Tom's Blog

Dachau, Auschwitz, and Schlinder's Factory

2012-01-19T13:59:00.000-08:00

Dachau^

Auschwitz

^ Block 11: Where Max Kolbe died

Schlinder's Factory

JP II

Schlinder

Some pictures from Munich and Freising

2011-09-06T05:29:00.000-07:00

Munich

The grounds around where the Olympics were in the 70s

Freising

Church where Pope Benedict was ordained

The Steps in front of the Altar

The Rhine river from the airplane leaving Duesseldorf

Paris and St. Cloud

2011-05-29T23:41:00.000-07:00

Great burrito place I found in Paris. If you lived in Europe for some time you would understand.

View of Paris from the church of the Sacred Heart

Sacred Heart

Notre Dame pics

San Chapelle

The river in Paris looks like a glass of drinking water compared to the Tiber.

Back at Notre Dame

St. Cloud on the Mississippi! I think they guessed on this one.

Relics of St. Cloud

View of the church of the Sacred Heart from across Paris in the suburb of St. Cloud

Andre, 81, graduated from St. Johns University in 1949 and now lives in St. Cloud, France.

Some more pictures of St. Cloud

The Scape Goat Mechanism and the Responsibility of Conversion

2011-05-13T16:03:00.000-07:00

     “Repent; for the Kingdom of God is at hand!” (Mk 1, 15). Mετανοειτε is the Greek word used here which is translated as “repent”. Two things interest me about the use of this word. For one the word repent, though probably the best word to use, may not fully convey its meaning. The dictionary in the UBS Greek New Testament defines this verb, which is listed in the dictionary as μετανοεω, as meaning to repent, but also to: have a change of heart, turn from one’s sins, change one’s ways. It implies a sort of repentance, but also emphasizes the conversion aspect of repentance, the change of heart. The second point of interest is that it is in the present imperative, as opposed to the aorist imperative, and this means that it is a call to a continual action; therefore, as my Greek tutor notes, it means more or less “repent/convert/etc. and don’t stop repenting/converting/etc.!” This is, in my opinion, one of the most powerful passages of the Gospel. It is an imperative to continual conversion, and is said to us, as disciples, in the most straightforward of manners.

    Following the death of Osama Bin Ladin, there was an almost immediate debate which ensued over the appropriateness of celebrating his death. Arguments were made in favor or against the celebrations, all over the Internet. Though completely understanding the reaction of those who celebrated, I made a small statement of disapproval.

    I certainly can sympathize with those who celebrated, and I did not mean in anyway to call into question the goodness of the their hearts, nor did my thoughts imply that I myself am immune to such things. However though it was an understandable reaction, that does not mean that it was right. That day I shared some of my reasoning over this judgment, which I will briefly summarize. Firstly, as a general principal, I simply do not believe it right to celebrate another person’s death; that is fairly straightforward. Secondly, though perhaps seeming trite at times, I still believe it is true that no one on this side of eternity knows what is in a person’s heart; and it is best to leave the final judgments as regards a person‘s soul to the loving scrutiny of God. Finally, and this is what interests us here, I was concerned on account of our temptation to make scapegoats; I.e. to place all the problems and evil of the world on others, especially by dehumanizing and labeling them as evil.

    This is not something new, it has been going on for all of human history. 1 Basically one sees that in the phenomenon of the scapegoat, through shunning and violence, the collective dissatisfaction of a community finds an outlet in the shared blame placed on the scapegoat. This can happen at many levels, from common gossip to witch trials. In all cases, the effect is that the felt-responsibility of the problems and dissatisfaction of society are transferred completely away from the blaming group and instead entirely placed on the scapegoat(s). My concern regarding the celebration of Osama's death are not only that something is deeply troubling in itself about dehumanizing others and dismissing them as evil, but also that in doing this we are failing to recognize that the battle between good and evil in this world is not a battle between "us and them", but a battle that needs to be fought in each human heart.

    I make a point of this because this is a mechanism which is first of all unjust (sometimes highly unjust), and also because it distracts us from an honest reaction to the injustices and problems of this world; it distracts us from truly being parts of the solution. The solution is, I argue, to accept the call to conversion. There may be a great fear which prevents us from accepting this. At one level it may be a fear of the unknown, for we do not know what effect this would have on our life. At the same time, it may also be a fear for something very clear; that to convert means that we will have to change our life and change some of the desires to which we have become attached. Making a scapegoat creates a nice illusion for us so that we can continue to live, both individually and collectively, as we do without feeling the least bit irresponsible in light of the world's condition. All the while, it is clear to an honest eye that in our own sinfulness, especially compared with the impact we could have in listening to the call to conversion, we do hold some responsibility for the world as it is today. What does it mean then? Does it mean we need to live in a constant state of guilt? No, because Christ has become the true scapegoat for us on which we apply the guilt of our sin; so long as we accept this invitation through μετάνοια. 2.

     Some big differences with Christ as our scapegoat are: firstly, being God, he is of the highest dignity and thus worthy to take on the sins of the world; secondly, that he willingly became our scapegoat; and a third reason that interests us here, we know that He is innocent and this means that we still have to acknowledge that it truly is OUR guilt which he bears for us. As St. Paul wrote, "He indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised" (2 Cor 5, 15).

“For Christ, while we were still helpless, died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Rm 5, 6-8).
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1: I must note that for recognizing this phenomenon I am indebted to French Anthropologist Rene Gerard who has made a name for himself studying this theme, along with the related notions of “memetic desire” and envy.
2: I think of here John 3:14: "And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." Which refers back to Numbers 21, 4-9 when the Israelites are being killed by serpents in the desert and Moses is commanded to make a serpent to which the Israelites may look to in order to be saved from being bitten. It is by turning toward the Lord in repentance, accepting his mercy, and resolving to cooperate with his grace more fully that we become transformed and thus a part of the solution. The effect of sin spreads, but the effect of a person cooperating with grace has a much greater efficacy; like the seed "that fell on good soil, and when it grew, it produced fruit a hundredfold" (Lk 8,8).

Shots of Crowds and Beatification from Roof

2011-05-01T03:58:00.000-07:00

People down the road, near Castel San Angelo and the River

Close up of people near Castel San Angelo; again several blocks from St. Peter's Square

People who tried to get closer, but ran into a road-block

Tapestry which was unveiled during the Ceremony

More of crowds near river

TV Helicopter

Pictures from Romania

2011-04-30T10:56:00.000-07:00

More Pictures from Assisi with Mom

2011-04-20T09:27:00.000-07:00

The next few are pictures of mom's view from her hotel room in Assisi; looking out over the Umbrian valley.

Mom and I at dinner

Walking through Assisi

Mom's hotel room's view at night.

Mom looking out from Assisi

Mom in front of the Basilica of St. Francis

Altar over Tomb of St. Francis

Mom at train-station

Pics from Rome with my Mom

2011-04-17T06:35:00.000-07:00

Mom in front of Bernini's Baldacchino in St. Peters

Mom in front of Michaelangelo's Pieta in St. Peters

Carravaggio Painting in St. Augustine's Church

Ancient Bust of Eminem in Vatican Museum

Pictures from Mass at St. Peters on Palm Sunday

Some pics from Italy

2011-02-27T11:28:00.000-08:00

My sister Annie generously bought me a new camera so in the last couple days I've taken a few photos that I figured that I would share. There will be more to come when I get a break from school.
The first is actually me at my sister Annie's house.

Here is one of Pope Benedict at the Angelus prayer Sunday at noon.

Here is one of the Obelisk in St. Peters with some balloons that were being released.

The balloons again....

A front shot of St. Peters

Me in a sweater my dad gave me that he bought in 1972 for $35.

Figured to be real I'd show you my room as it is when it gets messy; I'll probably clean it in a day or two

Always school stuff piled on my bed; that is a habit I should probably fix

The closet on left; door to corridor on right.

My sink area

A little fuzzed out

and again...

My work desk; I generally keep it cleaner than this. You can see my brother John and his family in the right and center. Some of my siblings pooled their money to get me the computer; my brother Joe took me to Best Buy to get it just before I left. I really apprecated that.

Two Months in Italy

2010-09-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

The last two months I have been in Italy getting oriented to living here for most of the next four or five years. I was in Rome for about a week of orientation before going to Assisi for a month of language study and then I returned to Rome for the last month for some more classes in Italian. Though I am certainly by no means fluent, I am impressed by how much they are capable of teaching you in that short of time if that becomes your main focus on a daily basis. After about three weeks I believe I spoke better Italian than I ever did of German and I took it for four years. I will be taking my theology and classical language (Latin, Greek, Hebrew) in Italian and a few months ago that wouldn't have seemed like a possibility. It still will be a great challenge and I will need a lot of help from the other people in my school.

Some days when I actually have time to think about it I can miss central Minnesota. It is my home and I don't intend to forget that, but keeping all my family and friends back home in my prayers helps me to never feel too distant from them; in fact sometimes I feel closer to them in that case. As great as Italy is and as great as its food is; I believe I will appreciate Minnesota all the more when I return. On a much more superficial level, two things I really miss are Mountain Dew and Chipotle, which I don't think are found in Europe at all, (though I could perhaps get Dew from a Naval Base if I have a connection.)

Without going into it much at all, I must say that the events of my interior life the last two months have been more beneficial and noteworthy to me than any of the places I have seen. I hope that remains the case as I continue my formation and that these next four or five years feature many conversions. I ask for prayers from anybody who reads this.

I have also made some very good friends here in a short period of time and have also had some good fraternity with my DBs (Diocesan Brothers) and my good friend Adam who I knew back at IHM in Winona. There are about 56 guys in my class and we are all a pretty close-knit bunch now, especcially since most of us went to Assisi for our month of language together. Minnesota is the state with the 2nd most guys here so there are also a few Vikes and Twins fans and even some fans from out of state. A few of us got up early to watch the Vikes-Saints game on the Armed Forces Network, but it didn't turn out too well for us as the Vikes lost.

One day we visited the Pope's summer residence to pray the angelus with him in a large group. The people in my class sang "Ad Moltos Annos" to him and it went really well. The link to to the youtube is: http://www.youtube.com/user/vatican?blend=1&ob=4#p/a/u/0/VkRIDtQ2ZaQ
You can't see me because I'm behind something, but you can see a lot of the other guys in my class.
And finally here's a picture of one of my DBs (Jeremy Theis) and I as we are walking to this event:

Pictures from Italy

2010-04-23T12:45:00.001-07:00