Semantics (A Seminarian Blog)

Last month, I was sitting in a university classroom in Rome, studying theology alongside students from all over the world. Now, I’ve completed a two-week self-quarantine in the D.C. area and moved into a parish. By now, every American seminarian studying in Rome has returned to America. What do we make of this?

Down 4-0 with only a 15 minute half remaining in the last soccer game before spring break. Disheartened at our poor performance--hope felt lost. However, come the end of the second half, the seminarians came out on top with a 5-4 win. An incredible comeback inspired by a few simple words at halftime. One can view this as luck or as a lesson for our spiritual lives.

“Never forget,” Fr. Kevin Regan exhorted us at 6:30am Mass in Jamaica before heading to the airport. Our St. John Paul II Seminary vice-rector reminded us of that bumper sticker, popular after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, so that we may fight for our memories of the Mustard Seed mission trip that concluded yesterday. In the coming weeks and months, we’ll need this lesson. 

Stepping onto Jamaican soul for the first time after 30 years, I was filled with anxiety and excitement. After a few days talking to my Jamaican brothers and sisters, it was like I had never left. I learned about their many sufferings to meet basic needs and why people must often revert to crime. However, I sensed fertile grounds for the message of the gospel to change their lives.

Most of my prayer in the first few days of this mission trip was spent asking “Lord, why am I here?” The heart-stretching challenges I had been anticipating for months - the ones I feared would make me uncomfortable but also hoped would help me grow in holiness - failed to materialize.

These are the words that are displayed in every chapel where Mustard Seed Communities work. Returning to Jacob’s Ladder after two years for another mission trip, I was glad to remember this as I walked into the chapel at the center of the property.

“Give them some food yourselves.” This impossible task is proposed by Jesus to his Apostles directly before He miraculously feeds 5,000 of his followers. With only five loaves and two fish available to them, the first twelve priests of Jesus Christ had no way of knowing how their resources would benefit so many in need.