Posted on 06/17/2009 9:48:34 AM PDT by NYer
.- He grew up an evangelical Protestant in Oregon, suspicious of Marian theology. Now he’s a Catholic priest and a physicist. Dominican Father Raphael Mary Salzillo was ordained last month in San Francisco and will take up an assignment at the University of Washington Newman Center and Blessed Sacrament Parish in Seattle.
Born Wesley Salzillo in 1976, he grew up in Florence, a small coastal town. The family converted to Catholicism in the early 1990s.
"My family raised me with a strong Christian faith and a very clear sense that Christ should be the most important thing in my life," Father Raphael Mary recalls, explaining that his faith after conversion remained "generic."
"I was not fully open to the truth that the Catholic faith has to offer," he says.
But when he was 16, a spiritual experience at Mass gave him the strong feeling he was being called to priesthood or religious life. He was not open to it at the time, so tried to convince himself it was just his imagination.
A top graduate from Siuslaw High, he went on to Caltech, earning a bachelor’s degree in applied physics. He attended graduate school and there he felt his vocation being clarified. At the same time, this scientist wrestled with turning over his will so completely.
"I wanted to choose my own religion rather than accepting the Catholic one as a coherent whole," he says, aware that many people today pick and choose within a body of faith. "In a way, choice had become a God for me, as it has to so many in our society."
Through study of church history and theology and deepening prayer life, he discerned that his own intellect and judgment alone could not fulfill his deepest yearnings. He decided to trust Jesus and the Church fully.
"It was through submission of my power of choice in matters of faith, that I came to know Jesus Christ in a much deeper way," he says.
The last part of his faith to fall into place was an acceptance of Mary. That spiritual movement allowed him to love Jesus more, he explains.
"It was Mary who brought me to finally accept my vocation, and it has been her who has sustained me in this life," he says.
He chose the Dominicans for their emphasis on doctrinal preaching and study, as well as their strong community life with "a streak of monasticism."
He studied philosophy and theology in Berkeley, Calif. and also served at the University of Arizona Newman Center.
In some from Jesus is present always, as he is omnipresent. However, it pleased God to give us a human, visible Jesus and not a disembodied divine presence through the Incarnation, and it likewise pleased Jesus to give us the Eucharist at the Last Supper in the form of bread and wine, and not a disembodied intellectual knowledge of His Sacrifice and Resurrection.
It is by all means good to pray to Jesus at all times and not only at Mass or at Eucharistic Adoration. Those are particular ways to worship God, but there are others. Good works, for example, are an often neglected form of worship.
** wonder if the Roman Catholics here would be willing to say she was predestined for her role.**
Absolutely.
**Or did it happen by her “free will”?**
Absolutely.
Have fun figuring that one out!
Pressed “Post” too soon. Prayer to saints and reflection on the lives of saints is another form of worshiping God that can be done any time. Have a Rosary in your pocket, as many Catholics do, and meditate on the Gospel often.
“In other words, when praying to that Eucharistic bread, do you feel closer than when praying by yourself, at home?”
Again, Ed, we don’t pray to bread. We are praying to Christ who has taken the form of bread at that moment.
And there’s a really good reason why we do it and why it makes us feel even closer to Christ: because He told us to do it this way. He told us He wants it this way, whether we can comprehend the miracle or not. He asked us to do this, this way, in remembrance of Him. Christ Himself made it a much more powerful form of His presence.
Nothing keeps us from Jesus, but there are times a Christian is more alight with the Spirit than others. The Eucharist is one of those times. Ingesting Christ’s Body and Blood is the closest union we can have with Him until we see Him in heaven. He gave us this method to help us until that day. I hope this helps you understand.
Our pastor was referring to the lack of reverence that is all too common among inadequately catechized Catholics.
Well, y’all are certainly sincere in your beliefs. I respect that, I just disagree.
Again, I know many, many Catholics in Right to Life here in Oregon, and have nothing but the deepest respect for them.
Thank God we depend upon the mercy of God and His son’s voluntary sacrifice for our sins to save us...not trifling beliefs, (although I know some here are passionate about those beliefs as being either salvation-producing or denying.)
Take care,
Ed
A very nice article about a very nice man; and a perfect post for the year of prayers for our priests. I am very encouraged by the new crop of priests.
I’m not sure why an article like this causes people who don’t like or understand Catholicism to come to this thread, read the article, and then flame us. We can console ourselves with the fact that Nicodemus kept coming back and trying to understand what Christ taught. The pharisees all interrogated Christ constantly, trying to parse His words or trip Him up. They only wanted to challenge and discredit Christ— but we must not forget that Nicodemus was among them, listening and trying mightily to understand. There may be a Nicodemus among this argumentative crowd.
Questioning us on FR may be a way of stealing out under the cover of darkness to seek more information.
Well, I can figure it out...can you?
“Free” will would require that God had no hand in it and had no idea if she actually would do it or not. Otherwise it is not “free”. Which is a view held by those who are disparaged and despised by the RCs.
But, since foreknowledge requires absolute control over the outcome to be accurate, either “free” will provides for an open and uncontrolled outcome whereby God is as in the dark about tomorrow as you or He is managing all events, big and small, to direct toward a given result.
Oh, she had a choice, when the Angel Gabriel visited her. Why else would she have stated, "I am the handmaiden of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your Word." ? Sounds like affirmation and decision to me.
But we believe that the reason she was so willing, was that she was the "Woman of the Promise", who was created sinless, so that she would be the unblemished vessel in which to carry our Lord. THAT was God's Will.
Hey, you got a beef with Mary, take it up with God, HE chose her to bear Jesus. ;o)
Welcome Home, Wesley!!!!
I call the Body and Blood of Jesus, in the Sacrament of Commmunion, the "Host" and the "Cup", when referring to which station I will take, when needed as an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist.
You have read the Book of John. With which words of Jesus do you disagree?
Too clever by half. Don't quit your day job.
It's your story, tell it however you want.
LOL
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