Paths to Padre: A Seminarian's Journey

Behold the Man June 28, 2021 I know it has been only two weeks since my last update, but I thought it would be good to share some overall thoughts from my expereince during June.  Ecce homo, Behold the Man This line comes from the Gospel of John, Chapter 19. It comes right after Pontius Pilate had Jesus scourged. He is then presented to the crowed covered in wounds, crowned with thorns, and draped in a purple cloak. He is at one of the lowest and weakest points of his earthly life. After a month of reflection, it only seemed fitting that our program was called Behold the Man . We were challenged to confront our own weaknesses in order that they be healed. Your wounds can be healed if you confront your weakness. Through the healing process, we are then able to help others through their pains. The past month has been one of deep prayer, personal reflection, and a chance for fraternity.  As was mentioned in my previous post, part of our program was an 8 day silent retreat, which ...

God is in Control; I am NOT God! June 14, 2021 As many of you know, for the month of June, I am participating in a program at Kenrick called "Behold the Man". This program is meant to orient everyone entering Theology 1 in the Fall to the life and rigor of formation here at KGS. It is also meant to help each one of us learn to listen for the voice of God more clearly in our lives. As part of this experience, we were blessed to have an eight day guided silent retreat. Having just completed the 8 days in solitude, I thought it would be a good time for an update.  At the thought of spending eight days in silence, with no phone, computer, iPad, iPod, TV, or any other technology, and also not having conversation with anyone but a spiritual director, many people are immeditately shocked. Common repsonses are: "You are going to spend 8 days not talking?"; "Jake, are you even able to keep your mouth shut for that long?"; "What do you do that whole time?"...

God is Good All the Time and All the Time God is Good! March 26, 2021 Popularized in the movie God's Not Dead  and in other aspects of pop culture the phrase "God is good all the time, and all the time God is good" has become more common place in the past few years. If I had to sum up the past few weeks, the past semester, and frankly the past year and a half since I entered seminary, I would have to sum it all up with "God is good all the time, and all the time God is good!" It has become very clear to me lately that my whole life has been guided by God and his plan for me. Though I have always had a sense of this, it has never been so concrete as it has been lately.  As I have noted before, seminary formation is not the easiest thing in the world. It has challenges that other career paths do not. We are called to be completely open and vulnerable with our formators, our counselors, and our brothers. A boy entering seminary is called to become a man. This happe...

 A Debt of Gratitude March 2, 2021 Things are going well here at the Seminary. We are in the midst of evalution season and coming up on midterms. Writing peer evalutions and a self evalution is always a reflective process that allows you to see the growth in yourself and in your brothers. This year has been a year of great growth and graces. I continue to grow in knowledge of who I am and what being a beloved son means. I have also come to a clearer realization of what appropriate self-care and leisure are like, as well as learning about relational boundaries with people around me. My extroverted self needs time to sit in the silence and recollect once in a while.  Onto to the Title: I recently recieved an e-mail from my alma mater  Briar Cliff University, asking for a donation this coming month in honor of the Sisters of St. Francis of Dubuque, Iowa. The Community who founded Briar Cliff and have worked tirelessly since the inception to support and fund various projects ...

Finding God Everyday   January 24, 2021 Happy New Year to everyone! As we begin the new year, as seminarians, we start the year with a silent retreat of varied lengths of days. For college and Pre-Theology, that meant silence from Sunday Night until Thursday Afternoon. Each person on the retreat is asked to make four holy hours a day. There is also a retreat presenter that gives one conference a day. This year we had the privilege of having Fr. Shane Deman, Vocation Director of the Diocese of Sioux City as our presenter. He gave one conference each day about each of the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary.         Through our conferences, I was given many things to pray with and to pray through. In my prayer, I was able to realize that I was still holding a grudge against so many people in the closing of my home parish of St. Benedict. Even though it closed three years ago, I was still not over its closing. But I can safely say that after the retreat I am much...

 Advent - A Time of Waiting...A Time of Reflection 12/13/2020 Happy Advent!  Disclaimer: This post might me longer than normal, as there have been alot of movements lately. Fair Warning! An update before the real meat of the post: I am finished with finals (passed all of my classes, one C and the rest As) - the perfectionist in me is still trying to figure out how I let that happen. Thanksgiving was a wonderful time back in Iowa with family and friends. Since we started classes in the middle of August, the formation staff for both College and Pre-Theology decided to give us the week after Thanksgiving off as well. I spent the extra week in Des Moines with four of my classmates. We worked on final exams, which were take-home, spent time in prayer, visited various churches, enjoyed fraternity together, and cooked some very good meals! I am grateful to my Aunt Jean for allowing me to stay at "Pinkerton" although no quiltiing was done.  I am back at the seminary for two weeks...

Where Do You Find Strength?  11/12/2020 As you may recall, my last post was about what pillar I stood on and how different pillars make our lives better or worse. This time, I pose the question, where do you find strength? You could easily replace strength with hope, energy, comfort, etc. As a seminarian we spend many hours week in prayer, both private and communal. This is where I find strength. In my daily prayer regimen and in the daily celebration of the Mass. There are many great advantages to a daily prayer life. Mainly it helps me remain calm (somewhat...) and helps me be grounded in my daily tasks. While there are many different attributes of my prayer lfie that change on a daily basis, there are a few consistent things. This consistency occurs in the celebration of the Mass, praying the Divine Office, and the Rosary. However, I would like to focus on two small prayers that I say multiple times a day: one is the prayer of St. Francis before the Crucifix, and the other is a ...