We talked about the priesthood a bit. He said, "Look, you
can't see it from here, but a block and a half over there is a
school, BC High, on Harrison Avenue. I don't care whatever else
you remember, but you remember this: Go to BC High, and they will
take care of your vocation." That was a big grace, I thought.
It really confirmed me in my vocation.
I thought the novitiate was going to be impossibly hard, but it
wasn't. I took to it right away. I just loved the novitiate. My
natural proclivity to silence and shyness led me to prayer. I
was very pious, spent all my free time in chapel or at the shrines.
I am sure that did not endear me to the other guys, but I became
more of a regular person, with my piety somewhat more under control,
by playing ball.
I went to Haiti with the group from St. Boniface Parish in Quincy.
I tried to get sponsors to pay for my fare; I didn't ask the Jesuits
to pay for it. It was a remarkable experience to go to Haiti.
I could talk for three hours about it. Beautiful, beautiful people.
I will give you one short story.
The first group I went with had twenty-three of us. Picture twenty-three
people standing on the back of an open truck. They were lay people,
nurses, two doctors, a physician's assistant, and five priests-it
was quite a thing.
B First, they brought us to the House of the Dying. The women
in our group just froze, when they saw the condition of the patients.
They saw people dying of AIDS and looking very old, although they
were only in their twenties.
Ferdy Mahfood, founder of Food for the Poor, asked me, "What
can we do with these Americans who came to help? They can't do
anything in there." I said, "Let me bring them over
to the chapel." We went over to the chapel, and we prayed.
Most of our group were charismatic, so that kind of prayer really
was right down my alley. We prayed and we read a few scriptures.
You could see them visibly relaxing.
I told them being with these dying people-mostly young men- is
just the same as if you met Jesus when he was dying. All you want
to do is be pleasant to them, look at them kindly, and, if you
can, serve them. Put on medical gloves and massage their shoulders-things
like that. That was a wonderful experience for them, but also
for me.
Due to death or sickness some of these selected
readings have been read by someone other than the author. This
page contains one such replacement.
