Category — Theology

In today’s Gospel, Jesus presents a new commandment to his disciples:

“My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.
I give you a new commandment: love one another.
As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.
This is how all will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.”

Today’s homilist at St. Theresa’s Parish, Fr. Gabriel Achu, C.Ss.R., asked how this could be presented as a new commandment? Indeed, in Leviticus 19:18 a parallel law is presented:

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

Jesus makes this commandment new by both expanding those to whom it applies and by demonstrating the essence of love.

As the story of the Good Samaritan illustrates, Jewish understanding of how one loves their neighbour was confined by the place of Israel as God’s chosen people. This distinction created a chasm between Israelites and other nations. Members of other nations were simply not considered to be neighbours. Jesus’ extension of love and salvation to the Gentiles therefore scandalized the Pharisees and the Scribes. His commandment was not new in the sense that God did not before require love. It was new in that Jesus requested that we show love to all peoples.

As Father Gabriel touched upon, Jesus also presented a new understanding of the essence of love. As long as acts of love were constrained within the community of Israelites they remained self-serving. Most political philosophers extol the desirability of law and good works based on utility: as no one is permitted to harm another no one will see themselves harmed; if one is expected to provide benefit to their neighbour one may also expect to receive benefit. Sadly, these theories are often applied by most Christians. It’s the Christmas Gift Principle: give to those who give to you… and in equal value.

But Jesus demands a greater love. It must be a free gift and never an exchange. Love is not like a financial relationship which ought to have fulfilling benefits for both parties with a breach nullifying the agreement. True Christian love is always gift and sacrifice. God is Love, love is everything and love, like that given by Jesus on the cross, requires sacrifice…

Francis de Sales was born into a noble family on August 21, 1567. Intelligent and handsome, he studied at both the Universities of Paris and Padua, earning the title of “Doctor” in both Theology and Law. Despite lucrative offers in a variety of esteemed positions, Francis chose ordination over temporal wealth. His talents served the Church well and he was eventually consecrated as the Bishop of Geneva. He died on December 28, 1622 and was canonized in 1664.

His Introduction to the Devout Life (Download for Free) is a spiritual classic and this work, in addition to many other other significant writings, compelled Blessed Pope Pius IX to declare him a Doctor of the Church.

He is the patron of writers and journalists and of this blog.

The Everlasting God has in His wisdom foreseen from eternity the cross He now presents to you as a gift from His inmost Heart. This cross He now sends you He has considered with His all-knowing eyes, understood with His divine mind, tested with His wise justice, warmed with loving arms and weighed with His own Hands, to see that it be not one inch too large and not one ounce too heavy for you. He has blessed it with His Holy Name, anointed it with His grace, perfumed it with His consolation, taken one last glance at you and your courage, and then sent it to you from heaven, a special greeting from God to you, an alms of the all-merciful love of God.

Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow. The same Everlasting Father, who takes care of you today, will take care of you tomorrow, and every day. He will either shield you from suffering or give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations!

When I think of Pope Benedict, I don’t think of humorous cracks. But here’s his brief and well thought out analysis of the subject:

I’m not a man who constantly thinks up jokes. But I think it’s very important to be able to see the funny side of life and its joyful dimension and not to take everything too tragically. I’d also say it’s necessary for my ministry. A writer once said that angels can fly because they don’t take themselves too seriously. Maybe we could also fly a bit if we didn’t think we were so important.

And more:

God “has a great sense of humor”.

Humor is in fact an essential element in the mirth of creation. We can see how, in many matters in our lives, God wants to prod us into taking things a bit more lightly.

St. Philip Neri, known as ‘The Humorous Saint’, expressed similar sentiments:

Cheerfulness strengthens the heart and makes us persevere in a good life. Therefore the servant of God ought always to be in good spirits.

A joyful heart is more easily made perfect than a downcast one.

‘If you don’t have love in your heart you should say nothing’ - Paraphrased from a speech from Michael Coren (given in the context of pro-life advocacy)

I’m currently reading a book by Ernesto Cardenal entitled “Love: a Glimpse of Eternity”. Yes, Cardenal is a prominent liberation theologian and no, I wouldn’t ordinarily have much of an interest in his work. However, Thomas Merton wrote the introduction and one would expect anything which Merton endorses to be interesting if not worthwhile. And who doesn’t love love, anyway?

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the foundational premise and thesis of the book: “Love is“. As Merton summarizes:

With the depth of conviction Cardenal speaks again and again of that which simply is. Love is. All else is not, because in the same measure in which things partake of being, they partake of love. All that is not love, is not. All that which is, has its being and its action in love.

Merton continues by contrasting the moralist’s view of love with that of the mystic. Whereas the moralist would see love as one of several virtues, Merton opines that love is all: “The virtues are manifestations of a love that is alive and hale. And the vices are symptoms of an enfeebled love, a love that refuses to be what it is in its essence.”

This deconstruction of virtue and vice leads to a parallel dichotomous reconstruction, but one containing a marked positive slant.  All is either love or love’s contradiction, but even the contradictions are love - but in disguise:

Actually there is nothing else but love. But this love may live in contradiction with itself. It may at one and the same time be love and hate, love and greed, love and fear, love and envy, love and lust. It is destined, however, to be simply love, without any self-contradictory admixture. And love cannot fulfill its true destiny if we merely try to suppress our hatred, our fear, our greed, our jealousies, our lusts. These evil forces receive their strength solely from love. To supress them is to suppress love. On the contrary, these evil drives ought to be made fully conscious of themselves as love in disguise, and if this is the case, they will not be able to divert the potency of love to the service of that which is not love.

If you have trouble deciphering the language of relativism, Merton is essentially saying the following : “All is love, except that which is not love, which is still love, but in disguise. So even though it’s an evil force we must not suppress it for though it’s a contradiction to love it is in fact destined to be love and therefore it is love (though as as mentioned, in disguise). So it’s at once both not yet simply love and, in fact, love!” It all seems circular and metaphysical to the point of being unintelligible and absurd. It’s certainly absurd.

But there’s a conclusion amidst the relativistic nonsense which has value if salvaged from the verbal morass of ideology.   I’ve commented before that the true mark of love is passion. As the love of the Father and the Son begets the fire of the Holy Spirit, so holy and true love creates fire within our hearts. This ardent love which propels us is what I would describe as passion. If directed to good, to God, it creates a refiners fire, purifying and strengthening love. Perfecting love. Yet if it is either overtly directed away from God or simply disregarded, neglected and permitted to burn freely it acts in contradiction to love. Though its source is love it can turn against its creator.

So while Merton states that there is nothing else but love, I would interpret this as suggesting that love is the root of all and that love is the object toward which all our passions are directed. Everything we do either is done in love and for love or to abandon or destroy love. Therefore, our actions are not love itself but the passions that shape the love we hold and share. Unfortunately, there are sadly too many examples where Christians forget that love is the greatest of all considerations and become enslaved to the rigidity of ideology and the law. It is not the orthodox pursuer of truth but the hypocrite who, like the pharisee, places the law above love. As St. Paul tells us in Galatians 5:15, “if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law.” As Jesus came not to abolish the law of Moses but to fulfill it, we must strive to fulfill the law by acting not in slavery to the law but under the spirit and in the love of God and neighbor. Therefore, the root of relationship with Christ is not adherence to the law through obedience but fulfillment of the law through love. For the Christian love is the answer and must be in all that we do and say.

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I’ve wanted to write a blog on the following passage for a long time. Please send me your thoughts by commenting below or email me if your thoughts are personal:

“The truth is that wherever a man lies with a woman, there, whether they like it or not, a transcendental relation is set up between them which must be eternally enjoyed or eternally endured.” - C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

I think the Pope has been reading my blog! Or not Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you and your loved ones!

Some commentators point out that the shepherds, the simple souls, were the first to come to Jesus in the manger and to encounter the Redeemer of the world. The wise men from the East, representing those with social standing and fame, arrived much later. The commentators go on to say: this is quite natural. The shepherds lived nearby. They only needed to “come over” (cf. Lk 2:15), as we do when we go to visit our neighbours. The wise men, however, lived far away. They had to undertake a long and arduous journey in order to arrive in Bethlehem. And they needed guidance and direction. Today too there are simple and lowly souls who live very close to the Lord. They are, so to speak, his neighbours and they can easily go to see him. But most of us in the world today live far from Jesus Christ, the incarnate God who came to dwell amongst us. We live our lives by philosophies, amid worldly affairs and occupations that totally absorb us and are a great distance from the manger. In all kinds of ways, God has to prod us and reach out to us again and again, so that we can manage to escape from the muddle of our thoughts and activities and discover the way that leads to him. But a path exists for all of us. The Lord provides everyone with tailor-made signals. He calls each one of us, so that we too can say: “Come on, ‘let us go over’ to Bethlehem to the God who has come to meet us. Yes indeed, God has set out towards us. Left to ourselves we could not reach him. The path is too much for our strength. But God has come down. He comes towards us. He has travelled the longer part of the journey. Now he invites us: come and see how much I love you. Come and see that I am here. Transeamus usque Bethlehem, the Latin Bible says. Let us go there! Let us surpass ourselves! Let us journey towards God in all sorts of ways: along our interior path towards him, but also along very concrete paths the Liturgy of the Church, the service of our neighbour, in whom Christ awaits us. - Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 Christmas Homily

I was responding to a post on Facebook today and I saw a comment on my friend Rachel’s page: “I pray that you find the deepest desire of your heart. And I pray that you respect me as I am found by mine.” Seemingly sharp in its context but brilliant in its idiom. The statements reflects the two manners in which we perceive God’s will: when our prayerful pursuit of His will allows us to perceive the path and when God pursues us by intimating His plan. God revealed His will in both of these manners to St. Benedict Joseph Labre. Because this saint received a seemingly bizarre call which required an apparently absurd response, the manner is which God conveyed His will was accordingly pronounced. For this reason the life of Benedict Joseph continues to be of relevance to the modern Christian who seeks to do God’s will as he journeys through life.

The life of Benedict Joseph is certainly peculiar. As a young man he felt what he believed to be a sure call, not only to monastic life but to the austere and rigid community of La Trappe. Despite his sincere attempts to gain admittance, La Trappe never accepted Benedict Joseph and neither was he able to find permanent admittance in any other community. Confused, he accepted his fate and adopted the life of a vagabond beggar. Going without money and shelter, he continuously travelled from one pious site in Europe to another. A perpetual pilgrim, Benedict Joseph eventually died alone outside a small Church in Rome. His path was unique, but there is no indication that Benedict Joseph ever felt that he had failed to follow the divine will. The Church confirmed the holiness of Benedict Joseph Labre by beatifying him in 1860 and then elevating him to sainthood in 1881.

Pursuing the Will of God

As mentioned, what is most intriguing about the life of Benedict Joseph Labre is not only the peculiarity of his vocation but also the manner in which he identified, sought and fulfilled God’s will. Benedict Joseph’s genuinely held the belief that God was calling him to monastic life was and he diligently pursued this path. As Antonio Maria Coltraro relates in “The Life of Venerable Servant of God, Benedict Joseph Labre”:

“he had from a boy the inspiration of God to live a very austere life, as he himself declared to his parents and to his confessors, but he did not know in what manner, in what religious order or solitude. Being grown up, he made two attempts to enter La Trappe, but was obliged to give up the thought of it, understanding from his parents and from the Bishop of Boulogne, that this was not the will of God. He then tried La Chartreuse, but was rejected, for these fathers knew, and said to him clearly, that God did not will him to be one of them. No one remained to him but the very rigid cloister of the Cistercian Fathers at Sept Fontaines. He goes with great eagerness; he enters, satisfied, believing that he has at length ascertained the will of God; but Almighty God begins to afflict him in such a manner with continual illness and interior trials, that these religious men tell him openly, that God wills him in another state and not amongst them, though they knew him to be a youth of great perfection.” (p. 44-45)

It retrospectively assessing the life of Benedict Joseph one might be inclined to speculate that he misperceived his monastic calling. However, there is no evidence of an occasion where he honestly perceived God’s will to differ from own. Further, Benedict Joseph was faithful and prayerful and pursued the deepest longing of his heart. In such circumstances, is it correct to conclude that because he was not permitted to remain in any monastery God had not desired for him to seek admittance?

That God does not ultimately grant a prayerfully derived longing of the heart does not mean that its pursuit did not reflect His will. As God directed Abraham to sacrifice Issac in the desert but then prevented the execution, the life of Benedict Joseph is just another illustration that in following God’s will we must distinguish between our actions and the result of our actions. Following Gods will does not guarantee temporal results. The saint passionately pursues the deepest longings of his heart. When our discernment is genuine and our efforts are honest then we do God’s will even though the fruits may be hidden:

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. - Thomas Merton, “Thoughts in Solitude”

When God does not fully reveal his plan to us we may stray from His perfect will. Being human and sinful, we undoubtedly will encounter circumstances in which the temptation to pursue a path of our own choosing overpowers our spiritual intentions. Finding ourselves on a different path than God would have preferred for us to be on we may wonder whether we are doing God’s will. In fact, if we stand looking at the shadows of the past we are not doing his will. We can not grasp the shadows of the past but we can hold God in the present:

“The present is very precious; these are the days of salvation; now is the acceptable time. How sad that you do not spend the time in which you might purchase everlasting life in a better way. The time will come when you will want just one day, just one hour in which to make amends, and do you know whether you will obtain it?” Thomas De Kempis, “Imitation of Christ”

…

But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you.” – Luke 12:20 NRSV

Understanding and accepting that God’s will always operates in the present is essential to growing in relationship with Jesus and accomplishing His will. Guilt and regret may be an element often found within Catholics, but it ought not to be more than a passing sentiment. Yes, from fault must flow contrition and repentance. However, once we receive forgiveness, we must accept this generous gift and acknowledge that God makes us anew. Similarly, having chosen a path which God did not intend for us to traverse may lead us to recognize our mistake but it is imperative that we firmly resolve to direct each future step according to His desires.

Benedict Joseph Labre undoubtedly understood that God only asked of him that of which he was capable. Benedict Joseph prayed and discerned and then followed the path he perceived. Like Benedict Joseph, God does not ask us to perceive the imperceptible. God asks us to follow Benedict Joseph’s example of prayer, hope and trust and than act upon the fruits of our prayer. If we do this - what God asks of us – we fulfill His will.

God’s pursuit of our hearts

To be continued…

This week I downloaded and listened to a podcast of Monday’s Openline on EWTN with John Martignoni. I was genuinely moved by a caller who asked for the host’s interpretation of Matthew 7:7-8:

7 “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. - NRSV

This particular caller seemed almost despondent as he expressed doubt that this passage had in any way proved accurate in his life. In his prayers he never asked for fame or fortune. He believed that all those things which he had requested were reasonable and spiritually desirable. He asked for gainful employment. He asked for opportunity. And he remained faithful in prayer and waiting. Yet after years of perceived silence and disappointment he was unsure he could accept Jesus’ words in this passage any longer. He was close to closing a door on prayer.

The caller’s experience is not unique. The scars of sadness, doubt and despair mark the prayer journey of all who seek to follow Christ. The man who claims that all his prayers have been answered as he would have liked surely stands alone. There’s a beautiful scene in the movie Rudy which confronts the reality that God’s response to our prayers is not always evident. Desperate to pursue his dream of playing football for Notre Dame but unable to meet the institution’s academic standards, Rudy Ruettiger had enrolled in Holy Cross Junior College. Under the guidance of Father Cavanaugh, the retired president of Notre Dame University, Rudy worked his way through college and his spiritual struggles but found himself stifled in successive attempts to transfer into Notre Dame. As Rudy prays in a church and awaits a decision on his final permissible transfer application, Father Cavanaugh approaches him:

Father Cavanaugh: You did a hell of a job, kid, chasing down your dream.
Rudy: I don’t care what kind of job I did. If it doesn’t produce any results, it doesn’t mean anything.
Father C: I think you’ll discover that it will.
Rudy: Maybe I haven’t prayed enough.
Father C: I’m sure that’s not the problem. Praying is something we do in our time. The answers come in God’s time.
Rudy: Have I done everything I possible can? Can you help me?
Father C: Son, in 35 years of religious studies, I’ve come up with only two, hard incontrovertible facts - there is a God, and I’m not Him.

Both Father Cavanaugh in counseling Rudy and John Martignoni in responding to his caller realized that God’s promises regarding prayer must be placed in their proper context. The verses immediately following Matthew 7:7-8 explain the true nature of what God’s assures us:

9 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? 10 Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Prayer does not always produce the temporal results we expect but it is always heard and answered. This pseudo-paradox is only understood by realizing that God’s response is to provide the spiritual “good gifts” which His children need. None of us are God and we are often unaware of what can most benefit our soul. Our Father in heaven, seeing the entire picture, often responds with a cross. By placing a burden on our shoulders God presents us with the opportunity to prove our love. Whether we reject it or carry it says much of whether we desire our pleasure or relationship with God.

Continued in Part II HERE

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
- T.S. Eliot, “Little Gidding”

This Sunday’s lighting of the first advent wreath candle accompanies the beginning of a new liturgical year. There won’t be a countdown or confetti, no parties or Champagne. Rather, we enter a solemn season. During this time the Church calls the faithful to prepare themselves to celebrate the anniversary of our Lord’s coming into the world. It is a time for each Catholic to resolve to make their souls fitting abodes for the coming of Christ in the Eucharist and through grace. It is a time for each to resolve to be ready for Christ’s coming as judge, both at death and at the end of the world. In essence, it is a time for the faithful to reflect on what is required to live a holy and saintly life and resolve to make the necessary changes.

Yet sanctity can not be found in recreating ourselves. We have been wonderfully made and our full potential can only be realized by reshaping ourselves to God’s image. As that image is Christ, who took on the form of man to heal it, we must embrace our individual God-given natures and strive to improve them. Thus, determining how to grow spiritually requires us to recognize and cultivate our unique strengths and characteristics.

When I first began law school I continuously found myself confessing the same type of sin to my spiritual director. When I queried him as to why he thought I was persistently facing this particular struggle he replied by asking me if I knew what the greatest saints have in common. When I stumbled to respond he looked at me and said: “The greatest saints are those that are most uniquely themselves.”

Both our greatest spiritual struggles and our paths to salvation lie in what makes us most uniquely ourselves. The challenge is for each of us is to recognize the passions which form the quintessence of our nature and then divert them away from sin and direct them towards God’s greater glory.

As God places unique passions within each one of us, your spiritual journey will not necessarily resemble that of your associates any more than St. Joseph’s resembled St. Peter’s or St. Pio of Pietrelcina’s resembled St. Bernadette’s. Each of us must walk a different path to the same destination:

A brother questioned an old man saying, “What good work should I do so that I may live?” The old man said, “God knows what is good. I have heard it said that one of the Fathers asked Abba Nisterus the Great, the friend of Abba Anthony, and said to him, “What good work is there that I could do?” He said to him, “Are not all actions equal? Scripture says that Abraham was hospitable and God was with him. David was humble, and God was with him. Elias loved interior peace and God was with him. So, do whatever you see your soul desires according to God and guard your heart.”

God has placed unique passions within your heart and given you a unique role to play in salvific history. May your new year’s resolution be to acknowledge those passions and gifts and ask Him to direct them toward His greater glory so that “He will make straight your paths.” Have a blessed and holy new year!

…

I will begin praying a St. Jude Novena this Sunday (for a special intention, of course!). Please feel free to join me!: http://www.prayerbook.com/Novenas/judenove.htm

Can a city dweller hear God’s voice clearly or does the constant cacophony dull His diction? If St. John of the Cross is right in asserting that it is “great wisdom to know how to be silent” then is city living sane for the serious seeker of Christ?:

“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence…we need silence to be able to touch souls.” – Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Yet there have always been holy souls who have preferred human nature to the other kind. The late Fr. Richard Neuhaus regarded New York City as “the prolepsis of the New Jerusalem”, facetiously questioning why someone would deliberately live anywhere else. Even Thomas Merton, who was later to become a renowned contemplative monk, found happiness and contentment at Columbia University. Neither confused the spiritual with the temporal - God’s call is heard in the depths of the heart and only incidentally anywhere else.

Nonetheless, the city does influence its inhabitants. Like the emmet - ant - which loses it’s way in Blake’s “Dream”, some lose Christ among the multitude of paths the city presents.

A few months ago I was at St. Pancras station in London, waiting for a train which would take me to Paris. I ventured down the street in hopes of providentially stumbling upon a Church where I could pray or even attend Mass. I walked for a good ten minutes, but soon became convinced that if there was a spire in the vicinity the looming masonry brick buildings which lined the street probably obscured it from view.

Just as I was committing to abandoning my search, I came across an advertisement for a cellular phone company. The large megacorporation ironically offered a lament of the impersonality associated with communications industry in England. The poster presented two men and a woman, each in an indignant posture and donning a scowl. Below the photograph the caption declared: “I am not a number”.

Not a number…. Looking at the countenance of each I recalled the prototype structures I had passed along the way. Aside from the number outside each door, there had been little to differentiate one from another. I recounted the expressionless glances of commuters on the subway. I recollected the swarms that had passed by on the street without any nod of acknowledgment whatsoever. I recalled the words of Byron: “and was Jerusalem builded here, amongst these dark satanic mills?”

“Not a number”? Not even a number.

The stark reality is that most of us are no ones to most everyone. None of us are likely to ever meet the people in that advertisement and even if we did we’d never know them. Their lives, their personal crises, their hopes and dreams, their disillusionments and tragedies - all of these are unknown to us. Even the most prominent of figures face a similar fate. And even if a person obtains global prominence their legacy will be factual and cold.

Fame

“Who was the most famous person
In the empire of Trebizond?”
Blank complete – no body knew that.
I asked: “does it really matter?”
“Uh no”, they answered quietly.
I said: “I do not know either;”
“nor do I really care so much!”
“Such is fame!” I told my class.

- Wieslaw Nowak, May 9, 1997

St. Francis was most blunt in expressing this reality of our temporal nothingness, a reality made obvious in the city. Having walked atop Mount Subiaso and gazed upon the vastness of Perugia, he memorably exclaimed that we are nothing but worms. Speaking at the turn of the century, he could scarcely have envisaged the literal significance his statement would attain for those that commute to work each morning by subway. Whether the analogy be to emmets or worms, there’s something unsettling about a life in which we find similarity with the subhuman.

As bleak as the metaphor may be, St. Francis found in it not despair but hope. Focusing on the transcendental rather than the temporal, he realized that it was only in God that he could find eternal meaning. Unconstrained by temporal limits, God was able to know him to the fullest extent and to the depths of his being. Moreover, He was able to love him both completely and eternally, across time and space. Only by placing his temporal condition juxtapose God’s eternal ambition for his soul was Francis able to obtain the strength and courage - the grace - to renounce this world completely and pursue a relationship with Jesus with such unprecedented vigour.

Although Francis’ eventually chose the green martyrdom of monastic life, it was his vocation rather than the intrinsic nature of cosmopolitan life which led to this decision. He renounced the world in his heart before he ever did so externally. What mattered to Francis was not where he was, but that he was where he was best able to separate the spiritual from the temporal and embrace Christ most fully. The challenge presented to the modern city-dweller is to see Christ within her neighbour and embrace Him fully in her vocation. The temporal reality of his namelessness stands juxtapose one of God’s greatest miracles: that Jesus invites every person into a personal relationship. Each is known, loved and called by name. Always and forever. Even in the city. To God no one is a number.

Mary, Queen of the World Parish in Mount Pearl hosted a series of retreats presented by young adults from St. Johns. Each night between November 17-20, 2009, a different young adult recounted their personal conversion story and then elaborated upon some of the themes that have been central to their faith experience. Each incorporated aspects of the parable of the Prodigal Son. The talks are available for you to listen to and download. To download the file in mp3 format, right-click on the respective link and select “Save link as…”.

Laura Cooper - Tuesday, November 17, 2009
After recounting her conversion story, which was influenced by a summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Laura discussed the importance of accepting God’s Mercy and surrendering our lives to God. Download or listen to Laura’s story HERE (approx. 31.5 MB)

Brad Glynn - Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Brad’s conversion involved a series of falls which brought about the realization that he was heading in the wrong direction. The majority of Brad’s retreat talk focuses on the parable of the Prodigal son. He carefully guides a reflection on all three of the main characters involved, both before and after the younger son’s conversion. Download or listen to Brad’s story HERE (approx. 28.2 MB)

Theodoric Nowak - Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Theodoric’s conversion occurred in Rome during World Youth Day in 2000. He looks at Chapter Six of the Gospel of John and the story of Jesus’ disciples on the road to Emmaus. The Eucharist was central to his experience and he suggests that it is the main source of strength for maintaining ardency after the epiphany of conversion. Download or listen to Theodoric’s story HERE (approx. 38.4 MB)