52 in 25: #47 - That Nothing May Be Lost

I think I mentioned this before, but I take my time with my spiritual reading.  This was no exception.  I just completed Rev. Paul D. Scalia’s That Nothing May Be Lost.  If that name is familiar, he is a priest for the Diocese of Arlington and the son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.  I first became aware of him listening to his homily for his dad’s funeral in 2016.  It’s the best funeral homily I have heard, it inspires mine, and it is included in the appendix of this book.

 

I had picked up this book a number of years ago, but finally got to reading it.  It is a collection of his work, including some articles he has written and (I think) some homilies.  Topics range from the Sacraments to saints, including Mary, to prayer, feast days, and, of course, Our Lord.  I love this book because it is easy to pick up, read one or two, and reflect on his words.  He also does a great job, since these are written for your typical lay Catholic, of distilling ideas down into something that is easily consumed but will keep you thinking.  I highly recommend this book to enrich anyone's spiritual life.

52 in 25: #31 - The Dialogue of Catherine of Siena

I just finished my spiritual reading, which for some time has been the Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena.

St. Catherine was born in Siena in 1347, the 25^th child of her mother and a twin (her twin sister and about half of her other siblings did not survive childhood).  From an early age she wanted to devoted herself to God.  To that end, she eventually joined the Dominicans.  At 21, she experienced a “mystical marriage to Christ” and she had many visions in ecstasy.  Some of these were eventually dictated and written down as the Dialogue, which was finished in 1378.  She died just two years later.

Since she is a Doctor of the Church, this, her most famous work, has been on my list to read for awhile.  I also have been trying to make a concerted effort to read more female saints, to try and help that part of my ministry.  It is a dialogue between God and a soul, though God does most of the talking (as He should).  I will admit that it took me a long time to get into it.  Another priest concurred, saying that getting one idea out of a few pages was on the right track.  I persisted, slowly, until the section on obedience which really spoke to me.  I’ve known it before: God expects much more from priests, but it hit me in a special way this time.  I was happy that I could take away some very meaningful insights.

52 in 25: #18-25 - Retreat Reading!

That's not a typo.  I kept saying, don’t worry, I know I’m falling behind, but I have my retreat coming up.  I think I did a bit of reading this week.  I’ll just throw it in one big update.

 

18. I finished this just before the beginning of my retreat, so need to start with this.  I stayed with science fiction, but went back to a classic that I have never read (again, this year I’m trying to read some classics that I’ve missed).  And so, I read H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds.  I’ve never seen the 1953 movie, but of course I’ve seen Speilberg’s movie from 2005, so I had a little idea of what to expect.  It’s very different, however, being set when it was written (1897).  The technology is wildly primitive (to what we have today).  I can appreciate it for being important, “ground-breaking,” etc.  That being said, I still think the finale, with the martians just…dying, no big climactic battle, is a bit underwhelming.  Plus, the narrator is pretty weak, just always reacting (sometimes poorly) and not be proactive in any way.

 

19. Next, this is a book that I have been reading for a bit, a few pages at a time, and finally completed.  John Rosengren’s Hank Greenberg: The Hero of Heroes.  The baseball stuff is pretty good, he’s an incredibly interesting character.  As is his involvement in WWII.  The unfortunate thing is that his personal life was something to be desired (a “playboy,” married twice).  I also thought the author spent too much time on the social/cultural topics of the time, though I understand why he did it, just that it was rather tiresome.  It was a big “meh” for me.

 

20. I may have said this before, but much of my WWII interest before I visited Pearl Harbor was in the European theatre.  That isn’t completely true, however, because in grad school I wrote a number of papers on the nuclear bomb, so I am fairly familiar with that side of it.  One story that I was not very familiar with, however, was the sinking of the Indianapolis.  I knew it, like most people, mostly from Jaws.  So, I had to read Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic’s Indianapolis.  This was a fascinating history, tragic, maddening at times.  It was heartbreaking, and at times I got a bit emotional.  I also have to say that at first I was disappointed that so much of the book was focused on the after-effects, the court martial and exoneration of Captain McVay, but in the end I that it was worthwhile.  A thoroughly interesting, page-turning historical work.

 

21. Yes, I also did some religious reading on my retreat.  I’ll start with James F. Day’s book Saint Michael the Archangel.  It’s short, but a good overview of the importance of St. Michael, devotion to him, and why he is loved.  It also made me want to make a pilgrimage of “The Sword of St. Michael.”

 

22. Next up was Jeremiah Johnston’s Body of Proof: The 7 Best Reasons to Believe in the Resurrection of Jesus-and Why It Matters Today.  During Holy Week I watched an interview with Dr. Johnston about the Shroud of Turin, and it was so good I wanted to read this to get more information.  Unfortunately, it was a bit of a bait-and-switch.  The Shroud is not even mentioned in this book!  Yep, it’s not one of the “7 Best Reasons to Believe in the Resurrection.”  He’s Baptist, so it’s more of a Biblical “proof” of the Resurrection.  The problem is that, while of course I believe in the Resurrection, I felt that a number of his reasons were quite flimsy, even bad.  Just as an example, he claims that Christianity changed society all over the world.  First of all, yes it did, but is that proof?  Second, he claims that Christianity led to amazing technological developments.  As a (former) historian of technology, this claim is a stretch at best, blatantly wrong at worst.  I guess he didn’t realize that much of the technological advancements (even some that he mentions) actually came from China, India, or other points East?  I give this book a “hard pass.”  One of the more disappointing books I’ve read recently.

 

23. The main “theme” of my retreat was St. Peter.  I felt God was calling me to get to know him a bit better.  So, I’ll start with Scripture.  I read two commentaries on Peter’s letters, but since they are part of larger compilations, I will say they add up to one book for me.  The more substantial was the volume on Peter’s letters and Jude from the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture series (this by Daniel Keating).  I also read through St. Bede’s commentaries on the letters (it’s his feast day tomorrow, after all).  These commentaries were incredible (as to be expected), and really helped me to enter into St. Peter’s letters.  Excellent!

 

24. I also read a fairly short but deep work by Georges Chevrot, originally published in French in 1937, Simon Peter: Lessons from the First Pope.  Unfortunately, I found out this is abridged, but I don’t know of another version in English.  It’s basically 24 chapters based around each time Jesus speaks to Peter in the Gospels, with a reflection on what it tells us about Jesus, Peter, and us.  I loved this, especially on retreat as an entry into contemplation.  Highly recommended.

 

25. Finally, I also read Tim Gray’s Peter: Keys to Following Jesus.  Again, this was great for more contemplation on Peter in Scripture, but beyond the Gospels to the Acts and even Sacred Tradition.  I have to say that, between all of these, I have a better appreciation for our first pope, and what it means to be a shepherd for the Church.  I also think I have some great homily material, especially for Lent and Holy Week.  Just one example that really stood out to me.  Jesus renames Simon as “Peter Bar-Jonah” (son of Jonah), but we already know his father was John.  So Jesus not only gives him a new “first” name, but a new heritage as well.  And who is Jonah?  Jesus is the new Jonah!  So Jesus is calling him His son!  Excellent insight to reflect on.

 

So there you go, 8 books, and another on the way (about a third through).

My Vocation Story: Part 1 (Early Life-Grad School)

I was asked some time ago, by someone important, to write about something other than baseball and movies.  Someone else had told me, a couple of years ago, that I should write "the inside scoop" on seminary.  Well, I'm not going to go that far, especially since they say there are two things no one should know how they're made: sausages and priests, but I did figure that I could marry those two suggestions.  I figured I'd start what I hope to be a series of blogs about vocations and seminary, in case anyone wants to know more about that.  After all, one of the most frequent questions is: why would someone want to be a priest?

This first post is intended to be a glimpse at my process of getting to the seminary.  Some people may think all priests (or seminarians) have basically the same story.  In fact, as many seminarians and priests as there are, there are that many different stories.  I will say you can mostly group them into three camps: those who knew all their life and entered right out of high school, those who had an idea but still decided to try "real college" before seminary, and then there's the "late vocations," sometimes also called "second vocations."  These are the old, sometimes wise ones.  Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology, where I currently take classes in Milwaukee, specializes in these late vocations.

Ostensibly I fall into the third category, though not perfectly.  Despite what those at St. Francis might say, I'm on the lower end of the "late vocations," since most are in their 40s or 50s.  So for that group I'm young, though for many seminarians I'm old.  As usual, I don't fit in.

This is kind of getting besides the point.  How did I get to the seminary?  Why did I go to the seminary?  Good questions.

Let me begin by saying, I never, until very recently, thought about being a priest.  Growing up, I never thought beyond baseball.  I still rarely do.  I think the earliest I ever declare a future job was when I was about 5 years old I told my mom at Daily Mass that I wanted to be a doctor "so I could help people."  I don't know what that was about.  I remember saying it, but I don't remember thinking it.  I certainly moved away from the doctor thing quickly, since the sight, or even thought, of blood and other bodily fluids makes me queasy.  My sister got all of those genes. 

But, there's another detail in there that may be important: Daily Mass.  My mom took me every day until I started school.  So going to Church was normal for me.  It also led to a kind of funny side note, though seminarian me kind of cringes when I tell this story.  I had my first Communion at a very early age.  You see, I grew up in Houston, in the 80s.  They were (very unfortunately) very loose about things back then.  There was no tabernacle in the church (sigh) so after Mass the "extra" consecrated hosts were brought into the sacristy.  Did I mention my mom was a sacristan?  In any case, one day I found myself, hungry, in the sacristy.  I was tall enough to reach the counter, so I'm guessing I was around 5 (there's that age again).  I was hungry, I saw food, so I started eating.  After consuming a couple, my mom walked in, saw what was happening, and quickly made me stop.  The holy side of the story is: I could not wait to receive the Body of Christ.  The unfortunate side of the story is: I was able to do it in the first place.

I digress again.  As I said, I grew up very close to the Church, but in some ways it was so "normal" that I never really thought about it.  I never thought about being a priest, largely because I wanted to be like my dad and have my own family.  So that's how I went through the next twenty years or so: marriage was my only option. 

I eventually realized I would never be a baseball player, and being a manager was a long shot.  I had to think about something else.  I still don't really know how I decided on history, though the best explanation I can give is that I like my AP US History course (which was taught by my baseball coach).  In any case, when it came time to decide on college, I settled on history.  I also thought about theatre, and even auditioned for and received a theatre scholarship to the University of Dallas.  This was THE SCHOOL my mom wanted me to go to.  It's Catholic, and pretty solid at that, and nearly every student spent one semester studying in Rome (I could have met St. JPII).  The history program was pretty good, I had the theatre scholarship, and there was a chance I could walk-on the Division II baseball team.  It seems like the perfect fit!  But yet, on the last day I could choose, I went with Texas A&M.  I don't really have a good reason why, except that at the time I was working at Texas Roadhouse in College Station, with a bunch of Aggies, and I got swept up in the Spirit of Aggieland.  It can do that to you.

I am happy to say that, unlike the majority of "kids these days," I continued to go to Mass every Sunday.  It helped that St. Mary's is a pretty awesome place.  That being said, I do have to admit that many times it was out of obligation, or maybe guilt, more than "want to."  What I'm trying to say is that I was not exactly the best Catholic.  I started dating a girl in Houston, and it got pretty serious.  If you know me well, you know that it was serious enough that we got engaged.  For my 3.5 years at A&M, I essentially went home to Houston every other weekend, so I never really got into the St. Mary's scene.  Shortly before I graduated, we broke up, and I prepared to move on to grad school (and of course it was that easy to move on). 

This meant a move all the way to the University of North Texas in Denton.  During my two years there, I had a bit of a conversion experience.  By that I mean, something happened that made me take my faith more seriously, and Sunday Mass became less an obligation and more something I wanted to do.  During one of the summers, one of my best friends convinced me to go to Aggie Awakening.  So you see, while I was at A&M, I never even bothered to go, that's how out of the scene I was.  In any case, I went with an open mind.  I'm glad I did, because it remains one of the most important weekends of my life.  It was largely a "right place, right time" retreat for me.  I felt much closer to my faith, and realized I had to take it seriously.

I then moved on to Auburn University, and I actually went out of my way to become more involved in Church (difficult for my extreme introversion).  Even though I was already one of the "old ones," I got involved in the vibrant college student group.  (Another side note: by "vibrant" I mean, from a relatively small group, we have at least three religious sisters, one religious brother, and I believe four seminarians/priests from my time there.)  It was a very good group, with some people I wish I had got to know even better.  I also started to attend Daily Mass fairly frequently, eventually became the sacristan for our Thursday evening Mass, and was part of one of the two Sunday night Mass choirs for five years.  Despite all of this, I never once thought about being a priest.  It was still marriage or nothing.  I did, however, start to think about perhaps becoming a permanent deacon one day (the old "best of both worlds" falsity). 

During my time at Auburn, I was blessed with the chance to travel to Europe for my dissertation research.  I was studying the Mission Control Centers of the United States and European space programs, and needed to travel to each of them for research.  Houston was easy, California was a quick flight, and I also drove to D.C. for the National Archives (a great trip in itself).  The European leg consisted of three main stops.  First, I had to go to Paris to visit the European Space Agency Headquarters and archives.  I had never been that interested in going to Paris, except maybe to see Versailles and Normandy.  Instead, I loved my time there, and did not see either of those (meaning I need to return).  Next was the actual control center in Darmstadt, Germany.  It's a small city south of Frankfurt.  It is definitely not a tourist stop.  The final necessary stop was Florence, the home of the official archives for ESA.  I had not thought much about Florence before, except that I knew there was obviously a lot of history there.  If I fell in love with Paris, I don' t know what to say about Florence.  It is by far my favorite city I have ever visited.  The most meaningful stop for me was in the church of Santa Maria Novella, near the train station (and my apartment).  While I was looking around, completely blown away, I decided to sit down for a little while to take it all in.  At that moment, I felt completely at peace, as never before.  At the time, I took it as consolation of my faith, and an increased desire to serve the Church in some way (as a married man).  Looking back, it was probably my first real pull towards the seminary, but again, I did not see it as such at the time.

Oh by the way, while in Florence I met up with a couple of friends, and we took a side trip to Venice (disappointing, the city, not the company).  Also, while planning my trip, I decided: I'm so close to Rome, I can't NOT go there.  So I tacked on a few days at the end to visit Rome.  To be honest, after Florence I was not that impressed with Rome (but not the Vatican, that was amazing, especially the Sistine Chapel-Last Judgment!).  I need to go back to better appreciate it.