The Musical Priest

Principle #6: Support His Spiritual Development As I drove to Cleveland yesterday, I reflected on this principle at length. I have, for quite some time, been puzzled by the people who say that they're "Spiritual, but not religious." Indeed, as I write this from a local a Bruegger's Bagels, one of the clerks described himself to a customer as one who'd rather be open to all spiritual paths rather than committing himself just to one. It strikes me that the "spiritual, but not religious" phenomena is akin to a form of spiritual nomadism : people who wander from place to place, at best set down shallow roots, and should their be a challenge or change to the spiritual climate they are forced to move on or perish. My impression of many "spiritual nomads" is that they want their spirituality to comfort them, reassure them of their place in the cosmos, but don't want much care to be challenged to commit themselves to any particular path. Now don...

Principle #4: Openly Share Your Ideals There can be, at times, a reticence to share what it is in life that excites us. Just this morning, as I prefected the Atrium before school, one of my freshman came in carrying a large box. When I inquired as to its contents, a gleam sprang into his eye and he opened the box to reveal a brilliant array of origami pieces he had done. As it turns out, he and his brother are both accomplished origami artists and he had to give a "demonstration speech" for class and wanted to share with his classmates his art. I joked with him that I didn't have an artistic bone in my body...I can't even draw a stick figure. He smiled broadly and said, "Mr. Duns, I'm going to have to come and show you how to do origami so that you can't say anymore that you aren't artistic." There was a visible change in him as he offered to share his gift with me and he grew excited in showing me some of the things he had made. I mention this b...

I heard this morning from a college friend who informed me that a mutual acquaintance of ours had recently died. Well, I should say, the deceased was actually an acquaintance of mine was friends with my friend. I certainly knew him fairly well and was always happy to see him, but I would be hard pressed to call him a "friend" in any meaningful way. For my friend, on the other hand, the deceased was a true friend and confidant. One thing my friend recounted to me was the number of people who have said, "Nothing will ever be the same." The cynic might hear this and say, "Of course it will. You will all grieve and move on and, pretty soon, everything will go back to normal." I should like to think that the cynic is desperately wrong. I do not think it an exaggeration to say that each death alters the very fabric of history. A person who has left his or her mark on many people has died and there is now a vacuum in many hearts and lives. Indeed, and far too oft...

The Alumni magazine of Saint Ignatius High School published in 2007 a very nice article about seven alumni who had entered the Society of Jesus. As of 2008, that number has grown to ten. I realized today that the original link I'd posted to the magazine story was no longer working. So I submit, as a help for those interested in a vocation to the Society of Jesus , the feature story A Spiritual Journey (pp. 16-20). This story offers stories and reflections from men in various stages of formation and even includes a helpful chart of Jesuit formation. If you've ever wondered the difference between a "Novice" or "Scholastic" or "Regent" or "Theologian" or "Tertian" you need only to look on page 19 for a helpful guide!