The Book

As a priest there are many things that compel one to reflect on life and its deeper meaning. I felt as though I may be able to make some contribution in helping others reflect on those things in life that give it purpose and meaning. We humans are all in this together, and I am a firm believer that there are experiences or events, even ordeals, that go beyond culture and individuals. I believe that we can actually learn from each other, and that there are indeed meaningful things to learn. There is so much hatred in our world and so many who seem to make "truth" claims that lead to violence and war. Being a priest of Jesus Christ, for me, is one way in which the message of Christ can still be heard. It is impossible to enter into civil discourse with person's who seemingly speak a different language, both literally and culturally, but the language of love found in the Gospel transcends all cultures. It is because I have come to believe in the "truth" of the Gospel that I am a priest and find purpose and meaning in my life. There are many challenges in life. One of the most difficult things for me to accept is that some people are so slow to even want to raise the important question. It seems that few academics among the secular elite even recognize that there is even some sense of objective truth to be discovered.

There are a couple of stories that I believe truly shed light on the real essence of the Gospel message. St. Francis is said to have had an encounter with Christ who tells Francis, "until I return I have no arms and legs but yours!" A similar story was recounted by, I believe, a veteran of WWII who came upon a bombed out church with a statue of Jesus with His arms and legs blown off. Near the remains of the statue was a scrawled inscription which read, "I have no arms and legs but yours!" This is the real sentiment of the Church: act as though all depended on you, and pray knowing that ultimately all depends on God! Jesus is truly made present in His people. It is for this reason that when one grasps this message it changes the way you treat everyone you meet.

Jesus's ultimate mission was simply to glorify the Father, and to do this He made it possible that we might be one in Him, as He is one in the Father. (See John 17:20) Within the last week of starting this introduction, I have had the opportunity to officiate the funeral of the mother of a friend. She died of Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and I am waiting on a call from a family whose child has just been diagnosed with a serious genetic defect and is not expected to live. There are things that happen in life that have no fully satisfying answer from a merely human perspective. There is pain, tragedy, heartache and frustration, but with this strange thing called faith, I truly believe one can make at least some sense of those sufferings that seem so incomprehensible.

Faith is also a very dangerous thing. If we put our faith in things that are not the fullness of truth, we could find ourselves flying jet planes into buildings. It is for this reason that our faith is not devoid of reason, but rather transcends or supercedes it, at the same time not contradicting it. John Paul II of recent memory had a wonderful reflection on the relationship between faith and reason in Fides et Ratio. There is a beautiful quote from the document that poignantly points to this tension between faith and reason and connects it to the pascal mystery: