Countdown to Ordination: The Chalice

I have officially been blessed with inheriting a chalice that I can now claim as my own, upon entering my final year in the seminary. The chalice holds a very special place in the heart of the priest, for it is in this very cup that he is blessed to hold ordinary wine and consecrate it into the Blood of Christ Himself.

On the bottom of my chalice is inscribed the name of the priest that it originally belonged to: "Rev. John P. Welsh, ordained May 25, 1922" It is profoundly moving to think that across the decades of time, Fr. Welsh and I will be united by the same chalice and more importantly by the same Blood of Christ. It is also a testament to the timelessness of the Mass and of the noble calling to the priesthood. Fr. Welsh and I may be ordained 93 years apart, but we will always share the same chalice, the same calling, and the same Lord.

It is important for the priest especially to unite himself to the image of Christ's Blood. For it is by spilling his blood that Christ accomplishes the work of our salvation. In the Sacrifice of the Mass, the priest, standing in the person of Christ at the altar, is united to the Sacrifice of Calvary.The same Blood that Christ pours out for the world is the same Blood that the priest (that I myself, God willing) holds in his chalice. And as Christ lays down his life for the salvation of His flock, the priest must lay down his life for the sake of the flock that Christ entrusts to him.

When Jesus is anticipating His sacrifice in the Garden of Gethsemane, He says to His Heavenly Father, "Take this cup away from me", before saying, "Thy will be done." I am ashamed to think of how much of my life I have spent saying to God, "Take this cup away from me." As my ordination date draws ever closer, it is only with the grace and strength of Christ that I can say, "Thy will be done." May He continue to give me that grace and strength until the day that I meet Him face to face. It is with overwhelming gratitude and a deep sense of my unworthiness that I look forward to drinking from the cup of Our Lord.

Pax Vobiscum

Music Commentary: "All of Me" by John Legend

John Legend's "All of Me" is one of those songs that makes the hearts of teenage girls everywhere go all a-flutter and that a male in his late twenties who happens to be studying for the priesthood probably shouldn't admit that he likes (and so I won't). I do, however, believe that there is a good reason why this song has become so popular. The sentiment that it expresses in the refrain is one that resonates deep within the heart and soul of every living person, both man and woman alike: "All of me loves all of you...Give your all to me, I give my all to you.". Cliched as it may sound, the reason why this simple phrase rings true is that no one wants to be loved half-heartedly. No one wants to be loved partially or temporarily or only when it is convenient.

Unfortunately, this second type of "love" is exactly what we see when we take a look at the world around us. The reason for this is that we as a culture have confused physical intimacy with love. In the sexual act, we are saying with our bodies. "I give you all of myself." This however is quite simply not true when the sexual act is removed from the context of marriage, for it is only in marriage that a man and a woman really do promise to give themselves entirely to each other. Outside of this reality, the sexual act becomes a lie. We say with our bodies, "I give you all of myself", when in fact there is no such intention, which becomes obvious when sexually intimate relationships come to an end and the result is a deep sense of hurt and betrayal. The love that felt so complete physically ended up being partial and fleeting in reality.

This sense of incomplete self-giving also comes into play when contraception is involved. Contraception blocks the unity of the man and woman from coming to it's natural completion.
The message behind the use of contraception is essentially, "I give my all to you...except THAT part."
This is especially true in the case of a man who requires a woman to take the pill in order for them to be intimate. He is essentially saying, "You need to suppress and control your body as a woman in order for us to be intimate." This is hardly the same sentiment as "All of me loves all of you."

The reason that the Church teaches what it does about sexuality is not because it's harsh, old-fashioned, or up-tight. The Church, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, knows that partial, half-hearted, incomplete
"love" will not make us truly happy. We are made for something more: namely a deep, meaningful, and lasting relationship. John Legend gets it, I don't know why the rest of the world doesn't...

Movie Commentary: X-Men: Days of Future Past

The latest installment of the X-Men movie franchise, of which I consider myself to be a long-standing fan, comes rolling in like a breath of fresh air. After the abysmal disappointment that was X-Men: The Last Stand, followed by the refreshingly exciting "reboot" that was X-Men: First Class, Brian Singer, director of the first two X-Men movies, returns to form by brilliantly combining the cast of the original X-Men movies with that of First Class, uniting them by way of one of the best-known story-lines from the comics. The result is a brilliant, bold, and truly original addition to the franchise, as well as to comic book movies in general.

The movie begins in a dystopian future in which mutants are almost extinct, due to a government-sponsored army of giant robots, (called Sentinels, familiar to fans of the comics) programmed to target and destroy all living mutants. Wolverine is sent back in time, by means of the mutant powers of Ellen Page's Kitty Pride, with the task of stopping Mystique from committing an atrocity which will set the events leading to the construction of the Sentinels in motion. To that end, Wolverine must first enlist the help of young Charles Xavier, as well as young Magneto.

What makes the movie so successful is precisely where "X3" failed so miserably: its characters.
Pivotal moments in the movie come down to the choices that the characters make, particularly moral choices. In the comic book version of this story, everything comes down to physically stopping Mystique. In the movie, it comes down to whether or not Mystique herself chooses to give in to hate.

Another character whose given new complexity is young Professor X himself. When Wolverine first finds him, he is hardly the fearless leader that Wolverine knows him to be. Instead, he is depressed and reclusive, routinely taking a drug that inhibits his mutant powers but allows him the use of his legs. We find that the reason he takes this drug is that his powers have become more than he can handle - the ability to read everyone's mind apparently carries with it the ability to feel everyone's pain. The situation provides a moving role reversal in the relationship between Professor X and Wolverine: Wolverine must offer hope and guidance to the very man who did the same for him.

Ultimately it's Professor X himself who convinces his younger self to rise to the occasion. (Yes, Professor X in the future has a conversation with Professor X in the past...it's complicated but it works.)
Young Xavier expresses to his older self how unbearable the weight of feeling everyone else's pain is, a moment that harkens back to Christ Himself bearing the weight of the whole world's sufferings. And of course, like Our Lord, young Xavier chooses to bear that pain for the sake of everyone else.

Young Professor X's situation plays as a vivid metaphor for real life. True, authentic love requires pain and sacrifice. Sometimes it seems easier to give up and indulge ourselves in whatever drug will numb the pain. But the world does not need despair and self-indulgence but hope and love that expresses itself in self-sacrifice. Like Professor X and Mystique, we are faced with choices that have consequences. Will we give in to anger, hate, and despair? Or do we dare to choose hope and Love? It all depends on the kind of world we want to live in.