It was an act of incredible self-restraint to NOT begin my reflection for the feast of Saint Blaise—the patron saint of throat illnesses—with this opening line:  “Today’s homily is brought to you by Vicks!”

I know, “bad seminarian.”  How dare I even think of money when reflecting on one of the holy ones of the church, a martyr no less!  Maybe after preaching five Masses this past weekend that involved a cash appeal, I guess my head has found itself in a fundraising place.  As I’m beginning to see, it’s all part of the territory of becoming a priest.  When I told my sister that I was going to be doing the appeal for the Paulists this past weekend, she said, “Ahh, you’re a priest already!”

But while we’re on the topic, it’s not as if Catholic saints don’t have a lot of untapped potential in the sponsorship department.  I mean, college bowls have corporate tie-ins that are only tangentially are tied to the game.  “Tune in for the Outback Bowl!!!  Being played in… someplace other than Australia.” The All-State Sugar Bowl… seriously?  What does car insurance have to do with sugar?  The Captain Crunch Sugar Bowl seems infinitely more appropriate… and yet it seems to be working for the people in whom we are in good hands.

When this idea was brought up around the office, imaginations ran wild.  We suspected that the people at Pepto-Bismol would have more than a passing interest in sponsoring the feast for Bonaventure, patron saint of bowel disorders.,, and no, I am not making that one up.     Chick-Fill-A seems a natural tie-in for St. Sebastian… patron saint of cattle diseases. Goya Kidney Beans were suggested for Benedict of Nursia, patron saint for those with kidney disease… we rejected that one pretty quickly.  I will spare you the ideas presented for Peregine Laziosi, patron saint of open sores.

But a common complaint of modern society is that EVERYTHING seems to be sponsored nowadays… and as someone who used to live in Baltimore for a period of time, …

While I adore the parish at which I am serving this year, I sometimes wonder if it is run by Quakers rather than Catholics.  Because at the beginning of Daily Masses at my Church, only the priest seems to have an assigned role.

Of course roles are much more defined during the Sunday services, but for whatever reason the role of lector and Eucharistic minister at my church is left to whomever the Spirit moves during the week; daily Masses are usually characterized by the assembled faithful giving each other looks that communicate after the Opening Prayer is finished, “Are you going to do it? Do you want me to go up?  Are you sure?”

Partially because I like to read and also partially because I am the seminarian, I usually walk up if other people have not suggested (verbally or non-verbally) that they would like to read.  Except this past Monday another wrench was thrown into the service after I approached the altar; when I walked up to the lectern, the book was not put out.

And it’s not as if this was necessarily a national disaster—the 5:20 evening crowd tends to be a laid-back bunch who don’t freak out at liturgical emergencies—but at that moment I had a decision to make… because hanging off my right belt loop was my trusty iPhone.

A few months ago I bought through the iTunes Store Universalis, an app that allows you to view the prayers and the liturgical readings for the entire Roman Catholic calendar right on your iPhone.  Before I invested in this neat little app, I used to have to carry my very thick, very heavy Book of Christian Payer whenever I traveled; now all of the prayers I ever need can be found in my own little 32 gigabytes of heaven.  Also included: the daily readings for Mass.

Now, the presiding priest is a very good friend of mine.  He is also more of a tech-head than I am.  I give him a look and reach for my phone.  Through the unspoken communication that can only take place …

A few months ago, I was sitting with some of the young adults at our parish in Austin and I casually mentioned the name of Issac Hecker.  The response to that name was, “Who’s that?”  And initially the response took me off-guard because for the past three-and-a-half years, much of my conversation has centered around the founder of the Paulist Fathers.

So when I preached this past weekend for the Paulist Appeal, I thought it would be a good opportunity to focus on Hecker and how his story relates to the conversion of St. Paul.  Because I seemed to get a good reception on the homily, it is printed below. It does cover some good history of the community that supports Busted Halo, The Paulists, but you certainly won’t be expected to contributie for simply reading.

Of course if you WANT to, no one will stop you. :)

When our founder Isaac Hecker was born in 1819, America was not yet 50 years old.  Think about that for a second… we are farther away today from the Beatle’s first appearance on Ed Sullivan than Isaac Hecker was from the Revolutionary War.  America, this brand new experiment in human history, was just learning how to walk.  And people were asking questions like, “What kinds of values are we going to have?”  “What kind of people are we going to be?”

And as Isaac grew older in the midst of this extraordinary time, he saw his own life as being directly caught up in those very questions.  But he also sensed something stirring inside of him, something that bordered on the mystical.  Because if Paul’s conversion was that of a Big Bang, Hecker’s conversion consisted of a slow burn that unfolded over many, many years.

Isaac was born a Methodist and he knew that God was at work in his life but he didn’t know how.  So to discern where those stirrings were leading him, he went to Massachusetts go live with the Transcendentalists.  Now of course, many have observed that …

The emotions involved in coming THIS CLOSE to meeting Bruce Springsteen.
 
 
 

On more than one occasion, I found myself utterly forgetting the patient’s name when praying with the patient. Somehow praying for “Buddy’s” recovery and for God’s presence in “Buddy’s” life in this time of trial seemed less… personal.

Climbing “Mount Bond” was a challenge that I always lost but never stopped trying to conquer while growing up. The closest I got in my attempts were smoothly ordering a “Coca-Cola, two cherries, no ice” when going out to restaurants, my own underage version of the famous vodka martini… I know, I know, you only wish you could be THAT cool.

There’s no such thing as a normal life, Wyatt. There’s just life.”
- Val Kilmer (as Doc Holiday), Tombstone

I myself am not a fan of New Year’s resolutions; I much prefer Lent when it comes to endeavors of personal improvement. For Catholics, the practice of sacrificing something of value for 40 days is like a New Year’s resolution, except with teeth.

With a pork burrito in my hand, a song in my heart, and Fudgie the Whale back in my life, I am feeling generous, so I agree to partake in the survey. The first question: why did I leave USAA?

The following is a continued account of my first year in seminary with the Paulist Fathers.

Holy Thursday 2006 was spent in a bar. The screen writing class I had been taking finished its six week run and we all decided to go out for a beer. After the evening was through, the instructor of the class (Jim) and I were walking to our cars. He had graduated film school a few years ago and was working during the day for a wine store while working on some projects, one of which he was in the midst of finishing for a producer in Hollywood.  As it happened, I was heading down to DC to visit American University Film Program in the morning, and I wanted to pick his brain about graduate school possibilities.

The conversation started at “career” advice but got around to where he’s at in his life—specifically whether he should continue pursuing film or start settling down. Jim was seeing somebody pretty seriously and he realized that he was soon going to have to make some decisions. I’m a few years older than him and I told him of some of my experiences of trying to live out dreams within the context of living a “normal” life and suggested that there might be ways to do both.

I went home after that and hopped on the computer before going to bed. A friend of mine sent me an e-mail… and ex-girlfriend no less… about a new television show that was going to be on that weekend: God or the Girl. The show is a four part series about four young men going through the discernment process for the priesthood, and at the end of the series they would each come to a decision. Gerry, knowing that discerning had been a big part of my life a few years ago sent me a link to the web site with the subject line, “Are you going to watch?”

Discerning religious life had been a big part of my life for over ten years, but two years before I had finally come to the …