By Seminarian Kyle Berens

We are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh, for if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live (Rm, 9:12-13). 

We were not put upon this earth to seek out the highest physical pleasures; these are the way of death.  We were not sent here to earth to increase pleasure and decrease the pain of our bodies for we are fallen and in need of grace.  Christ our supreme exemplar has shown us the way to salvation; it is through the Cross! 

Even Christ Himself was made perfect through what He suffered (Heb 5:8-9).  Now is the time to discipline our bodies so that we may finish the race and win for ourselves not a perishable crown, but one imperishable (1 Cor 9:23-27).  We have been invited by Holy Mother Church to take upon ourselves fasting, abstinence and almsgiving so as to sacrifice and submit ourselves to God the Father.  Now that we have come to the end of the Holy season of Lent, do we cast off sacrifice and set it aside till next year?  Christ says "take up your cross daily and follow me," not just during lent. Let us reflect and see if we have run so as to win or if we have run so as to ‘get by’. 

Have we planned to continue any of our disciplines of Lent?  Have we sought God more each day through prayer, sacrifice and gift of self to others?  Have we ‘put off the deeds of the flesh and put on the deeds of the Spirit’?  The purpose of self-sacrifice is to prepare for what is to come; the scandal of the Cross and the glory of Christ’s Resurrection.  Are we ready?  May we work with full attention as we continue into the rest of the liturgical year to truly prepare ourselves!  Let us run so as to win the race; let us discipline our bodies and give up the constant distractions of cell phones, TVs, IPODs, and whatever else may keeping us from hearing God’s call!  Let us pummel our bodies so as to live in the Spirit. 

May God the Eternal Father in Heaven Who so loved us so as to give us His only Son bless and protect us; May He strengthen us in all our deeds so as to finish the race and win the imperishable crown of glory!  Let us take a long hard look at continuing our Lenten sacrifices and ask ourselves: have I truly been walking the way of the Cross with Christ, or have I thrown down my cross and left the Way for fear of what it may cost?

  Mary in my vocation
 
 A long time ago, in a land not too far away… Vocation Discernment!  Ok, maybe that’s a bit cheesy, so I’ll move on.  Around 2003 I had a conversion from the normal college lifestyle.  I was extremely excited to be ‘rediscovering’ the mass, the sacraments… basically Holy Mother Church. After about a year, while still studying at Fort Hays State, the desire for the priesthood began to grow. It seems strange when I look back on the first time the thought came to mind, my basic response was, “I think I might like to be a priest.” I obviously have many years left to discern if I am called to be a priest, but the road has been paved with many difficulties, but all the more with many great blessings. One of the greatest was having the blessed privilege of being consecrated to Jesus through the Blessed Mother.

 As I continued to pray and make a decision about entering the seminary I was visiting with my friends about the ‘awesomeness’ of the Church. One of my friends happened to come upon the consecration to Mary, according to St. Louis de Montfert. I truly did not know what this entailed, but after reading some material about it and praying on it I received a tremendous response from the Holy Spirit that I should make the consecration.
 
 It has taken me several years to better appreciate the gift God has given to me in this consecration. At first, I tried to keep in mind that by consecrating myself to Jesus through Mary, that Mary would be by my side every time I pray, because the consecration means everything I do goes to Jesus through her. Every prayer, every suffering, every joy is offered up through her Immaculate Heart, so that they will be purified of all my bad intentions and be presented to Jesus by His Holy Mother, whom He cannot refuse.

 It is in this reality that my vocation to enter the seminary came to fruition. I applied for the seminary in 2006 and interviewed at a seminary, but was not accepted. It was difficult to accept and understand, but I can now look back and see the Blessed Mother guiding me through it all. She stayed by my side when I turned away from the calling and was constantly providing subtle hints that I am not to give up on the seminary. Three years later, after much time spent with Jesus in Eucharistic Adoration and praying the rosary daily, I decided to apply to the seminary again.
 
 It has been the greatest blessing of my life to be able to live in a seminary community. The studying and prayer life are phenomenal and I am continually amazed by God’s love and mercy. His Mother has helped me through many difficult times throughout my first year and I become ever more grateful for this gift Jesus has bestowed on me. To clarify the idea of Our Blessed Mother’s intercession, everything we receive is possible because of Our Lord. He is the one who has given over His life for us and with the Father and Holy Spirit blesses us with His grace. The Blessed Mother prays for us and is the most powerful intercessor we have to Jesus, that is why the consecration is such a beautiful gift.

I am grateful to all of the wonderful people of our diocese who have been so supportive. May God bless you all abundantly. Sacred Heart of Jesus-Have mercy on us. Our Lady of Perpetual Help-Intercede for us always. St. Joseph-Pray for us.

Chad Stramel

In my Psalms class we had an assignment to do 12 meditations on the psalms of our choice.  I chose Psalm 1 because it is my favorite psalm and opens the door to the rest of the psalms.  I have found that there is a psalm for basically every situation in life and either can bring us comfort in a time of need or help us to give words to the feelings of anger we may be having.  Jesus often prayed the psalms throughout his life and every Deacon, Priest, or Religious continues to pray the psalms in the form of the Liturgy of the Hours.  They are amazing bits of poetry and prayer that have been handed down through the ages giving us a great insight into the life of Israel and even Jesus himself. 

“The Psalter is like a stately mansion that has only one key to the main entrance.  Within the mansion, however, each separate chamber has its own key.  Even though the great key to the grand entrance is the Holy Spirit, still each room without exception has its own smaller key.  Should anyone accidentally confuse the keys and throw them out and then want to open one the rooms, he could not do so until he found the right one.  Similarly, the psalms are each like single cells, every one with its own proper key.  The main entrance to the mansion of the Psalter is the first psalm which begins with the words: ‘Happy the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked.’” – St. Jerome Homilies on the Psalms.

 I love this quote from St. Jerome about the first psalm.  It is telling of what the rest of the work is about.  St. Jerome goes on to say how the key to this psalm is the man who is seeking perfection in Christ our Lord and follows that path.  I fell in love with this psalm for that reason.  It is telling of the people that we spend time with and who we choose as our friends.  If we “walk in the counsel of the wicked” they may just be acquaintances or people we work with but if we “stand in the way of sinners” we begin to wonder if these are the right friends.  We may be spending too much time with them.  If we “sit in the seat of scoffers” we have become comfortable with whom we are friends and may find ourselves too deep to get out. 

 When I was in college I found myself with two different groups of friends, those who I played football with and partied with and those who I was in a Bible study with.  I was blessed to have a Bible study leader who cared enough to invite me to do things rather than go to parties on the weekends because he knew I may be in danger of sin if I went with them.    He invested a lot of time with me because I was often the only one to show up for Bible study, so we had a lot of good conversations.  I cut myself off from the friends that led me down the path to sin only by way of transferring schools.  I was able to begin anew and find friends who would challenge me in my relationship with Jesus.  

When we spend time in meditation and prayer we begin to imitate Him whom we meditate upon.  We become “like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in due season” and show forth our faith without even knowing it.  It becomes so natural that we live it each and every day with no problem and it becomes our delight to do so.  We may even have to give our lives for our faith like the martyrs.   

The key to the mansion comes through this first psalm and it begins with a call to happiness.  We will be happy to follow the Lord and live in Him in this life so that we may be eternally happy with Him in the next.  The first part of Psalm 1 is contrasted with those who are evil.  “Not so are the wicked, not so!  For they like winnowed chaff shall be driven away by the wind.”  This verse becomes very alive being from a farm in Kansas.  I usually get to help my Dad with wheat harvest every year.  The chaff comes out the back of the combine and on windy days you don’t want to be any where near downwind from it.  The chaff is extremely annoying, makes you itch, sneeze and makes your allergies kick in.  The chaff is the first thing to be blown away in the wind.  The wicked are like this. 

 “When the wicked are judged they shall not stand,” like chaff in the field they are blown away and scattered all over place.  The wicked cannot stand against the unity that meditating on the Word of God can bring.  It is in this that we find comfort.  God’s love is stronger than any kind of evil that stands in our way.  If we embrace this love we can with stand the storms that come into our life and become a “tree that yields its fruit in due season.

In this age of thousands of “self-help” books and people telling us how to be happy in so many different ways, I want to admonish us all, especially as Catholics, to turn to the ONE true Book which will help each of us become our True Self, as God intends.  I am inspired to write about this subject because of 3 certain passages from the Bible which have not only confirmed my vocation to the priesthood, but more importantly my vocation to holiness (to which we are all called!). 

The first verse is from Leviticus 11:44 where God tells Moses to tell the Israelites, “Be Holy, as I am Holy”.  The second verse comes from 1 John 4:8 “God is Love.”  The third verse is from Luke 1:44 “Let it be done to me according to your word.”  First, God calls (vocation) each of us to be Holy; He calls each of us to be Saints!  This can be found throughout the Bible, early Church fathers and in Lumen Gentium (Vatican II document Chapter V).  This call to holiness is intimately linked to our call or vocation in life.  This is why the Church, in Her infinite wisdom, puts so many resources into helping young people discern God’s call in their life.  One cannot be truly happy unless they are doing the Will of God.  His Will, as Leviticus tell us, is to be Holy! 

Secondly, God is love.  Pope Benedict recently wrote an encyclical speaking about this very mystery.  Yet, my focus is on the fact that it is because of God’s unconditional love that we can be assured of our call to be holy and our eventual sanctity.  God thirsts for our presence with Him in heaven.  He has prepared a place for us; not for us to get there after a long period of waiting but to die holy and completely in service to Him and immediately know Him and be with Him.  He loves us more than we can ever imagine. 

Finally, the key to becoming holy is nothing but, with Mary, saying our fiat (Latin, let it be done).  In the Gospel of Luke, Mary exclaims after God reveals His plan to her, “Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.  Let it be done to me according to your word!”  We, along with Mary must constantly, at every moment of every day, say to God, “Let it be done to me according to Your will, O God!”  Say “yes” to His call in every moment and He will give you all that you require because He loves you, and he thirsts for your love in return.  So, be assured that God not only wants you to be Holy but expects it of you.  This should not be seen as a burden, so to speak, but a privilege and a great grace (which it is).  So, begin now…say your “fiat” with Mary and let God work His abundant graces in your heart at this very moment! 

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Have Mercy on us.  Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pray for us.  God Bless!

In Christ,
Kyle Berens