Vocation - finding real joy and meaning.

Hard to believe that I've been a priest for over four months! It's been a complete transformation of my life! 

Let's say a prayer for vocations - the world is hungering and thirsting for Christ. Have a question or trying to figure out your vocation - www.whynotpriest.org. 

What is Benedict XVI doing? His last two days as pope.

Sitting in St Peters and praying my rosary today, I couldn't help but think back eight years. I wasn't in Rome at the time for the election of Joseph Ratzinger as Benedict XVI in 2005. Still it seems like yesterday I was at our seminary in Ireland staring at a little chimney which suddenly started to spew white smoke - a historic moment! Today was one more in that series of spiritually earth-shaking moments in the Church and the world.

The Church is alive! And the Church is young!

I just received the new English anthem for World Youth Day 2013 in Brazil. There's certainly a lot going on in the Church especially with the resignation of the pope in Rome, but let's not forget what Benedict XVI said in his inaugural homily almost eight years ago. So what did he say?

Benedict Resigns, a New Pope, and the Inside Story.

It was November 30, 1406, and all the Cardinals were gathered to elect a new pope. Angelo Corrario was among them. There was tension in the air. Before anyone had even voted, let alone been elected, he had sworn to resign from office. In fact every cardinal had sworn to resign from office should he be elected.

This was the Western Schism and not only was Corrario elected as Gregory XII, but there were two other “popes” or claimants to the papacy at the time – Benedict XIII and Alexander V. Elections at that time were difficult with many political and economic pressures. At times substitute elections were organized to elect the “true pope”, leaving the Church oft in confusion and uncertainty.

As it turned out, Gregory didn’t resign for almost another ten years, during the Council of Constance in 1415. And he died two years later before seeing the end of the schism with the election of Martin V.

That was 1415, and no other Pope has resigned until 2013, 600 years later! What happened? Why is Benedict stepping down?

Finding a Home in Rome: citizens of the Church and of the world

Being in Rome, we experience the universal Church and the pope in a real and almost palpable way unlike any on earth. St. Peter’s Basilica is a microcosm of the tremendous reality of the universal Catholic Church. I love to share the image of St. Peter’s truly being the parish Church of the world that all Christians can call home!

It’s kind of funny because I think I have met more people in Rome from the United States than when I was on the other side of the ocean. 

Year of Faith: A living encounter with Jesus Christ

Over 250 people just finished participating with Benedict XVI in the General Synod of bishops on the New Evangelization. The Synod kicks off the year of the faith which opened in early October and will last most of 2013. How can we share our faith in today's world?

The Holy Father has also made it the theme of all of his Wednesday audiences. Every Wednesday, he will talk about some aspect of faith.

Here's a short excerpt from last Wednesday:

In our series of catecheses for the Year of Faith, we now consider the nature of faith. More than simply knowledge about God, faith is a living encounter with him. Through faith we come to know and love God, who reveals himself in the life, death and resurrection of Christ, and in so doing reveals the deepest meaning and truth of our human existence. Faith offers us sure hope and direction amid the spiritual confusion of our times. Before all else, faith is a divine gift which enables us to open our hearts and minds to God’s word and, through Baptism, to share in his divine life within the community of the Church. Yet faith is also a profoundly human act, engaging our intelligence and freedom. When we welcome God’s invitation and gift, our lives, and the world around us, are transformed. May this Year of Faith help us to live our faith fully, and to invite others to hear and welcome God’s word, opening their hearts to the eternal life which faith promises. Benedict XVI, 24 October 2012

Tell me what faith means for you!

Happy, happy - what is happiness?

Are you happy? Really happy? We desperately want to be and are constantly looking for things to make us happy!

We have a kind of endless thirst, a bottomless pit in our souls for happiness! We try to throw everything we have at it, but nothing seems to quench it. Pleasure, money, success, even human friendships. It seems like we always want more to be happy. But it isn’t that direction at all.

An Idea

Me in front of Westminster

I walked into the huge stone vaulted ceiling, and it seemed like I was stepping back in time. Hard to believe what this hall had seen in the previous centuries, but my mind went back to November 14, 1581. Edmund Campion stood his ground as he was convicted for treason. But in his own words, “The plain reason of our standing here is religion and not treason.”

Edmund Campion was an incredible Catholic, Christian, but above all, he was an incredible man. We need figures like this today. So often we look to musicians, athletes, or movie stars that aren’t even worth our admiration.

But I can hear the words of another man also spoken in England echoing in my ears:

When I invite you to become saints, I am asking you not to be content with second best. Having money makes it possible to be generous and to do good in the world, but on its own, it is not enough to make us happy. 

Happiness is something we all want, but one of the great tragedies in this world is that so many people never find it, because they look for it in the wrong places.

The key to it is very simple – true happiness is to be found in God. We need to have the courage to place our deepest hopes in God alone, not in money, in a career, in worldly success, or in our relationships with others, but in God. 

God wants your friendship. And once you enter into friendship with God, everything in your life begins to change. (17 September 2011)

Benedict XVI said this to the youth on September 17, 2010. What the world needs today are men and saints! What we need are men and saints! This might sound crazy, but this is what we need to think about, talk about and live out if we are going to be happy.

A Call

I sat at the table in a kind of stunned silence.  It is one of those moments when the world seems to freeze.  My mind raced.  What did she say?  “I just know that you are going to become a priest.” She was my friend’s mom, what did she know?

“She must be kidding,” I thought to myself.  I had never even considered it.  As I tried to shake myself free of this random idea, it wouldn’t come loose.  Not knowing why, deep down inside I had the feeling that she was right.

This problem was, I was starving. I had different things that I tried stuffing my heart with, but nothing seemed to work. Studies weren’t that difficult.  Grades weren’t a problem.  Sports went pretty well.  I had friends.  Even a girlfriend didn’t do much to relieve the situation.  I wanted something more, yet I knew that only something totally different would satisfy me.

I was tired of playing the game of life, I wanted to live.  Studies were to get good grades.  Sports to have extra-curricular achievements. Social activities to have lots of friends.  All of this to be admitted into a good university.  A college diploma to be hired for a good job, etc, etc.  Was my life going to be dedicated to great achievements culminating in retirement?  Is this what I wanted – to be sixty years old with a lot of money and “free” to do what I wanted or rather was still able to do with the leftovers of my life? No.

I wanted something more – no, rather God wanted something more. God had a special plan for my life as he does for all of us.

And I was not the only one.  Through the Regnum Christi movement, I met up with other young men who wanted the same. By prayer and conversation with a priest who helped to guide me, I little by little made the decision to take the step and join the seminary of the Legionaries of Christ. 

I served the Mass for Benedict XVI
and received communion.

That was 1999, and I have since studied in Germany, the United States, and now Rome. I am currently in my last year of theology, and in December 2012, with the grace of God, I will be ordained a priest.