Paradox...

"There is but one answer, and I am sorry if you don't like it. If Innocent is happy, it is because he is innocent. If he can defy the conventions, it is just because he can keep the commandments. It is just because he does not want to kill but to excite to life that a pistol is still as exciting to him as it is to a schoolboy. It is just because he does not want to steal, because he does not covet his neighbour's goods, that he has captured the trick (oh, how we all long for it!), the trick of coveting his own goods. It is just because he does not want to commit adultery that he achieves the romance of sex; it is just because he loves one wife that he has a hundred honeymoons. If he had really murdered a man, if he had really deserted a woman, he would not be able to feel that a pistol or a love-letter was like a song-- at least, not a comic song."

-Manalive by G.K. Chesterton

Friday Quote

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There will be a new post soon, but for now I leave you with a quote:

"Nothing shows a man's character more than what he laughs at."
--Anonymous (I.C.)

What I Wanted To Be

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Meyers-Briggs testing has made its way into the blogosphere and has dubbed this blog an ISFP otherwise known as your melodramatic artisan. Now, I have nothing against artistry, in fact I happen to be a lover of certain movements within art. However according to them, I am:

The gentle and compassionate type. They are especially attuned their inner values and what other people need. They are not friends of many words and tend to take the worries of the world on their shoulders. They tend to follow the path of least resistance and have to look out not to be taken advantage of.

Well, the mind baffles.

So in a hope to clarify my personality for Mr.'s Meyers and Briggs, I thought I might add a short list of what I wanted to be, lets get started!
1. Cowboy Up - When I was little, growing up on the farm lead to a yearning to ride into glory on the top of a full grown bull. That hope was soon dashed by my 3.2 seconds of fame the top of a half-grown steer at the county fair. Alas, I was forced to pursue other career tracts.
2. Archeologist - After the short despair following my dreams of bull riding I watched my first Indiana Jones movie and hope returned. He was a man's man, who got play in the mud, fight off bad guys, and get the girl. I'm actually still holding out for this dream.
3. Football Star - It was after my sixth grade year that I realized my calling to football. I had but to gain about a foot of height and a hundred pounds in order to play - and too God's credit He did in fact give me the foot. However, this dream too was dashed by an utter lack of athletic ability, so I moved on.
4. Professor - By my high school days I realized that it was not athletics that would lead me to glory, so I switched stratagies. I began committing myself to being a physics professor, you see I really aspired to wear tweed jackets and rejoice in the beauty of disheveled hair. (Picture is from the movie I.Q.)

For me this turn toward being an artist is a bit of an existential crisis, nonetheless, I hope for you this list clears up my blog personality a bit - but for now i'm going to go paint. Peace.

Religion and Beer

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We are about to begin the ninth week of classes out of our ten week quarter, thus it is once again time to begin more intensive preparations for finals. However, in an attempt to remember the joy and leisure of true study I wish to share a few insights that I have gained through study in my life (some taken from Ironic Catholic, enjoy):

INSIGHT #1
Why Religion Is Better than Beer:

* Too much religion does not induce vomiting.
* Jesus is free; beer starts at $2.50 a six-pack.
* Religion has a lot fewer calories.
* Holy water doesn't affect your sense of balance.
* How many fistfights do you see in a church?
* Religion won't give you a hangover.
* Your spouse won't complain that your breath stinks of religion.
* You can have as much religion as you like, and still drive home later.
* Your religion won't shatter if you drop it on the ground.
* You can shake up your religion, and it won't explode.
* You don't have to get your stomach pumped for overdosing on religion.
* The day after going to church, you can remember everything that happened.
* You don't have to worry about getting religion stains on your clothes.
* Saying "Oh, God!" is much more fun in church than kneeling over the toilet.
* The police won't arrest you for accepting Jesus under age.
* It's okay to drive and be open to Jesus.
* Jesus was crucified for our sins -- beer is just pasteurized.
* Jesus comes in a handy one-pack.
* Jesus is who you need in emergencies -- beer often causes emergencies.
* Try driving a nail through a can of beer and see what happens.
* Beer just doesn't have the same after-sales service that you get from religion.
* Too much religion won't kill you, Perhaps just the opposite!

INSIGHT #2
Wine is helpful when taken from a medieval German perspective

*Drink wine, and you will sleep well. Sleep, and you will not sin. Avoid sin, and you will be saved. Ergo, drink wine and be saved.

INSIGHT #3
G.K. Chesterton wisdom
*We should thank God for beer and Burgundy by not drinking to much of them.

INSIGHT #4
Root Beer
*Enough said!

The Week Off

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Now it is not quite as the name implies, we are still very much attending classes and community time, however, we have no more exams or papers. As a result our free time can be spent on other important things such as posting on this blog.
When I began writing on this post I had intended to tell you about the results of my first exam in Latin. However, my whole topic depended on me understanding the answers I put down on my test - which I don't anymore -so instead I will tell you the funny Latin phrase that went went through my mind when I got back my test.

"Veni, vidi, volo in domum redire."

I came, I saw, I want to go home.

Tomorrow I get to go back to St. Benedict's nursing home and spend some time with my friends there; i'll see what "new" movie Jack has to show me, and hopefully get to spend some more time with Chester and Susan(see 'If not love' post). Afterward, I go back to Mundelein and will be cantering for my first time ever in the Main Chapel, so pray for me. After that it is time for some good ol' soccer followed by prayer - yeah prayer!
Peace be with all of you and know that you are in my prayers.

Happy Feast Day St. Jerome

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Happy feast day to my confirmation saint - Jerome - scholar, translator, and theologian. Jerome was the foremost biblical scholar of the ancient Church. His translation of the Bible, along with his commentaries and homilies on the biblical books, have made him a major intellectual force in the Western Church. Jerome was intemperate in controversy, and any correspondence with him tended to degenerate into a flame war. (His friendship with Augustine, conducted by letter, nearly ended before it began. Fortunately Augustine sized him up correctly, soothed his feelings, and was extremely tactful thereafter.) His hot temper, pride of learning, and extravagant promotion of asceticism involved him in many bitter controversies over questions of theology and of Bible interpretation. However, he was candid at times in admitting his failings, and was never ambitious for either worldly or churchly honors. He was a militant champion of orthodoxy, a tireless worker, and a scholar of rare gifts. To learn more about this great saint visit his biography on Catholic Encyclopedia.

As to the reason why I felt called to Saint Jerome as my confirmation saint, well there could be a multitude of reasons - his devotion, his study, his orthodoxy - but in the end it was only one thing, which I'll get too. You see at the time of confirmation I had no clue as to the meaning of this saint's life or works, he was simply a name I found on-line. (Which at the time, the simple act of logging on to the Internet was a feat of strength, much less actually searching for anything.) As it turns out he was calling me to himself so that he could yell at me for not being holy enough, and point me back toward the Church. (I tell ya, he's a feisty old guy.) So in the end God allowed me to chose this fiery saint as my guide and commander as I was confirmed in my mission. In the end, however, my final and only reason for choosing Saint Jerome - which I presented to my priest and religious educators, whom I can only assume lost all hope for the next generation - stated that he was a doctor who lived in the desert, which I thought was funny enough to be cool. I mean really, why would a doctor live in the desert, nobody gets a cold in the desert.

Alas, this is what you had to work with Jerome, nonetheless, happy feast day. Oh, and if you get the chance, just let me know why you went to practice medicine in the desert, that's just strange!

If not Love?

"I did not find it that exciting," he said, as he walked the other direction. These words seemed to linger in my heart and in my mind as I went on with the rest of my day. Not out of anger or of self-doubt, but out of sheer astonishment.
Referencing an event earlier in the day, one that I hope gives you a glimpse of what it gave me, a good friend of mine made this comment. It was in relation to our visit earlier that day to St. Benedict's Nursing Home in Niles, Illinois. Within the grounds of St. Benedict's live eighty-three men and women, priests and nuns, all of whom God loves immeasurably and completely. They come from different backgrounds, careers, and stories. Some come hurt, and others out of age, each with his or her own identity. As you visit each of these children of God, you see in them the eyes of Christ peering back at you from years of hardship and suffering, and in this we see the paradox of the cross.
While visiting with the different residents I came across Susan, who, though she could not tell me her own name, was able to ask to be taken to her husband. For me this was something beautiful and to be cherished, and in fact I had been told earlier in the day that there was such a couple living at the end of the south wing. We eventually reached the doorway leading into Susan's room and there on their bed was her husband fast asleep. When we entered he slowly rolled over and a smile came across Chester's - that was his name - face as he looked upon his wife. After a bit of small conversation and introductions (Chester as it turns out can communicate much more clearly than Susan), I found out that the two have been married for sixty-five years, and that Chester found his wife more beautiful at ninety-two than he did the day they married. As I was about to depart the two seemed to motioned at one another, and Chester quietly asked me to bring Susan over to his bedside. There the two lovers embraced one another's hands and with the words, "still warm after all these years," Chester laid back down to sleep.
I look forward to spending more time with this couple, and to hearing more of their story. But, as to why I bring it up in the light of my friend's remark, "I did not find it that exciting," well it has to do my astonishment. You see, I want to know, what there is to be excited about, if not Love? True Love! Gift of Self for the Glory of God!

Beginning Again

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Last weekend a good friend of mine, Jasmine P., set me straight on what it meant to blog, and that it required more than two entries a month. Thus, in an attempt to avoid being ousted by the blogging community I have begun typing again, for which I apologize to you all. May God bless you!
If you are looking forward to a short update on my time at Mundelein Seminary, I'll do my best but you see that's hard for me. However, very soon I plan on taking a nap and so that offers me even more incentive to keep this quick. My last entry came directly before a trip to Conception, MO for a soccer/volleyball tournament, and so I'll begin there. We drove down through torrents of rain and wind, and brought back two trophy's in the brilliant sunlight. The next week was spent recovering from the matches, setting down a schedule of prayer, and spending time with the guys in my cam (abbreviated Italian for dorm). The latter two of these, prayer and brotherhood, have truly been the heart of my time here at Mundelein.
Prayer is a constant focus, as it has been my heart and strength. For a reference you can look at Chesterton's character, Innocent Smith in Manalive, and from that you will see what I mean. In this novella Innocent, stands trial for murder, polygamy, and general insanity, yet in the end it was him simply understanding what it truly means to live life, to awaken to the joy God. Now in the book, Innocent shoots at his professors and goes on one hundred honeymoons to realize what it means to be alive, but somehow I think the formation directors here at Mundelein would look down on this sort of behavior.
Brotherhood has meant numerous things and all of them intriguing(at least to me). We, as a cam, have designed a flag so as to claim territory on campus. Its fantastic! We have played ball, golf, soccer, and sailed. We have traveled to the city and roamed in the country. We have prayed and we have played, and honestly that not to bad of a combination.
Lastly, I would just like to say a word of thanks to all the Apostle's and Collaborator's who made last weekend's conference so wonderful. The warmth and joy that I felt and bore witness too was beautiful. I'll write again soon, but until then may His peace be with you.

Classes, Chior, and Competition

JMJ

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And thus I emerge from my long hiatus and re-enter into the blogging realm. While these short quips are not much I hope they are at least enough to share with you some of my more unique experiences while at seminary. These blogs are really my answer to a challenge. For it has been said that my communication on the device known as the telephone is a bit lacking, hence I avoid it all together and blog. In doing so I may be a fool, but at least I am avoiding the gravity of seriousness.

Now on to more important matters like my time here at Mundelein. Tomorrow will mark my last day of my first week of philosophy and Latin classes. To help you visualize this reality I have attached a symbol of a time honored, but perhaps foolish tradition of a picture on the first day of classes. Why the first day and not the last day, I haven't the slightest clue. It would seem that one would want to take a picture of the last day, as t hat is when we would be most joyous and mature, and avoid the first day of ignorance. Nonetheless, here is the picture, take it as you will.

Nothing that precedes this next paragraph really has any bearing on the focus of this blog, so I hope you did not read all of it, and if you did...well I guess that is true love. In this blog I wanted to share with you my time thus far in classes, choir, and competition. First, Classes. Well ,thus far I have learned that Christ is the ideal, and that I am not him. This revelation was a good one, as it allowed me to rejoice in my lack of gravity and self-belief. (Which in fact makes life much lighter, and less like an asylum.) From that lesson I have moved on to philosophy and Latin, as well as catechism and spirituality, which are all good things...very light indeed.

Choir has been a new experience all together. While our director is not that of St. Lawrence's, no indeed her stature and gender don't allow for it, she does sing very well and somehow manages to keep 220 men on key. This is her feat, and it is impressive. The actual class and practicing is done outside of the chapel in a small second story room. It is there that we make the majority of our mistakes, thank God. So far all has gone well and I am truly learning quite a bit about my voice and practices of singing. However, she has also explained to me that this does not involve laughing during the performance, which I take issue with, but that is just my issue so I won't worry too much about it.

Lastly, my competition experience since coming to seminary has been interesting. Tomorrow, I head out for a weekend of soccer and volleyball in conception, Mo, which ought to be a great time. There are about 25 of us who are running away from the seminary for the weekend, but we sorrowfully planed our escape route directly toward another seminary. Nonetheless, the weekend should be a great time to relax and be with some of my new found brothers. Other than these few updates and the various unremembered or unmentioned experiences this has been my life thus far. As my life here unfolds I'll try to keep you in the know, as I continue to yearn for levity. Peace be with you!

The Irony of Traveling Alone

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In this strange time I see that I have not traveled alone, but in love. Recently, I had the opportunity to watch the new film Brideshead Revisited, and while Hollywood was frustrated, as it seems, by the novels deep focus on grace and mercy, their portrayal of Waugh's love story was not entirely without. Near the end, they found a way to show beautifully the mercy of God in the death bed scene of Lord Marchmain. Here you saw the true mercy of God, that while Lord Marchmain walked and traveled for so long without God, he never traveled without God's love nor that of his family and friends.
On this same topic, but with a much different feel, the movie was also unique due to the elderly couple who sat in front of the guys and I. At every turn and awkward moment - granted their are several in a two hour movie that is telling the "book of the century" - you could hear them mumble expressions of either horror or intrigue, as they hoped to make sense of the plot's depth. This experience was also emphasized due to their five foot structure and the constant movement of their hands to their mouth in exasperation.
Thus ends my first week at seminary. Now, if I were to describe my time hear thus far, for those of you who might be interested, just remember of the words of Flannery O'Connor, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd. This week has been filled with uncertainty, great joy, pain, and laughter, but most of all irony. I hope this finds you all well, and know that you are all in my prayers.

John Paul would have enjoyed wind surfing

JMJ
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My dear friends, when I awoke this morning it marked the second day of my adventure in a strange place known as seminary. Not to be confused with the second day of my adventure as a seminarian, that was much different. So far since leaving Kansas I have been witness to a three story-tall porcelain runner, a grandma who was trying to cut calories by saying no to the sugar cone option in the Baskin-Robins, and the openness and docility of some absolutely amazing men of Christ. Let us, however, begin at the beginning for that is a good place to start.
Upon leaving Lawrence, I soon discovered that my car door was having troubles. Now for some this may have been a cause of concern as they began a nine hour road trip to a new home, and it was for me too. Of course I first had to diagnose the problem that was both enabling the seat belt and causing the chime to continue sounding, all the while turning off the cabin lights. In this process of investigation I found two things, first, my door jam switch has an extra component on it that seems to be failing, second, removing fuses to electrically run parts solves problems just as well as ignoring them, and does so without the terrible chiming.
So I hit the road, along with my trusty brother seminarian Daniel Stover. Around St. Louis we encounter a load of traffic, that lasted nearly an hour and brought us three miles closer to our destination. Ah, the gateway city, I guess they need a larger gateway to speed things up a bit. Nevertheless, to all you St. Louis fans out there...From there we turned north to Chicago, which was a fun drive of Jazz and old grumpy men on the radio while I sang along.
We reached Normal, Illinois at about seven that evening and things got back to (I got all these jokes out in the car before actually meeting the people there, there were almost as many as Peculiar, MO). Daniel and I met up with Fr. Tony Dittmer at the Campus Center there and had a great evening of conversation and community. That next morning we said our goodbyes and got the heck out of Normal.
Our first few days at Mundelein have been simply moving in and building up our class fraternity. We have had golf outings, lots of food, and several conversations about wind surfing, that is of course in addition to all the beautiful prayer. Thus, I reached the finish of this post, which I believe is a good place to end. God Bless, Praise be to Jesus Christ!