Firewatch by Thomas Merton

Fork in the Road...

Once I was told that if I ever came to a fork in the road I should take it. Well that is precisely what I've mulled over in discernment throughout the last few years of my life. Am I at a fork in the road, and if so where do I take it?
On the twentieth of July, 2009 my Lord helped me answer that question, and I did exactly that, took it. Everything that has come to pass in this last month, every change of place, job, and life style has come from that motionless day. It seems as though I have simply experienced rest from my travels, and with that has come a new sense of interior freedom. To say that the goodness of this life has come by any other means than love would be a lie, as it has been characterized by only one thing - effortlessness. A new spring has come into my life, and I choose to serve the Lord.
To thank those in my life would be too long of a list, suffice to offer thanksgiving to my Lord and my God, for his guidence at that fork, my Spiritual Directors for their holiness and witness, to Katie and all those who have inspired me to strive for holiness, to the whole people of God, Thank You!

Happiness is Love

"Their lives were too human for science, too beautiful for numbers, too sad for diagnosis and too immortal for bound journals."
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/print/200906/happiness?x=31&y=1

Mary's Month! WHAT!

Friday Quote

"Calculation never made a hero."
-- John Henry Newman

Fanciscan Point

JMJ
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So what does a good seminarian do on a Friday evening in the Month of Mary? Well, I should think it obvious, he should walk along the lake shore with Rosary in hand, Our Lady's intercession up above, and Irish tunes on his lips.
A lot has happened since my last post, which is precisely why I have not posted on the lots. If I had, then the lots would have been more like a little, and then we would have no reason to post. But, thankfully there has been lots, and not little. However, with all this lots it could turn out to be of little meaning, but "since brevity is the soul of wit, I"ll be brief" (Polonius).
This evening, myself and several other guys made our way around the winding road of our school's lake. All in all it measures three miles, which might not be much, but it is everything one needs for a beautiful walk around a three mile lake. About half way around the old blacktop roadway is a moss covered path that leads through the ever thickening forest toward the lake shore. It is a trail worn by years of priests at prayer as well as the occasional family of deer. The seemingly ancient passageway winds its way past the yonder smelly swamp and the spring grasses that have just inhabited the forest floor, and plants you along the east shore line, on a beautiful nook known as Franciscan Point. There you are able to wonder at the miracle of a spring sunset, and take in the silhouette of our chapel's spire as the day draws to a close. It was at this place that the men of Mundelein seminary spent their Friday night.
After setting up the fire pit and grabbing the evermore immobile concrete benches, we sang to our hearts content and then to our voices' detriment. We recalled the Ol' Black and Tans, rejoiced at Ol' Finnegan's Wake, and sang to the Whiskey in the Jar. As the night drew to a close, and our smoke filled eyes screamed out for our concession, we gave into the call of our distant beds and sang our last song to Sweet Molley Malone. We found our way back to the now blackened path and after some searching the old winding blacktop roadway. With the sounds of Dublin's finest pub still ringing in our ears we walked the few miles back to our beds and said our goodnights to our sweet mother, thanking her for her intercession.
Well, perhaps it wasn't so brief, but it was a good Friday night nonetheless. It was either Franciscan Point or the tales of Ugly Tie-day Friday, but I'll save that for another post.

D. It is written

In 2008, the film Slumdog Millionaire hit the world stage and gave testimony to the reality that "it is written" and that indeed there is a writer. In this tale of a young Indian "slumdog" there emerges several great truths that capture and inspire the heart, as he seeks to reunite with his one true love. It is a story of cooperation of man with God's grace, with love triumphant, and God's intamacy with his creation. If you have not watched this movie, go and do so. In the following clip of Father Barron is his commentary on the film, drawing out the truth within (there is some spoilers so watch the film first.)