Priests Should Marry?

I always seem to have a sore spot for this, because maybe I am a baby Catholic and so I am ever protective of the Church and Christ’s teachings, but I really think even when I am old and grey and sitting on a porch rocking I will still have that regard.

This issue (see title) came up during my break from work and when a person from work said that (well more like said, “I think priests and religious should marry.”), I instantly said, “Absolutely not.” I never like to be rude or mean to anyone and I refuse to give the name of the person who said this, but I know many might wonder why I would say that.

Well, I for one have watched the priests from my parish and all they do and I can just see how it would be so difficult to be a devoted husband and run a parish of over 300 families plus. Society now a days think because so many of them are working families that it would make sense, but remember that a priest have so many things to do for the Church that sometimes I can tell you that many of the priests I know have almost no time for just spending time doing what they would like to do (examples like reading, hiking, going out with friends, and etc.).

I think in a sensible way and common sense priests to not marry would be a good thing for the sake of a spouse and their feelings for many would feel left out and unloved because they are not even spending any time with their husbands.

Common sense out of the way, there is something that Jesus even said that is truly the focal point of my argument, correct me if I am wrong, but Jesus told his disciples if they truly wish to follow him they “must give up everything and take up the cross”. That I think was in the Gospel of Matthew. Think about it Priests and Religious Sisters give up everything to follow Jesus and His Church.

The Priests are representatives of Jesus and His Church, and am I not correct in saying that Jesus himself was not married and innocent (in a sexual sense), did He not give up His family, did He not give up everything for God’s Children. I think that would be a YES, so if the Priests are not just Disciples, but representatives of Christ, should they not try to imitate Christ in His way, by being a celibate and unmarried man. But as I said it is a Call, not all can do this and that is why Jesus tells Peter and the Apostles if they wish to TRULY follow they must give up everything.

Does that mean that I am not truly a disciple of Christ? No, it is a Call, God knows which are called for the priesthood and religious life, those who are not called should know that their vocation in life, if it is a single life or married find ways of devotion to God, through prayers, teaching their children the Truth of Christ’s Church.

The person who made this claim looked at this issue through a few priests, who probably made the mistakes, because priests are HUMAN, they are not Christ who was sinless. We strive to be like Christ, to be sinless in the eyes of God. But, also with the way society is now so sex-centered they cannot seem to see the natural love of devotion to God alone and His Church. Sex is not EVERYTHING, there is more to life than having an sexual relationship, Priests who make that mistake, are just human beings who have tempted and need prayers, not all follow their temptations, for I know I remember a homily by one of the priests I know that said, “There are days where I see a beautiful woman, and say, she is so beautiful, I wish I could date her, but I think about how much I love the Church and wish to follow Christ.”

They have those feelings, but they don’t have to act upon them, I am getting married, correct should I be tempted to stray from my relationship because I find someone attractive, wonderful, and everything I want (which mind you, my fiancé is all that and more!)? No, I am bound to him, and he is bound to me, and we are bound to God and His Church.

I think I went a little far on my rant, but in the end, I wanted to speak out about those who speak about this issue, for I truly believe they allow society to cloud their minds and never truly see beauty of what the priesthood and religious life brings and shows to us who live in sex-centered society.

I know there are going to be people who will go against me on this issue, but truly this is my honest opinion, from observations when I was coming into the Church and now, but also from my own experiences throughout my childhood and teenage years.

Please pray for them, and for the Holy Spirit to intercede for this prayer for TRUTH.

God Bless,

Nikita

I think way too much but can never write much

I have learned quite simply that I think absolutely too much. I say this in regard to my constant problem to sleep at night (or morning sometimes due to work). I cannot seem to let go of the thoughts in my head. At worst is there just seems to be no way of getting them out of my head some days. I think that God allows that for maybe the reason I need to contemplate the thoughts more to ripen them and be able to say with confidence that I am thinking this. Then again it could be that I am so scared and terrorifed that my thoughts are stupid that I keep them in and the Holy Spirit is trying to tell me that “no they need to be spoken”. One can never tell, but neverless I am ever thankful to God for blessing me the grace to think as deep as I do.


Where did this come from? Well, quite frankly (people who know that part of the quote did I make you finish it. Do not worry a co-worker this morning said, “Free at Last, Free at Last” and I literally without missing a beat said, “Thank God Almighty we are free at last”) I started having this happen when I was little and would lay in my toddler like crib and those few memories I had were of just laying there and thinking and I would have no reason to think.

The mind, no matter what anyone says, is beautiful and literally amazing and so complex. But, the best part is to examine each persons’ mind many found it to be unique, and that is God’s grace and that is why I thank Him for it. So, what was I thinking today that cause this entry to be written, it would probably be the fact I had just watched the rest of the documentary of Mark Twain. When I was younger I actually read “Tom Sawyer” but that has been over ten years or so. Listening to the quotes of Mark Twain from his letters, journals, books, and newspaper articles I have a desire to read his works again.

But the kicker of the documentary is about his dark years with of the tragedy. I felt so sorry for the man who was a genius in the arts of writing the spoken language. I understand cruelties of death can do to a human, but why blame God? I sat there and thought about myself in my childhood and through those dark years I wondered did I ever blame God. I kept thinking and you know what happened? I found myself saying literally a flat out “NO”. It is hard to explain and every harder to not give details of my past (which as this time I do not want to discuss) and so I can say I am going to be difficult at justifiy how I could just say no.

Two Days Within

As I sit here, doing laundry I thought it would be a great time to write another entry. I want to say I wish internet at my home and not have to go places to get internet. It becomes a hassle because when I want to write an entry, I cannot post it and then it is a few days old. So, hopefully many of you can understand my little problem.


Alright, it is time to go through what has been transpiring for the past two days. Thursday was 20s Group Meeting. 20s Group is a group created to form a fellowship of young adults to not only meet new people to form friendships, but to deepen their understanding of their Catholic faith. I was most excited with this because I had experienced St. Paul’s Outreach, and though the people were kind and charitable, they were more charismatic, and as I was told by my Spiritual, “sometimes cannot be your cup of tea”.

There are many of those in the 20s Group who wish to balance charismatic and traditional within, but I am hoping we stick to the traditional way, and that is just because it is hard to find a group of young adults who are in joy with being Catholic that are not more into the charismatic movement. I am hoping through the meeting we have today (Saturday) we can discuss how many of us would like a balance between the two and not have this group going only charismatic, but that is my opinion.

The 20s Group meet every Thursday and the evening consists of Holy Hour of Adoration (which I love silence, just saying that out loud now) and then after that we have a special guest speaker, a member talk, catechist, Bible study, or something randomly fun. After that we either stay at the parish are we are going out to a local watering hole, or with the weather getting warmer going somewhere with a volleyball court or something.

Anyways, this 20s Group meeting was a lecture done by Fr. Michael, who is the pastor of the parish I attend and the group is associated with. His lecture was on “The Lord of the Rings”. I have never read the books because I never had them in my possession to read. The lecture focused on how J.R.R. Tolkien, the “father” of modern fantasy literature was able to bring Catholic imagination to the books. I loved how he was able to underline everything in the book as Catholic, but without making a new religion within the book, which would in turn create a cult. (Sounds familiar with some of the books/movies made)

One of the cool things I learned from this lecture was how J.R.R. Tolkien able to show Jesus Christ throughout the story and yet as even Fr. Michael, no one would notice. He uses three characters to be Priest, Prophet, and King. When I post this I want to see if anyone can guess which characters are Priest, Prophet, and King.

Lastly, the one thing that is interesting through out this lecture was Fr. Michael stated that in “Lord of the Rings” the day of victories was March 25th, which is for Catholics is the Annunciation. This is the day celebrate when Mary said “fiat” to God to be the Mother of Jesus. Her “yes” brought about the beginning of the Salvation, as the writer for the Magnificat says, “The Annunciation heralds the beginning of the our salvation.”

So, yesterday was the great day of Victory! It was to be the third Friday of Lent, but because it is such a special day, the Lenten practices were lifted for this one Friday. That meant St. Patrick’s Knights of Columbus served not only Fish, but Chicken. It was so interesting to have that happen, especially when I am allergic to seafood to say on Friday to the Knights, “I would like Chicken please”. They did something on the Chicken, which was have Italian dressing or seasoning on it, which literally make me wish I could have a second round.

JR, my fiancé and I sat at a table with our friend, Emily and my “adoptive” grandparents, Bee and Dave. It was wonderful to be able to spend time with them all, because though I am a parishioner at the parish, there are not many who like to sit with us because they promised to sit with their families or with families that they always sit with. Either way, I am happy that it was not just JR and I at a table.

To add to the joy, I was told that JR will be joining the Knights of Columbus. I was kind of sitting going, “why I was not told?” But, am I pleased that he is doing something that he wants to do. I am going to have a Knight as my fiancé.

Emily was at the Fish Fry because we had our Dominican Third Order make-up Novice class before the Fish Fry. I truly think it is Jesus doing something because when Emily has missed a class, I somehow miss a class and we take the make-ups together. It is nice to do that because I feel that Emily and I are like Sisters, not just in the Dominican Order, but spiritually.

The lesson was about the Government of the Order, how Saint Dominic was beyond his time for he had the Order set up in a Democratic way. And it still works! Think about this, the Dominican Order is the only order that has not broken apart; there is no break though out the eight hundred plus years of the Order.

At Saint Patrick’s Parish a normal Friday during Lent goes as follow, Fish Fry from 5pm-7pm and then from 7pm-8pm is the Stations of the Cross and then depending the night, there is an all night Adoration. This Friday due to the special occasion instead the Stations of the Cross it was Adoration. This year I have been unable to attend the Stations of the Cross with the parish because of work schedule and then last week my great-uncle went back into the hospital. So I was all for Stations, but I do not mind having Adoration either because it is a chance to quietly speak to Jesus and thank him over and over again of the graces received.

Yesterday I was also glad for Adoration for I quietly made my petitions for the soul of a high school classmate who committed suicide this past week. I prayed for his soul, but also for his family who lost the person they loved so dear to them.

As I looked upon the Body of Christ I constantly asked the Lord for the strength of not blaming myself for his death, for I knew I felt that for awhile because I was never truly there for him and I never was the ear to listen to him as he needed his heart poured out, I was not the shoulder to carry the weight of his suffering.

In the end I was kind of in a sad way glad I never went to the funeral. I wanted to, but how could you go to a funeral when you have that much regret, you know you cannot lift that regret. I did not want to look upon the faces of his family and say, “I am sorry for your lost, I am sorry I was not there for someone who seems to needed someone to listen to him”.

I would not be able to control the emotions and regret and in turn I would blame myself more and more and I know that would never be good for me, Jesus would never want me to have that regret, when I had no control over the events. I know that there will be a few people who were friends with him and read this and will come after me for not coming, I hope that when they read this they will understand why I could not come, not just because of the time, but for the reason I stated above.

I like to go on a lighter note, which is I blame my godmother for getting me so addictive to the game Sequence. Last night when JR brought me back home, we played for about I think an hour or two of the game Sequence and we could not believe that it was close to midnight by the time he left the house. All just playing that game and talking, something we liked a lot. And the game got intense a few rounds, literally. (He had to use three green chips that is how intense).

Well, I guess I should end this entry because with Microsoft Word I wrote three pages for this entry. And I do not want to bore people who actually read this blog/journal. God bless and have a blessed Sunday.

March 23rd, 2011

This entry was written prior on Word because I had no internet. :) Enjoy:

It is already the middle of the week and I am quite certain within a blink of an eye I will be transported to Sunday night working 10pm-6am. It seems it goes by quickly and yet it doesn’t for it is just 11:07am and I thought it was about 2pm.


This morning I did my morning routine, which consist of: Liturgy of the Hours, reading the Magnificat, and Magnificat: Lenten Companion. Since I am unable to go to Daily Mass, I read the Magnificat to at least know what today’s readings were.

The great part of the Magnificat is the fact that they add a piece of work written by a Saint, Blessed, Religious, Clergy, Laity, or even Pope as a meditation. Sometimes these written works do not really invoke me to write about them, but today the Holy Spirit invoked this one to me.

Written by Mother Elvira Petrozzi, she writes about pain and suffering and how “pain is a part of human life”. She also writes, “Do not avoid it, minimize its significance, or talk about it in such a trivial way!” I have in my lifetime remembered being told to avoid being hurt by doing this, or it happened in the past get over the pain. How I have suffered when I was silent to those few words said to me as I was growing up!

Mother ends her work by writing, “The risen Jesus is our true hope, because in Him pain and death are defeated!” Jesus took on our suffering when he did not deserve any of the sufferings, He was the Word made flesh. He reminds us that the suffering we endure here on earth we will not endure in Heaven. How joyous I am that Jesus saved us from always being in pain and suffering after death. I know I am going in deep, but these are just the thoughts being thrown out from my mind.

In the Magnificat: Lenten Companion, Father Richard G. Smith writes about how “the Gospels are the great and true epics of Christianity, and the Twelve are our heroes”, but also “none of the Gospels shy away from the real humanity of the first disciples”. This is true we read stories of heroes who are strong and perfect, and yet we know that is not humanity. “We’re meant to see something of ourselves here-like these disciples, we often miss the boat with Jesus, even after so many years of living with him!” How true that is, sometimes I find where converts like me and reverts like my fiancé, JR are at, we for so many years missed by how we seek perfection. “Jesus doesn’t need our perfection, he only asks for our faithfulness.”

That quote reminds me of what I was reading for my Third Order Novice class this coming Friday. Obedience, as in my lesson works says, is misinterpreted gravely, even by those of the society and even the Clergy sometimes. “To be obedient is to strive ceaselessly to hear even more clearly God’s Word, the Gospel, and Jesus Christ.” Obedience is not a way for us to be shoved down on our knees crawling as slaves, no obedience is freedom.

I am not a theologian, maybe I would like a degree in theology one day, but I do not have it now. With that said, sometimes though I know I am writing the Truth, sometimes it is even difficult for me to explain how I know the Truth. Kind of funny, right? I would say so, but please I ask that those who love to argue or just debate because they have a thrill, please know that I am baby in my own faith, still learning how to defend myself in what I know in my mind, heart, and soul as true.

To change the subject a little, today is the feast of Saint Turibius de Mongrovejo. I would just like to copy down the little biography from the Liturgy of Hours:

“Saint Turibius was born in Spain around the year 1538. He taught law at the University of Salamanca, and in 1580 he was chosen as the bishop of Lima and journeyed to America. Burning with apostolic zeal, he called together many councils and synods which successfully promoted the reform of the religion throughout the whole region. He vigorously defended the laws of the Church and earnestly looked after the people committed to his car by visiting them frequently. He devoted much of his time and attention to the car of the native Indian population. He died in 1606.”

If I am not correct the Josephinum, which is a pontifical seminary and college and the only one outside Vatican City. But, anyways, the one main chapel that they are trying to restore is the St. Turibius chapel, so named after this holy man. One more thing I would like to copy from the Liturgy of the Hours is the prayer for Saint Turibius:

“Lord, through the apostolic work of Saint Turibius

and his unwavering love for truth,

you helped your Church to grow.

May your chosen people continue to grow in faith and holiness.

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.”

Yesterday, JR and I went over to his grandmother’s house to look through things because his grandmother was getting rid a lot of her things for she is now in a retirement home. JR and I felt a little uneasy because I can say it felt like she was dead and I knew she was alive.

But, we started going through her pictures which I was looking for something special, which was her wedding photos because I asked about them. I found them and what a beautiful couple! I will say that I had a difficult time trying to not look at JR and say, “I cannot tell if that is you or your grandfather”. For those two look so much a like. Literally JR looks more like his grandfather Unverzagt than any of the others.

It is amazing, but there is one picture we found that he never thought he would see. It was a photo taken before his grandfather died, where his grandfather was holding him and on the side of the photo his dad was sitting there smiling. I cried a little because you could just see the joy in John Sr.’s eyes even though he was going through cancer. JR grabbed that picture and wanted it, and I do not blame him. It is a moment he treasures, though he doesn’t remember it. I do wish I had a photo like that with my own grandfather Phillips, but he died while I was still in my mother’s womb.

So, what will I do today? I am probably going to just relax this is my vacation! JR is coming over later this afternoon and we are going to eat out and probably just have a good day/evening together.

God Bless,

Nikita