Guest Post By Michael Lawinger "Go, take your faith! Ignite the World!"

This is the fourth guest post that has been sent to me by a fellow seminary summer camper. Michael Lawinger has attended the summer camps held at St. Francis De Sales Seminary all four years that it has been offered. I am so happy that he wrote a post on his overall review of the camp, showing how it has grown and truly shaped vocations in the many teens that have attended over the years. Thank you so much Michael and all that have written guest posts for my blog. Know that I am praying for each and everyone of you. No matter if we become priests or not, I am still so grateful for your friendship throughout these years. Michael's wonderful post is below.

This year was my fourth time at seminary camp, and I am proud to have made every camp to date. There was one thing you noticed when you saw the first camp four years ago; it was small. The junior high camp only had 5 campers, but even then I saw something I never thought I would realize. I was not the only one discerning the priesthood in the whole state of Wisconsin! It was a great thing to see that, and even greater was the sight of next year’s camp. Over tripling in size it was now at 16, and it swelled with new energy and personalities. Yet again the bond became stronger as the camaraderie grew, seeing and meeting new people, as well as catching back up with the group from the previous year.

I was very proud of the second year camp, as I dragged a friend, his brother, and my brother to camp that year, and I was not the only one who did. More and more the camp grew with people drawn in. The truth is attractive, and no matter how much the world and the devil want to change it, some men are called to become priests. I have always felt a gut feeling ever since I was about 6 that the man behind the altar should one day be me. The call grew and grew, and when Bishop Elect Hying, then just Fr. Don (at the camp we affectionately named him the late Fr. Don) asked if I wanted to go to the first camp I jumped at the chance. The camps have definitely deepened my outlook on the priesthood, and what a priest actually does. The camp also helped me understand the gravity of the priesthood, for no man without the aid of God can have such an impact on others lives.

The spiritual camaraderie was astounding. We all understood there was something that made us feel we would be happy in the vocation of priesthood, and this common bond resonated throughout the camp. From playing monopoly till 2 in the morning, or deriving a logical proof from scientific evidence that God exists, we knew we were one in the same.

God looks out for us, Deus providebit, God will provide; He just asks we trust him. Not even the deepest dark can put out a candle, and every single person that attended seminary camp is a candle, and it is their choice to light others. Putting all 21 candles together this year only made us burn brighter, and created a holy bonfire. You could almost visibly see the holiness jumping from person to person giving energy and light to any situation.

From mass to confession, the sacraments were fuel to the flame, and during adoration we were scorched with the true presence of God. We knew we all had the same goal. Priesthood or not we were alive with the fire of the Holy Spirit and nothing was going to stop us. For we are the burning ones and we will not be contained!
Go, take your faith. Ignite the world!

Michael Lawinger

"The Least of His Brethren; A Conversation with God" By: Kenny Urlakis

This is the second guest post that I had promised to upload, once again about the Seminary Summer Camp that I attended. This guest post is written by a good friend of mine, Kenny Urlakis, who has also attended past summer camps. Kenny is a wonderful writer and even maintains his own blog! To visit it please click here. Thank you Kenny for writing this wonderful masterpiece and also for your continued friendship. Kenny's post is below-

Hello. My name is Ken. I was one of the campers who attended “Is it I, Lord?”- the camp/retreat at St. Francis De Sales Seminary. I have attended this camp for two years in a row and plan to attend in the future as long as they keep up this awesome experience.

My most fond experience at “Is it I, Lord?” this year was the service project at the St. Ann’s Center. When we departed from the Seminary, I must admit I did feel a little nervous. I had heard from the seminarians that we would be working with everybody-from the nursery and children’s day care to the mentally disabled and the elderly. A combination of my own human pride along with a sentiment of uncertainty left me feeling a little on edge. I kept this emotion in the back of my mind as I hiked along with the other guys, cracking jokes and doing other boy things (i.e. pulling little pranks, playing with sticks. . . you get the picture).

When we arrived at our destination, we were split up into small groups and sent to different units. I and two other guys were picked to go to the Alzheimer’s and dementia unit. As soon as I heard in what unit I would serve, the same emotion came over me. However this time, I decided to conquer it, and saying a quick prayer for humility, I fell in rank with the other two as we marched on to where we would serve. As we marched, I called to my memory my Grandma, who died of Alzheimer’s seven years ago. When we arrived at the unit, I found out that the patients were not as scary as my human pride had made them out to be. We all had a nice game of bingo while watching a movie. Then came the time to take the patients for a walk around the building.

I was paired up with a peaceful older man. He was tall and with his long with beard he looked like a Jewish Rabbi. He looked like God. God walking along with me in blue jeans and a white polo shirt. As we walked along he spoke almost nothing. Finally as we passed a sign that read “Aquatic Center,” he turned to me and said slowly with great difficulty, “I went swimming yesterday.” I, unsure of what to say, blurted out “really, was it fun?” Almost as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I thought of the stupidity of my response. However, he still continued the conversation by responding – again, slowly and with great difficulty - “Yes.” This was all he said to me. Yet, as I reflected, I realized that this was not just a conversation about a dip in the pool – no, this was a conversation with God. The Second Person of The Blessed Trinity says in Matthew 25:40: "Whatever you did to the least of my brethren, you did it to me."
On our hike back to the Seminary, instead of cracking jokes, we talked about our experiences serving God in the "least of His Brethren."- Kenny Urlakis

Outsiders

One of Jesus’ most profound and important parts of His ministry was His choosing the twelve apostles. During this time, many people followed Him. He had many people travel with Him to towns and cities where He would preach. They all wanted to be his followers.

However, Jesus once again surprised them all. Jesus decided to choose outsiders, the lowest of the low, people who were cast out from the rest of society. He chose fisherman and tax collectors. He chose them to serve and teach the rest of the world about His Father.

Today we live in a world based on popularity, what kind of clothes you wear, what sports you play and what kind of cell phones you have. Those who seemingly are not up to par or do not meet the requirements that are need to live in our society are considered outsiders, the lowest of the low, considered not good enough to be successful in life. It is the same case with religion. The world is not concerned with religion. Our world does not base itself on religion and God, because it does not seem “cool” or the “in thing” to be religious, to go to Mass or receive the Sacraments. It does not consider those who want to help bring others closer to God cool or popular.

However, Christ is the person who does! Just as He chose the unpopular and the poorest of people to serve Him as the twelve apostles, so He also chooses us! The world needs good men and women to teach others about Christ. It needs us to show others what really should be first and foremost in our minds, and that is Christ! The world generally needs to become closer to God.

Christ is calling us to be outsiders. He does not want us to worry about popularity, about what we do and do not have. He wants us to only work on our relationship with Him, to love Him and to serve Him. Jesus told the apostles, “Take nothing with you. Don’t even carry a duffle bag with extra clothes or shoes or even a walking stick.” He is telling us that when He sends us out to teach others about Himself, we should not take anything with us except our love for Him and our eagerness to serve.

Jesus is calling us to be outsiders, castaway from the world and what it deems important. When we become outsiders, non-conformers to the world, then nothing can hold us back from Christ’s love. The question is, “Are we up to this challenge?”

Gospel Reflection on Mark Chapter 10: 32-35

I just posted this new reflection on A Place to Explore Your Call to be a Catholic Priest website!
Feel free check it out.




Gospel Reflection


One of my favorite Gospel stories from Mark is about James and John approaching Jesus about their seats in Heaven. They say; “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left." Jesus replies, "You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" They said to him, "We can." Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give, but is for those for whom it has been prepared."

The ten other apostles became indignant at the brothers. Jesus then says, "You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mk 10:35-45)

This Gospel account speaks to all of us in a very special way! Just like the disciples, we always feel like we have to jockey for position in high places. We feel the need for power. We have a desire to be better than everyone else around us. James and John were concerned with power! They wanted glory! They asked Jesus about this, and His answer was not what they expected! Jesus told them that yes they would be able to drink from the same cup that He was, and be baptized with the same water, but He told them also that in order to have power and glory, they would have to go through pain and suffering. This truly reflects the saying that with great power” comes great responsibility! Before you gain power, you must prove that you are worthy of it. Jesus would not be the true Son of God if He did not fulfill the responsibility He received from His Father! “ You who wish to be great among others will be the servant among them, and whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all!” This is exactly what Jesus' mission was! He has come down, not to be served, but to serve! Being the slave of all meant that He was ridiculed, beaten and gave up His life for us on the cross. Only after He rose from the dead was He glorified!

Another message in this Gospel is this; do not try to out do each other! Do the best that you yourself can do! Do not try to gain power over your brothers and sisters! Be humble and modest! This however is strange in our world! It is strange because all over the world people are trying to prove that they are better than they really are! They try to be popular, smart, cool, funny and powerful. “When the disciples had heard Jesus' reply to James and John, they became indignant!” They became jealous. They wondered why they had not thought of asking Jesus first. We get so wrapped up in our desire for power that we lose the person that God made us to be. Therefore, we should only strive to be the best that we can truly be. We should not try to be better than we are. We can only do our very absolute best and that is all!

Early in the school year, I was struggling with Spanish. This was my second year of taking the class and I still couldn’t get it. I began to get discouraged. I wanted to give up. I just wanted to quit. I thought I would end up failing the class and have to drop it. I found out that I was trying way too hard. I realized I had to work really hard and do the absolute best I could. At the end of the first quarter, I ended up getting a C+! I turns out that doing the best I could was good enough. This is just what God wants of us.

People all over the world are ridiculed because they are not smart in school or in the work place. Some people are only trying to do their best. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Not everyone is perfect. So when you see someone today who is trying very hard to do their absolute best, but is not yet reaching a goal that they want to accomplish, tell them this, “Thank you for doing the best you possibly could.” That may be what they needed to hear. That is what Jesus is trying to tell us, to do the absolute best that we can, and nothing else.

Reflection on the Holy Gospel according to Matthew

" If you wish to be perfect go and sell all that you have and then come and follow me."

This is a great verse from the Holy Gospel of Matthew because it teaches us about the importance of charity and giving things up. It teaches us the importance of freely giving to those less fortunate, and to steer away from things of this world and instead turn to Christ. Not only is this exerpt from Matthew talking about giving away the objects of this world that we tightly hold on to, but it is also saying that we need to freely give up ourselves and the way we live.

This verse preached to us by Matthew teaches us how to find out what we truly need in our lives, and that the only way we can discover what we need, which is Christ alone, is by giving up of evil ways. Our lives are so dark, evil, dirty, full of guilt, and sometimes very far from Christ's love. Though this is true, we sometimes forget God's love and how he wants our hearts that are dark, so that He can make them light, joyful, happy, and full of love and zeal for him. God wants us to give up ourselves, our past, and all of our wrong doings. Sometimes we are so full of guilt that we feel that our pasts are too full of evil for us to still be considered God's children.

We must not let our guilt fill us up because God loves us unconditionally! He does not care how much wrong we have done to him in the past! He does not care about our deepest darkest sins that we are often so ashamed of, because He has already conquered our guilt, our sin, our doubts through His Son's dying and rising. We must realize that our sin is already forgiven, and that God will always love us. However we must be willing to come to him and ask of his mercy. God wants us to come to Him so that He may cleanse us from our sins.

And so as this reflection is coming to a close, I wish to share with you a series of lyrics from a song which is so fitting for this reflection on this Gospel verse. The band is a Christian band called Tenth Avenue North and the song is entitled Beloved. Keep in my that this lyric is written from God's perspective.

" Love of my life, look deep in my eyes, there you will find what you need, give Me your life, the lust and the lies, the past your afraid I might see, you've been running away from Me! Your My beloved, lover I'm yours, death shall not part us, its you I died for, for better or worse, forever we'll be, our love it unites us, it binds you to Me, it's a mystery. Love of My life, look deep in My eyes, there you will find what you need, I'm the Giver of Life, I'll clothe you in whine, My immaculate bride you will be, Oh come running home to Me!"

For God longs for us and for our dirty, dark, evil souls to come to Him so that He so that he can make us clean and give us new life!

Favorite Bible Excerpt

Here is one of my favorite bible excerpts that comes from St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians 1:3-7.

" Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement, who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage others who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we oursleves are encouraged by God. For as Christ's sufferings overflow to us, so through Christ does our encouragement also overflow. If we are afflicted , it is for your encouragement and salvation; if we are encouraged, it is for encouragement, which enables you to endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is firm, for we know that as you share in the sufferings, you also share in the encouragement."

I love this reading because it constantly talks about encouragement. First it states that throughout our own trails and sufferings, God is always encouraging us to trust in Him through them. God encourages us to push through them with our belief in Him that everything will be all right and that He is always with us us through them all.
Secondly, it states that not only is God encouraging us to believe in Him and that His is watching over us, but that using the encouragement that He gives us, God also gives us the confidence to encourage others in their trials to trust in Him that everything will be all right.

This reading truly teaches us how we should deal with our own problems in Life and how to help others deal with them. God wants us to first trust in Him to help ourselves learn that He is taking care of us, and then use our experience in these trials and how we overcame them in order to teach others how to overcome them! St. Paul's statement also reminds me of Jesus' teaching of how to help others. Jesus told His followers, "How can you help someone else take a sliver out of someone else's eye when you yourself have a be plank in you own?" What Jesus is asking us in this teaching is how can we help others if we don't first recieve the help that we need. How can we help others if we ourselves are struggling with the same problems? Therefore we have to give our problems up to God so that He can take them away from us and encourage us, so that we can encourage others, who are struggling with the very same problems we faced.