committee Chair for the Board of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS). He spoke to us about the book he and his team put together: From Christendom to Apostolic Mission: Pastoral Strategies for an Apostolic Age.
If I'm being completely honest, I wasn't very excited to attend the lecture. I had a number of papers due, a test coming up, plenty of chores to handle, and sleep to catch up on, but all the seminarians were asked to attend since we opened the lecture up to the public, so I attended. I'm glad I did - Msgr. Shea is an excellent lecturer with a powerful message. Quoting Pope Francis, he said, "we are not living in an era of change but a change of era," and through quotes from Popes and Vatican documents alike, demonstrated that we are living in a time that is post-Christendom. Christianity is no longer part of the cultural mindset, and the Church needs to stop pretending like it is. We need to evangelize the way that the apostles did - to a people who haven't heard (the fullness) of the Gospel. Msgr. Shea said it better than I did... Christendom has its pros and its cons. Principle among its challenges is complacency - the greatest saints of the Middle Ages and Renaissance were those saints who reinvigorated the faith. The apostolic age has a different challenge: cowardice. Now, more than ever, we need to be bold, courageous, and purposeful in our practice of the faith. Seminary can be a bit of a safe Catholic bubble, a remnant of Christendom where the Faith is the culture. As a seminarian, therefore, I need to be living in and praying for the fire of the Holy Spirit, always fighting the temptation to get lost amidst studies and lose the personal connection with Christ that brought me here in the first place. Outside of seminary, during the summers and our pastoral work (interestingly called apostolic assignments), I need to pray for the boldness to proclaim the faith through my words and actions, fighting the temptation to become just another person lost in the zeitgeist. I highly recommend checking out Msgr. Shea and University of Mary's book. It's everything that he said during the lecture and more, and is an important message for Christians in our time. https://www.amazon.com/Christendom-Apostolic-Mission-Pastoral-Strategies/dp/099887289X |
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