Full Circle

* Note: This was part of a blog that I published with the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 2007 *

            It’s funny how the Lord works. Things from my past that I never thought I’d be involved in again have proven to be critical over this pastoral year. And that’s really cool, to think that God never wastes things that you’ve been through in order to evangelize.

            A couple of examples from this past year:

            When I was growing up, I was really into the lay movement Regnum Christi. They were pretty much my spiritual formation when I was a teenager (it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that they were the reason that I am still a Catholic today). They, and their branch of priests, the Legionaries of Christ, held retreats a couple of times a month for boys, and through that I really developed a personal relationship with Christ and many friendships with awesome priests and laypeople on fire with the Faith. But after going off to college, I wasn’t able to get involved in Regnum Christi at Steubenville. I thought that my days of connection with Regnum Christi were over.

            Well, here I go and get assigned to St. John the Evangelist in Severna Park, which turns out to be a hub of Regnum Christi activity in the area. I’ve gotten to know many families in this parish who are very much involved in the movement. That has resurrected a certain aspect of my spirituality that has lain dormant for many years. And interestingly enough, because I have had this background in Regnum Christi, I feel like I can better able minister to these families because I know about their spirituality.

            Another example of this phenomenon of the Lord using something from the past to help me minister currently is my involvement in the Boy Scouts. Growing up as a teen, I was really involved in the Scouts, becoming an Eagle Scout and holding lots of leadership positions in the troop. But of course then I grew out of that, and left it all behind going off to college and getting involved in the diocese.

            Well it turns out that there is a very active troop right here at St. Johns in search of a chaplain. So I stepped in and became the troop’s chaplain. Getting re-involved in the Boy Scouts, this time as an adult volunteer, has been very rewarding in many ways. One thing that I’m doing is teaching the Scouts’ religious emblem, which is an awesome eight-month process of weekly meetings with the fourteen Scouts who are in the program. Though I was a little bit reticent upon taking that on (it takes up three hours of every Tuesday afternoon – that’s a pretty significant time commitment), it has been one of the most rewarding things that I’ve done here – I’ve gotten to know these boys on a deeper level, and that has revealed that many of them are sincerely striving to be saints. This inspires me, and gives me hope that Christ is still at work in the lives of these kids.

            So I guess I just wanted to say that it’s neat how in the divine economy, God uses everything that we’ve been through and everything that we’ve enjoyed, and He uses it all to help us reach out to minister to others. And plus, those things that we’ve enjoyed but thought were in the past (like Regnum Christi and Scouting), can sometimes return in our lives, purified and made holy. How cool this life is!