Piles of pages!

Once again, it has been quite some time since my last post!

I have been very busy reading the books of the prophets in the Old Testament, poring over the Greek text of Paul's letters to the Philippians and to Philemon, digesting another century of Church Fathers, grasping the 300 years of Biblical history preceding the writing of the Gospels, and deepening my knowledge of how the Church has further clarified her teachings regarding Divine Revelation, the Scriptures, and the Tradition and Magisterium. And I took midterm exams in all of these (save the Pauline literature). If all of that does not excuse me from writing here, at least you know I wasn't hibernating!

It really is a joy to be able to come into contact with these great works. It is refreshing to see that the problems we have today are not new, that the world has endured similar trials for millennia. It is also, to some degree, alarming that after millennia of facing these same issues, we have not resolved them. Then again, need this world and our society in it approach the perfection of heaven? Each of us is called to endure the persecutions we suffer, to bear all things patiently with hope and to give of ourselves to one another to our dying breath, all the while giving thanks to our Creator, who from the beginning of time planned for our Redemption. How else could "the hills be alive with the sound of music" or "the heavens proclaim the glory of God", had he not known already that we would need such evidence around us to lead us to Himself?

Beginning this week, we embark in Patristics upon a great Augustinian adventure. We have divided his Confessions into three parts, and have formed teams to read and analyze the work according to seven dimensions, including Scripture, Love & Friendship, Philosophy, and Evil/Sin. I chose the topic of Law/Justice/Society. We will write a short paper pointing out how Augustine treats of our theme for each of the three divisions of his work, and each class meeting will consist of a discussion of what each of us found. Unfortunately, I will most likely miss the last discussion day as I fulfill my civic duty at the Superior Court House!

Things have been cooling off in Boston; the cold weather is a familiar and welcome reality in the Northeast, at least in my experience. I just need to push myself to work out and strengthen my back so I am ready when it comes time to shovel snow! Good thing there are more than a few "workout nuts" in this house! (By the way, when the workout video series are titled "Insanity" and "Asylum," the colloquialism "crazy" does not stray far from the mark!)

I plan to make some remarks here about Obama's acceptance speech and our outlook here in the USA, including some prudent Catholic viewpoints; other priorities precede such an effort, but I hope to put it online soon.

Until then, persevere in prayer and every good work! Celebrate Friday, the dedication of the Lateran Basilica, the Cathedral of the Diocese of Rome. And recall that we look forward to our heavenly homeland, as we work to consecrate to God this world in which we live, in all that we do.


Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca

Obama-Romney Race Split

Incumbent Presidential candidate Barack Obama launched an email blast that opened with:

Listen, this race is tied.

What we do over the next 22 days will determine not just the next four years, but what this country looks like for decades to come.

Challenging Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's supporters received an email tonight from Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) that began with this:

Friends,

My dad used to tell me, “In this country, you will be able to accomplish all the things we never could.” He and my mom emigrated from Cuba to America to give us a better life.

They believed in American exceptionalism, the promise of America.

America was founded on the principle that every person has God-given rights; power belongs to the people; and government exists to protect our rights. We shouldn’t be trapped by the circumstances of our birth -- we should be free to go as far as our talents and work can take us.

In America, we’re united not by a common race or ethnicity -- but by common values. This election’s about preserving those values and applying the founding principles to solve the challenges of our time.

It's a choice about what kind of country we want to leave our children. Let’s choose more freedom instead of more government. Let’s choose Mitt Romney and the Republican team to lead our nation back to prosperity.

Now if that does not speak volumes about the commitments of each candidate...

Let us see how the town hall debate goes tomorrow night!


Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca

Updates

It has been a month since my last post! How the time has flown.

I am now in the midst of midterm season, with an exam each week for four weeks: Patristics, Old Testament, Synoptic Gospels, and Fundamental Theology. This is a phenomenon I did not experience in college, when several classes had multiple midterms, which meant that my exam schedule was basically the first and last few weeks exam-free, and the middle just full of all kinds of exams - having a well-defined "it's midterms" season is a bit new, but so far, I like it.

We took a hike for Columbus Day - up Mt. Wachusett here in central Massachusetts - followed by dinner at Josh's parents' home in Holden. Their hospitality is always appreciated and ever so generous.

We also had a much-needed day of recollection on the feast of the Archangels; Fr. Peter Grover presented the corresponding accounts of the healing of a blind man on the road to Jericho in the three Synoptic Gospels, beginning with Mark's. He noted the significant differences and then showed us the basics of praying with scripture and what kinds of questions we could ask of the text to guide our meditation. Today's second reading, from the letter to the Hebrews, reminds us of how useful this can be: "The word of God is living and effective, ... penetrating even between the soul and spirit."

Last night I gave a ferverino (short sermon) on today's Gospel reading; I focused on the theme of giving everything up, of giving ourselves over to the Lord when he calls us, joining ourselves to His Body and then receiving new brothers (fellow seminarians) and mother (Mary) as we begin this journey of formation in community with one another. I also invited my First Theology class over from St. John's Seminary and about a third of them were able to spend the evening with us. Being from a small congregation and the only one in my First Theology class there, it is good for the other men to see where and how we live, to have a fuller understanding of the community within which they are studying and what each of us bring to that community. Conversation often turns to family as we spend time together at the seminary, similar to college students asking each other what their major is or where they went to high school or grew up, and for me, part of my family situation is this religious family of which I am now a part.

I am glad to see Boston cooling off at this time of year - hopefully we will have a properly-snowy New England winter! The trees are changing colors and some have shed most of their leaves. The overnight low came down to 35 a couple days ago, and the squirrels are getting ready for winter.

I also began my pastoral service, along with Matthew, a Boston seminarian who just joined my class at St. John's. We work on Friday afternoons/evenings at Sacred Heart parish in East Boston (very close to the airport). So far, we have made communion calls to the homebound, assisted at a wake service, and helped with a baptism preparation class. And we have eaten what was set before us every time we went out there. I guess that's to be expected in an Italian parish! The parish also has a substantial Vietnamese community, which I have yet to experience, but I thought it incredibly providential that I was placed in a parish of very similar ethnic composition as my own background!

Time to return to the race! We have been following the presidential/vice-presidential race and debates here, as well as participating in events in observance of the Year of Faith - hopefully more on these themes soon!


Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca

Who Is He?

Today, the Gospel invites us to reflect on who Jesus is, and to make our assent of faith, that is, begin believing in who we discover Jesus is. At the same time, the second reading, from the letter of St. James, challenges us to also express our faith in good works, reminding us that both are necessary in Christian life.

Since my last post, I've had two weeks of classes, beginning my Master's level coursework in Theology. In a class called Fundamental Theology, which was formerly just apologetics (explaining the faith) and now includes a study of the source and nature of divine revelation as well as the history of its transmission according to apostolic succession and the magisterium (teaching office) of the Church, we have been looking first at the nature of divine revelation: what is it that God revealed to us about Himself and how did he do it?

One of the first places we looked was at the Old Testament revelations in the creation of the world, in the exodus from Egypt, and "the law and the prophets." This is all historical - moments of divine intervention in the course of human existence, and surely God has revealed Himself (made Himself known, at least partially) in our history (and continues to do so). But then "God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law" (Gal 4:4) and revealed Himself by speaking not just with a human voice or human hands but through the entirety of human nature - this is revelation through the Incarnation of the Eternal Word of God - Jesus Christ. And it is precisely to this that today's Gospel directs our attention: Who is Jesus?

Fr. Salocks, who teaches my class on the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) pointed out that Peter could not have responded with such a distilled phrase as "the eschatological mediator of salvation" because those terms were simply foreign to his vocabulary... rather he recognized in Jesus the fulfillment of prophecy and noted His relationship with God the Father: You are the Christ, the Son of God. And so we can begin to express who God is for us and what it means that we have Him in our lives.

Fr. Peter Grover pointed out this morning in his homily that Peter's confession is, as the following verses demonstrate, incomplete. He thinks he knows Jesus, but he does not truly know Him until he witnesses His passion and self-sacrifice: this is the meaning of Jesus' rebuke of Peter. According to His cross, and the sign which he wore while carrying it, Jesus is "King of the Jews" (The Latin inscription INRI: Iesus Nazarenus Rex Judaeorum and the Greek INBI: Ἰησους ὁ Ναζωραιος ὁ βασιλευς των Ἰουδαιων) but he is clearly no earthly king, not after wealth or riches or lands or power, being subject to death at the hands of men. Rather, He is the king of love, His Sacred Heart on fire with love for us, drawing us back to Himself despite our repeated shortcomings and failures.

Let us then appeal to this King of Love in the midst of so much violence around the world, praying that He who is also Wisdom incarnate might open the hearts and minds of all to His Love and Wisdom that we will be open to understanding one another and seeking each other's good, even at our own expense and sacrifice, following His example.

And please continue to pray for us seminarians as we settle into the new year of classes and formation, and for the great work being done to coordinate formation programs and foster vocations in all the Oblate foundations around the world. We are ever grateful for your support and include you in our prayers, trusting that what assistance you give us that may be known only to our Heavenly Father may be richly rewarded!


Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca

Tender Compassion

In the tender compassion of our God,
the Dawn from on high shall break upon us,
do shine on those who dwell in darkness, and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

This is from the end of the Canticle of Zechariah, found at the end of Luke 1, which is the gospel canticle for morning prayer every day.

It also happens to be a passage that summarizes my retreat experience this past week, five days in silence alongside my brother seminarians at the beautiful St. Joseph's Retreat House in Milton. Following a typical Ignatian formula, we spent the first day reflecting on prayer itself, the second day on desire, the third on Ignatius' Principle & Foundation seeking the grace of detachment, the fourth day on sin and mercy, and the fifth day on Ignatius' Call of the King, which looks essentially at Vocation and our willingness to respond to God's invitation to us to grow in holiness and deepen our relationship with Him.

It was an amazing retreat! At times, the birds or the bees (literally) became a distraction (bees were drinking from a Bonsai planter in the sun as I was enjoying a cup of hot tea at lunch outside - not much different!), and at times other preoccupations would threaten the silence of my prayer, but overall, it was a very grace-filled time of renewal, and I am excited to begin Theology classes and continue in our formation program here, welcoming "the new guys" and enjoying the company of our returning seminarians.

And my Dominican sister-sister is writing even more frequently, which is also a joy for me! So I echo St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians (4:4): "Rejoice in the Lord always; I say it again: Rejoice!" and remind myself to "Think of the Lord in goodness" (Wisdom 1:1) as we begin this new year.

May our good God, through the intercession of His Most Holy Mother, grant you every blessing! And, as the vocations directress for the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist once said: "Mutual prayers!"


Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca