The Musical Priest

Readings for March 28th: Monday of the Third Week of Lent -Maciej Rejniak, '11 In today's Gospel, Jesus tells those listening to him “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.”, a statement that the Jews did not take kindly. Weren't they the Chosen People, the ones who God has picked from all other races of the world? Weren't they the ones who have lived according to God's law, even though it is difficult and unnatural to do so? Weren't they the ones who fought for years in bloody wars for the Promised Land that God has given them? A Jew listening to Jesus at the synagogue, I imagine, must have thought something like this: “With what impudence this man speaks! We are the Chosen People, the ones who will bring all nations before the one Lord. We obey the laws and the prophets, we do the Lord's will. This man has no right to accuse us of such dealings, he is wrong, and we must get rid of him before he poisons the minds of the ...

Readings for March 27th: The Third Sunday of Lent - Matthew LoPrete, '13 In today's Gospel, Jesus talks to a Samaritan about  matters of life and death, concrete and abstract.  It is odd for Jesus, a Jew, to be talking with a Samaritan in the first place, and the skeptical woman is quick to point this out.  When Jesus says he can give her "living water," she asks if He is "greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?” The conversation continues, and Jesus tells the woman that not only the Jews will recognize the Messiah and achieve Salvation, but the Samaritans, though they are not the Chosen People, will too. She sees Jesus as a prophet until He corrects her, announcing he is the Messiah. The disciples return, begging Jesus to eat, but He will not.  He responds:    “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work.  Do you not say, ‘In...

Readings for March 26th: Third Sunday of Lent - Ryan G. Duns, SJ As many of you know, I am in my second year of teaching at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy . As I read today's readings - each one rich with meaning - I recalled a somewhat trivial event that, when examined, indicates what I think is so special about our school. As moderator of the Student Senate, I have a pretty cool office on the "garden level" of the school, right off of the Student Commons. Depending on the day, I can have anywhere from between five and twenty students taking up space on the couches, chairs, rockers, and even the floor. I rather enjoy the company and I always marvel at the cross-section of students who seem to stop by: I recently described the typical scene as being that of the "Mos Eisley Cantina" (Star Wars reference) as guys from all over the universe seem to gather there! A few weeks ago, a group of students were in my office, including several...

Readings forMarch 26th: Saturday of the Second Week of Lent - Ryan G. Duns, SJ While waiting at the doctor's office this morning, I began reading a marvelous book entitled Passage to Modernity: An Essay in the Hermeneutics of Nature and Culture written by Louis Dupré. I was grateful to have this book as it helped me to pass the time as I waited amidst a throng of coughing and sneezing patients (me being one of them). [If you're curious, I was diagnosed with "walking pneumonia" and put on a course of antibiotics] Dupré writes: The quality of a civilization may be measured both by the complexity of its ingredients and by the harmony of their order. The more diverse elements it succeeds in integrating within a harmonious and unified balance, the greater its potential and, usually, its achievements are. (29)  I refer to this because I think today's famous parable of the Prodigal Son is captured well by this quote. The Father in the parable operates within an econ...

Readings for March 25th: Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord - Ryan G. Duns, SJ Last weekend, I spent two days in prayer and fellowship with several other Jesuits. Before we celebrated the Eucharist on Saturday, one of the Jesuits posed the question, "What advice would you give to next year's Regents?" (Regency: a formation period for Jesuits; I am a Regent teaching in a high school).  My response was simple: Just Say Yes . If I have learned anything over the course of my Jesuit formation, it is that God has always given me more than I could ever have imagined...even when receiving it was at first painful. When we began plans for " U of D Jesuit: Pledge Detroit! " last year, it seemed like a daunting task. Nothing like this had been executed before and I, in my second year, had to shoulder the burden of making sure it was done well. Were it not for the support of good friends and colleagues, the program would have failed. In the early stages of planni...

Readings for March 24: Thursday of the Second Week of Lent - Ryan G. Duns, SJ The Lenten season can, at times, appear to be more like an endurance contest than a time of penance and reflection. By this I mean simply that, very often, folks enter into Lent strong out of the gate on Ash Wednesday with great resolve and and conviction: I Will Not eat another dessert; I Will Not have a drink; I Will eat less ( and I will do all of these in the hopes that I can lose ten pounds in the process ). Ironic that our frail human natures permit us to transform a time when we are called to learn to depend more and more on God keeps us, and not God, at the center of our lives! Today's Gospel serves as a reminder our tendency to lose sight of what is most important in our lives. Our parable is not an excoriation of having wealth or having comfort; rather, it is an exhortation never to allow our own creature-comforts and selfish concerns become our absolute horizon. The glitter of the wealthy ...

Readings for March 22: Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent -Justin Bland, '12 Today’s reading is interesting to look at, especially in the light of a movie we saw today in school. As Jesus heads to Jerusalem with the twelve disciples he already knows his fate and reveals it to his disciples. To know one’s own fate is a difficult thing to cope with, and yet Jesus embraces it. The fear of the unknown is what constantly challenges people today. I know for myself that not knowing what may come tomorrow or the day after, even in simple aspects, can be a frightful thing. In the same way the unknown can be a driving force for people in the future. The potential to do well for others or experience something different can be motivation for someone to move on from the past. Jesus merely showed us what our fate was, and even though we may not know what is coming next we must embrace it. I find it somewhat coincidental that today we watched “To Save a Life” as an entire...

Readings for March 22: Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent - Peter Walle, '11 As I have reflected during this Lenten Season, I have often turned inwards to ask an important question: how often do I actually embody God's laws, rather than simply appearing to do so? In today's Gospel, Jesus condemns the Pharisees and scribes as those who “preach but do not practice”. He subsequently calls His followers not only to do all that the Pharisees demand of them, but also to strive to live as far apart from their corrupt way of life as possible. In short – do what they say, not what they do. How many of us are modern Pharisees? It is common to see someone take credit for the good things she has done, thus making them appear to be holy, upstanding citizens. What we rarely see, unsurprisingly, is people taking credit for their mistakes. God's call to humbleness is replaced with the human law of “individual purpose”. That is, our human actions have the tendency to conceal ...

Readings for March 19th: First Saturday of Lent -Michael Ponkowski, '12 Change is a difficult, intimidating process. We constantly avoid it, we defy it, and we deny it as if it were a deadly disease. It presents burdens that are domineering and it creates a feeling of fear for the unknown, and when we are summoned to embrace a change, we are often reluctant to forge a durable path that is new and unfamiliar. Comfort is contentedness and to be content is to take comfort in the familiar, and even if this comfort poses obstacles along the way, it is preferred by many of us because it is easier and involves less work. However, change is a part of humanity, and as much as we resist it, change is an undeniable aspect of life. The development of a human person, as we grow and change in physique, mentality, and emotion, is an obvious change all humans experience. And just as we grow and mature, we all are born, live, and die, which are indeed changes that all of us experience. “Take ...

Readings for March 17th: Thursday of First Week of Lent - Michael Koziara, '11 There are a lot of naysayers about prayer. It can be hard to believe that all we have to do is “Ask and it will be given to you.” They say that God has never given them what they actually wanted. They say that they've waited long enough and give up. They say that God doesn't care enough about them. They say God is too busy trying to bring peace in the Middle East or save lives in earthquake-stricken Japan. Rightly frustrated by life experiences and emotional roller-coasters, they don't see God granting wishes right and left. Some say that God doesn't give us more than we can handle, but I was struck recently when someone proposed to me that hat's not true. For by giving us more than we can handle without Him we are forced to turn to Him. It is not receiving God's help that's the problem. He works through others, He works through ourselves. The paitience part can be challe...

Readings for March 16th: Wednesday of the First Week of Lent -Anthony Di Ponio, '12 We are constantly given choices: Should I go to mass, or should I watch the big football game on TV? The answer may be obvious, but we do not always make the right decision. It is very easy to turn away from God, but that weakens our relationship with Him. And time and time again, He gives us another chance to come back. This is exactly what happened in the city of Nineveh. The people realized their faults when God threatened to destroy the city, and they quickly repented. We are lucky that God is so merciful.             Lent is a time of repentance. It gives us a chance for renewal of our relationship with God. So many opportunities present themselves during Lent. Some choose to “give up” something they enjoy as a sacrifice to God while others choose to do something positive for others. The Catholic Church also offers numerous opportun...

As part of my (seldom successful) efforts to clear up a backlog of tasks, I'd like to share with you some thoughts on a books I've read recently. This little gem was sent to me by its publisher at Loyola Press  who invited me to share my thoughts. The book is entitled the prayer that changes everything:  Discovering the Power of St. Ignatius Loyola's Examen  (Note: the title is in lowercase letters on the book's cover, hence the strange way it appears in type here) Written by Jim Manney, it's a short (~80 page) treatment of the prayer Saint Ignatius enjoined on his Jesuits and those who would receive the Spiritual Exercises . Manney, either consciously or not, crafts his treatment of the topic in the form of an inclusio. That is, he begins and ends his treatment of the Examen with the five basic points of how to pray using this powerful method Ask God for light. Give thanks Review the Day Face your shortcomings Look toward the day to come This skeletal ...

Every now and again, I hear from people that the "Society of Jesus has lost its way." They decry the focus on a "Faith that does Justice" and they offer embittered wishes that the Society would go back to its old ways, the ways of the good old days...whatever those were. Perhaps it is true that in the 1940's and 1950's, the nostalgic "Golden Era" of American Catholicism that there was a marked lack of focus on justice (although, if you read the incisive work of Father Mark Massa, SJ you'll realize that things weren't so Golden after all). It has long been be my contention that this was anomalous in the history of the Society of Jesus and that the original impulse of the Society of Jesus addressed the needs both of the soul and the body (Ignatius did, after all, found a house for prostitutes and begged money for to feed the hungry). Last night, Father Walter Farrell of the Detroit Province delivered a profound homily on the originating i...

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...

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...

I have spent the last few weeks reading C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity with my seniors. It's a remarkable little book: clearly written, engaging, with very short chapters. As my post from yesterday should indicate, my indebtedness to Lewis for giving me an imaginative tableau for my Christianity certainly predisposes me toward loving any of his works. Book III of Mere Christianity takes as its overarching topic the issue of Christian Behavior. He begins by recounting "a story about a schoolboy who was asked what he thought God was like. He replied that, as far as he could make out, God was "The sort of person who is always snooping round to see if anyone is enjoying himself and then trying to stop it." Lewis writes that in his own era, just around 1943, this is the image of God that seems to have taken hold of popular imagination. If my experience with high school and college students is any indication, this image of God still holds sway. If this distorted ima...

I took my first steps toward being a runner last September. I began by running 3-mile stretch of Fordham road once or twice a week. Over time I managed to increase the number of miles. This led me, back in January, to begin training for a marathon, a feat I accomplished back in May. I have found that running has been one of the better practices I have adopted as an aide to my spiritual life. Running, like prayer, takes discipline. Just as one must "settle into" prayer, so one must "settle into" a run: you stretch, take in some water, and perhaps eat something before embarking on your course. Some days prayer, like running, is very easy and it is a great delight to be out there. Other days it's far more difficult and one is tempted to give up. And yet we know that prayer, like running, is good for us so we persevere. Such disciplines, or ascetic practices, are ways in which we become literal "athletes for Christ." I arose early this morning - around six...

Please Pray for Priests Dear Lord, we pray that the Blessed Mother wrap her mantle around your priests and through her intercession strengthen them for their ministry. We pray that Mary will guide your priests to follow her own words, “Do whatever He tells you” (Jn 2:5). May your priests have the heart of St. Joseph, Mary’s most chaste spouse. May the Blessed Mother’s own pierced heart inspire them to embrace all who suffer at the foot of the cross. May your priests be holy, filled with the fire of your love seeking nothing but your greater glory and the salvation of souls. Amen. Saint John Vianney, pray for us.

The fourth in the series, this one stars: Yours Truly!

Tomorrow we begin our annual Lenten journey. I often find it helpful to have a guide in my prayer, someone to help me along as I walk with the Lord toward the awful triumph of Calvary.  This year, I would like to recommend a series of Lenten Reflections done by Father Pat McGrath, SJ. Pat is a recently ordained Jesuit priest and is a gifted homilist. These seven reflections offer an opportunity to reflect on the meaning and importance of Lent in our lives.  I've said this before, and I'll say it again: if we've entered into it with an open heart, our Lenten journey will not leave us unscathed ...there will be no "back to business as usual" on Easter Monday. Over these weeks, each of us has an opportunity to take stock of our relationship with the Lord and to ask how we might come to know Jesus more deeply, to follow him more nearly, and and to love him more dearly. If you can say, "AH!!! Now, back to normal" then you've missed the point of Lent. Our...