“More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones,” the 16th-century mystic St. Teresa of Avila is famously said to have observed. To judge by the horror film “Obsession” (Focus), something similar — but far more drastic — might be said about fulfilled wishes.

Socially awkward music store clerk Baron “Bear” Bailey (Michael Johnston) yearns to transform his longtime friendship with his co-worker Nikki Freeman (Inde Navarrette) into a romance. Yet, though Bear broods about the situation constantly, he can’t bring himself to share his true feelings with Nikki.

A more unusual means to Bear’s end presents itself, however, when he comes across a novelty item called a “One Wish Willow.” Break it in two, the toy’s package promises buyers, while reciting your chosen outcome and whatever you ask for will be yours. Bear follows these instructions while wishing for Nikki to love him more than anyone else in the world.

Much to Bear’s surprise, Nikki immediately shows signs of being head-over-heels about him, and grows deliriously more passionate with every passing hour. But the result, it soon turns out, is anything but a dream come true.

Nikki’s body, we later learn, has been more or less possessed by a Stepford wife-on-steroids version of herself who, when Bear goes off to work in the morning, stands transfixed in place all day until he returns home. Unfortunately, this routine does not include bathroom breaks.

In between the unintentional laughs provoked by some of Nikki’s other, less distasteful antics, writer-director Curry Barker’s chiller lapses into long periods of dullness. Since new Nikki eventually goes from daft to deadly, moreover, the plot includes a gruesome climactic murder.

Like Bear and Nikki’s first bedroom encounter, this killing is depicted explicitly while its aftermath is shown in harrowing detail. Wise viewers will spare themselves the experience.

The film contains excessive gory violence, grisly images, graphic premarital sexual activity with rear nudity, full nudity in a nonsexual context, cohabitation, occult and suicide themes, a repulsive scatological incident, a few uses of profanity, frequent milder swearing, references to incest, pervasive rough and considerable crude language, and a couple of crass expressions. The OSV News classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

OSV News: Your decision to leave a successful cosmetics industry and lifestyle career for the priesthood drew considerable media attention, which has resurged as you’re about to be ordained. But the intervening years of your formation at St. Patrick’s Seminary have been quiet in terms of coverage. Was that by choice?

Deacon Borba: Right after our last conversation, my spiritual adviser and my pastor at my home parish said, “You’re taking a media pause until you’re ordained.” God created a window (of media disengagement), and you (OSV News) have bookended it, as I’m exiting that window now with you.

The media requests made to my rector were getting out of control, and I was getting anxious. So I brought it to my spiritual adviser and he said, “It’s time for you to do a media fast. You need to disconnect. You just need to focus on God. And if God wants this, then he will bless this, and he will bring you back to the opportunity to showcase him and his efforts when he’s ready.”

So I called my own pastor, and he said, “I agree. You need to take some space between the time now and the time you’re ordained.”

And that was just literally what happened. Once I was given the OK to go back into the media after the (interview) requests came in, it was like God took his finger and pressed the “go” button.

It’s so interesting because I wasn’t ready before. And that’s where the anxiety came from, because I was still purifying. I was still on this journey; I needed to be in the desert. And I still need to be. I couldn’t give myself fully to interviews because I wasn’t prepared enough with my theology, with my spiritual life.

Now, because I know his (God’s) mercy so well and I’m educated, in my own minimal, low-level way, to communicate his Church and his theology and his providence, I’m able to speak with passion because of what he’s done with me, and to bring it to light with my new ministry going forward. And so that’s the beauty and that’s what the fast did for me.

OSV News: Did that media fast extend beyond interview requests to encompass social media?

Deacon Borba: As soon as I entered into formation, I knew that media wasn’t going to be a good thing for me. And I had a priest recommend that I just get off all media. I took his recommendation as a word from the Holy Spirit, and I literally deleted all my accounts that week. That was seven years ago.

So from that time, I have not had an account. I have allowed everything to be organic. If somebody needs to contact me, I don’t mean to send them through hurdles, but they’re going to have to try to find me by a different route.

That also helps to clarify if they have the right intention with their article; it helps God to kind of sift out who I’m going to be working with or not, based on his glory and what he wants to do.

I can see God’s hand in all of it, every single point of it.

OSV News: As you enter into your priesthood, how do you think your vocation story will shape your ministry?

Deacon Borba: This is not for me. I did not reach out for any of this. I just believe that it’s a unique story. God has taken such a sinner and broken the vessel, reshaped it and filled it up again with his grace. He is sending me back out, cleaned up, to be able to proclaim his mercy, to proclaim his goodness, to bring people back to repentance — to be that Jonah, who was spit out of Hollywood and thrown on the beaches of Nineveh, and to walk through the city and to proclaim God’s mercy and repentance.

I feel like that’s what he’s doing with me, and he wants me to do it straight out of the gate. I feel like I’m in a greyhound race, where the (mechanical) bunny comes out of the chute, and all the greyhounds are behind me and I’m running as fast as I can. That’s what God wants, and I just feel that he’s not going to let up.

He was so kind in Eucharistic adoration one day about three years ago. He said to me, “Get some rest, Scott, because once you’re ordained you’re not going to have any rest.”

And I took that to heart. Rest will be with him, in eternal life. Now, I can’t wait to get in ministry and be even more exhausted.

OSV News: Along with celebrating the Eucharist, what particular aspect of your priestly ministry are you most eager to embrace?

Deacon Borba: From the very beginning, the Lord has given my heart over to the homeless, the poor. He connected me, through the blessings and the graces of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to be able to make my first charitable check out to Mary’s Meals (a global hunger relief outreach serving children in some 20 countries).

And when I knew how many children were affected by that donation — that you could feed one child every day for, at that point, less than a dollar — I accepted his grace to lock into my heart that I wanted to be a voice and a servant for him, for the poor.

It was so impactful for me when I saw him within the poor, when I was ministering to the poor, when I was giving food to the poor. I told myself that I want to continue to try to find him in the poor.

I know people think I’m crazy, but I pack my car with little lunches, and I hand them out everywhere I go, in hope that I run into Jesus again. Every single homeless person I meet, I look into their eyes and I ask for their name, and I am looking to see if they’re Jesus. And that’s exactly what Jesus wants me to do. He wants me to look for him and every single poor person until I find him.

And so that’s where my heart really lies, but in terms of my priestly ministry, it’s whatever my pastor wants, whatever my bishop wants. But I love the poor.

When I was in formation, God gave me lots of opportunity to be with the homeless at the Bethlehem Center (a hunger relief outreach of Good Shepherd Parish in Visalia, California). At St. Patrick’s, the Missionaries of Charity took me to San Francisco, underneath all of the underpasses and the freeways, where all these little huts are. And that is when I saw the real deal happening.

A brother seminarian that was with me had the grace already to be able to go to the homeless and to embrace them, to cut their hair and not worry if they were involved in drug use or whatever; he just put himself 100% into it. When I saw him do that, it was like God, through him, gave me the grace that I needed to also do that. And so I immediately started.

It changed my life, because it was a whole other level of connectivity with them. I yearn for that in my ministry.

I also love visiting homes for the elderly, because they never receive Masses, they never have enough people visiting them, and they don’t receive the sacraments, including the anointing of the sick. It’s sad.

I also love hospital ministry. Every time I walk through a hospital, my heart goes to the people that are sitting there alone in the rooms. I keep seeing myself stop into the rooms, blessing them and praying with them, and asking their names, asking how they’re doing.

I’m just filled with this love, this compassion for people. I want to get out there and try to quench their thirst for Christ, have them receive the love they need at that moment. I know that I’m going to be contained in a parish, but my love is not going to be just contained in the parish. I feel that restlessness (of love for the poor).

Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News.

Catholic bishops in Uganda have urged the people to remain calm after the government postponed the annual Martyrs Day celebrations, following an Ebola outbreak in the East African region.

The epidemic caused by Bundibugyo virus — one of the several that cause the disease in humans — has hit Congo and Uganda.

By May 20, at least 139 people had died out of the suspected 600 cases in Congo. Of the 600 suspected cases, the WHO said 51 had been confirmed in the country’s northern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu.

An American doctor who contracted Ebola in Congo has been flown to Germany for treatment, along with his wife and four children. Peter Stafford, a surgeon and leader of the Christian missionary group Serge, operated on a patient with Ebola — not knowing the patient was infected and before the outbreak was detected, The Guardian reported.

But as the disease spreads, its impact is being felt among the Catholic community in Africa, as it forces the postponement of the Uganda Martyrs Day celebration. The event, marked every year on June 3 at Namugongo Shrine near Kampala, the capital, is one of the most important in the African Catholic and Christian calendars.

Millions of pilgrims travel for the event, with thousands walking long distances to the shrine, but now those who had started the journey this year have been urged to turn back.

Bishop Joseph Anthony Zziwa of Kiyinda- Mityana, president of the Ugandan bishops’ conference, urged the people to remain calm, prayerful, united and hopeful following the postponement.

“The witness of the Uganda Martyrs continues to inspire the Church and the nation, reminding us that true faith is lived daily through love, sacrifice, truth and fidelity to God,” said the bishop in a May 18 statement.

Bishop Zziwa encouraged the faithful to celebrate the day in parishes, following the guidance of the diocesan bishop and relevant government authorities, while stressing the commemoration as a profound witness of faith, courage, fidelity to Christ and “steadfast commitment to Christian values.”

“Let us join in prayer for our nation, health workers and all those affected by the circumstances that necessitated the postponement,” said the bishop.

Earlier, the nation’s President Yoweri Museveni had announced the postponement of observances to a later date, reportedly after consultations with the national epidemic response task force and religious leaders.

“This decision was made because Uganda receives thousands of pilgrims annually from Eastern Congo, which is currently experiencing an Ebola outbreak. To safeguard everyone’s lives, it is essential that this important event be postponed,” said the president on May 17.

“I encourage those who had begun their journey to return home, continue observing the precautionary measures, report anyone who is sick, and encourage those who are ill to seek medical care.”

The latest outbreak is the 17th since 1976 when Ebola was discovered in Congo. The most common clinical signs of the disease are fever, headaches and vomiting.

The current disease is caused by the Bundibugyo strain, which was identified in 2007 and is considered rarer, and there is no approved vaccine or specific treatment for it.

The Congolese Ministry of Public Health officially declared the new outbreak May 15. The World Health Organization May 17 further declared it a public health emergency of international concern, but said it had not reached pandemic levels.

According to an overview from the Provincial Health Division in Ituri, Congo, the first case was reported in late March in a town located some 50 miles from Bunia, the provincial capital of Ituri.

Since then, reports indicate that the epidemic is concentrated in the region characterized by severe overcrowding and intense population movement. It is in Ituri where an American doctor contracted Ebola.

Archbishop Marcel Utembi Tapa of Kisangani, Congo, said the people, especially those in Ituri province, were afraid of the virus, fearing that many in Mongwalu and Bunia towns were infected.

“As a church, we are calling on the government and the international community to step up efforts and work together to stop the epidemic,” Archbishop Tapa told OSV News.

The archbishop said he was pleased that the government was giving attention to the epidemic and some help was coming from outside. He urged the affected countries to work together against the epidemic.

“May God help his people,” said the archbishop.

Meanwhile, Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. Church’s overseas relief and development agency, said it was rapidly mobilizing to support communities and limit further spread of the virus.

“It started slowly, but it is spreading quickly,” said Rafaramalala Volanarisoa, CRS’ head of office in Congo in May 20. “The fear is that there are many more unidentified cases. At the same time, health workers lack the equipment needed to protect themselves and care for patients.”

CRS is leveraging partnerships with local church networks in Ituri and North Kivu, including local Caritas branches, to reach communities in remote and high-risk areas, where trust is critical.

“The Catholic Church is deeply rooted” in Congo, said Volanarisoa. “Forty-five percent of health centers here are run by the Catholic Church. They can reach the remote villages, and people trust them. Those connections are going to be key to resolving this crisis.”

Amid fear and increased misinformation, the organization is supporting community awareness and education, and delivering lifesaving information and early Ebola detection.

Fredrick Nzwili writes for OSV News from Nairobi, Kenya.

How many hours, how much money and effort pour into the illusive preservation of our fleeting youth? Legend has it that the conquistador, Ponce de Léon, sought the Fountain of Youth along the Atlantic coast of Florida, making landfall in the northern part of the state in 1513.

Today, just outside the historic center of St. Augustine, you can visit the alleged site of his fountain. Instead of youth, however, the Spaniard found death, pierced by a poisoned arrow on another voyage in Southwest Florida, near present-day Fort Myers. But even the name he bestowed on his discovery, La Florida, honoring the festival of Paschal flowers, points to a deeper source of youthfulness, one that does not fade.

The Spanish brought the true fountain of youth with them, establishing America’s oldest city in St. Augustine decades after Ponce de Léon’s visit in 1565. The waters of baptism began flowing in North America from the spot that President John F. Kennedy dubbed our “sacred acre” adjacent to Ponce de Leon’s previous landfall.

The founder, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, declared that he would found the colony “in the name of God,” trumping the Spanish king in honor of the Creator. This apt move pointed to a source of unity that could bring people together, and even overcome the insatiable lust for gold the Spanish brought like a plague. God, the eternal one, neither young nor old, pours out his life into us, drawing us into an undying youth through rebirth in “water and Spirit” (Jn 3:5).

St. Augustine, the city that rose up adjacent to the Nombre de Dios (Name of God) mission, offers an alternative foundation narrative for our country. A later shepherd of this first foothold of faith, Bishop John Mark Gannon, called us to rediscover our lost heritage rooted in this foundation: “Not wishing to detract in the least from the worth and importance of the English contribution to American culture, we are now awakening to the fact that the dignity and sublime greatness of American civilization flows, not so much from the dry rock of Plymouth, as from the cradle of Catholic martyrdom, which antedated the Pilgrim arrival by nearly a century.”

This youthful branch of the Church took root and its shoots blossomed across the entire region, with over 30 missions stretching all the way north to Virginia.

St. Augustine — and its “sacred acre” — is also the site of the May 24-25 launch of the 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which also commemorates the spread of the Catholic faith in the fledgling U.S., as the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary.

La Florida’s greatest fruits stemmed from its martyrs — laymen and priests, Spaniards and natives — who died defending the missions from the encroachment of settlers from the English colonies to the north. These raiding colonists would wipe out the memory of these missions for a time, gobbling up the vision and story of the first founding and subordinating it to Jamestown and Plymouth.

Yet, any great story contains both its heroes and villains. Selfless Franciscan friars sowed the faith throughout the American Southeast, though occasionally Spanish governors fell into oppressing the people. Then, in the early 18th century, during Queen Anne’s War, English raids from Carolina, led by Colonel James Moore, destroyed Florida’s missions. Europeans brought savagery with them, it seems, annihilating peaceful settlements dedicated to the Christian faith.

Yet, out of the ashes of this tragedy, American Catholics will discover long-lost heroes of faith, coming down to us as the true fruit and treasure of St. Augustine. Soon Antonio Cuipa may become a household name, a native layman who has given his name to the canonization cause of 86 Florida martyrs. The group, martyred between 1549 and 1715, includes religious, such as Dominican Father Luis Cáncer and many laymen.

Cuipa, an educated layman, carpenter and musician, assisted both in the governance of his native village and assisted the friars in their missionary work, giving his life when the mission of San Luis near present-day Tallahassee was attacked. The Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee is erecting a beautiful shrine to the martyrs that will serve as an important place of pilgrimage alongside historic St. Augustine.

Spanish Florida left us a spiritual legacy, which we must take up and renew. And it is a timely one. Even after the destruction of the missions, the area became a refuge both for oppressed Indians from the English colonies, who coalesced as the Seminoles, and for escaped slaves fleeing oppression in the English colonies who established America’s first free Black settlement at Fort Mose, just north of St. Augustine.

This is the Catholic way, building unity through faith. To be Catholic means to embrace the rich diversity of human life and culture, ordering all things together to the glory of God

Despite the sins of colonists, Catholic and Protestant both, we can say that God wanted the Christian faith to come to the New World to share the redemption of his Son with all nations. We did our best to ruin his plan, but Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared in 1531 to show her particular love for the American people, reassuring them of their place in God’s family, the Church.

St. Augustine, as a place of pilgrimage, has much to offer Catholics today, bestowing a richness of martyrs, unity across cultures and devotion to Our Lady. Mary’s love became apparent here as well, with the oldest shrine in the United States forming in 1609 at the Nombre de Dios mission dedicated to Our Lady of La Leche (Milk).

Here again, we find ourselves as youths coming to be nourished by Our Mother. She is the mother of all Christian peoples, who teaches us how to preserve a childlike attitude before the Lord. In a way, her shrine presents us with a choice. Will we come to God as docile children, or will we turn away rebelliously to seek our own way?

It is up to us to continue spreading the faith on this continent, bringing the true kingdom to this melting pot of a nation. We can continue to overcome division through the grace of God and to teach the lost the true meaning of freedom. Our Lady awaits to nourish us at her shrine on the grounds of America’s first mission. Let us return to our true Alma Mater.

R. Jared Staudt, PhD, serves as director of content for Exodus 90 and has authored many books, including “How the Eucharist Can Save Civilization.” He and his wife, Anne, have six children, and he is a Benedictine oblate.

For many years I have maintained a friendship with a member of the clergy in the Assemblies of God, Pastor Dan.

Pastor Dan and I met when we were both young men and although we didn’t see each other often, when we did meet our conversations where fruitful.

Part of the reason for this was the mutual respect we held for one another’s traditions. I had respect for Pastor Dan’s Pentecostal traditions rooted so firmly in the first reading for this Sunday from the Acts of the Apostles, in which the Holy Spirit descends upon the disciples. In Pastor Dan’s tradition, these manifestations of the Spirit are central to the practice of their Christian faith. Sunday worship often includes displays of the different spiritual gifts that St. Paul mentions in his letter to the Corinthians, that group of first century Christians who sometimes struggled to remind themselves that they were one body in Christ.

Likewise, Pastor Dan displayed a respect for the liturgical traditions within our Catholic faith. He wanted to know more about our sacraments, especially our sacraments of healing — reconciliation and anointing of the sick — and how priests administer them.

Eventually Pastor Dan moved on from his congregation in the Twin Cities to work with men in recovery in Minneapolis. It was a faith-based program open to all men. Among some of the clients were Catholic men. Pastor Dan reached out to me while I was at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul and asked if I might make myself available to hear the men’s confessions. I was happy to do this and grateful for his invitation. Several times during those years I made my way across the river from St. Paul to Minneapolis to hear men’s confessions. Pastor Dan also gave me time to offer a meditation to the men in the program.

Pastor Dan is now retired and living with extended family outside of the United States. We stay in touch now through Facebook. Each year as our liturgical calendar brings the 50 days of Easter to a close with the celebration of Pentecost, I am reminded of Pastor Dan and his love for Christ. Indeed, there are many gifts but one Spirit and all of us benefit from the friendships and associations we have with Christians in other faith communities. The manifestations of the Spirit are given for mutual benefit, says St. Paul.

The Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, has spoken about the importance of ecumenism. He has encouraged a synodal approach to ecumenical conversations, which promotes mutual knowledge, sharing and prayer to heal our divisions. He has spoken about the Ecumenism of Blood, particularly that of the modern-day martyrs who demonstrate an “invisible and profound unity.” Their sacrifice for the Christian faith transcends doctrinal differences. In his speech at the 2025 Ecumenical Week in Stockholm, the Holy Father echoes the words of our Lord in today’s Gospel by encouraging all Christian people to be “architects of reconciliation and peace.”

As we celebrate our great liturgical traditions connected to the feast of Pentecost, let us also give thanks for faithful Christians who encourage us to see the work of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives.

Father Blake is the pastor of St. Mary in Waverly.

Sunday, May 24
Pentecost Sunday

• Acts 2:1-11
• 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13
• Jn 20:19-23

It is a special month for Mary. No matter how tame or turbulent life might become any month of the year, we can hold fast to the faith and elicit the intercessory prayers of the Blessed Mother. She will always lead us to Jesus. We are in the month the Church dedicates annually to Mary because she helps us in many ways, but especially in knowing his life, death and resurrection. And the fact that we are to live the Pentecost of that life.

Honoring the Blessed Mother and following her transcendent, timeless example of how to appreciate the goodness, beauty and truth of our Catholic faith strengthens us in holiness. We can also take advantage of each springtime day for special devotions, including yard and school crownings, daily rosaries and special novenas. The Blessed Mother’s last words (but not her last activity) recorded in the New Testament are, “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5) at the wedding in Cana. This was prudent advice at the time, and today it still delivers the profound message that living in the life of Christ can be found at the level of ordinary life.

Catholic Watchmen are to encounter our Lord daily in the Scriptures — as providers, protectors and leaders of the faith — and what better way than by praying with the Blessed Mother? Which is why many Watchmen pray the scriptural rosary at their gatherings. Her presence and actions revealed in the Scriptures help us better engage the Gospel story and Jesus as our lord and savior. She teaches us how to step it up as his disciples. She never misses a step in her roles as the first disciple, God’s humble and obedient servant, and sensitive and attentive Blessed Mother. Throughout the mysteries of the rosary — joyful, luminous, sorrowful, glorious — from the Annunciation to the coronation of Mary as queen of heaven, she teaches and offers her children the fruits of the Gospel.

Rightly so, Catholic Watchmen enjoy this celebratory commotion about Mary at processions and rallies, in small groups, with family in prayer or alone at adoration with the Blessed Sacrament. St. Joseph reminds us of this responsibility. He has been the patron saint of the Catholic Watchmen movement, which is now going on its 11th year. We are to strive to be a spiritual father like St. Joseph, and our concern for the Blessed Mother is paramount. St. Joseph’s life was centered on taking care of the Holy Family and we are to model him and take care of our families and others in need until the end of our days. That’s why this is such a special month to remember and honor Mary and even make a fuss about the monthly crownings, daily devotions and rosaries. She keeps us all closer to Jesus, our Lord and savior, who left us the promise of the Holy Spirit to ignite and direct our actions.

Just before ascending to the Father, Jesus promised his disciples they would receive the Holy Spirit as their advocate. As we draw nearer to Pentecost on May 24, we continue to be enriched with readings of the Acts of the Apostles.

“All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and his brethren” (Acts 1:14). With one accord, the early Church began at Pentecost — 3,000 were baptized. The power of the Holy Spirit was at work in them to convert and transform the world as they knew it. Mary was with them then — she is still with us today. Honor her always!

Deacon Bird ministers to St. Joseph in Rosemount and All Saints in Lakeville and helps with the Catholic Watchmen movement in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. See heroicmen.com for tools supported by the archdiocese to enrich parish apostolates for ministry to men. For Watchmen start-up materials or questions contact Deacon Bird at gordonbird@rocketmail.com.

Awareness of the importance of mental health and wellness has risen tremendously in recent years. Much like medicine, which has expanded from treating illnesses to preventing them, and even grown to include healthier and more vibrant living, an appreciation for investing in mental health and flourishing has been a positive advancement.

When the term mental health began trending several years ago, it felt a little strange to me. I had always associated health with the body, so brain health seemed appropriate. But mental health seemed to point to something more.

The Church teaches that we are composite beings — with a physical and spiritual unity. As I’ve watched society’s conversation around mental health unfold, it’s been interesting to see the various emphases in approaching it, as people grapple with both its physical and non-physical factors. I’ve come to appreciate the term and its normalization for several reasons, but primarily because mental health hints at the Christian truth that we are rational creatures. The mind is at the heart of who we are and of our happiness. We are embodied, unlike angels, so we are affected by physical realities. Yet, we are also spiritual, unlike animals. We have a mind that can rise above our immediate experience and search for meaning, truth and ultimately love.

Summer boosts the mental health of many Minnesotans. The Easter season can do the same spiritually. Longer and warmer days, together with the music of newly arrived birds, have a way of restoring the spirit and body.

Just as we approach the 40 days of Lent with intentionality — drawing closer to Christ and allowing sin and self-reliance to die away — we can also approach Easter intentionally and consider how we can rise with Christ and flourish. In other words, having worked at treating spiritual illnesses, how might we now work at building spiritual health and wellness, too? I never tire of St. Paul’s entreaty to the Romans, “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect” (Rom 12:2). We can begin by feeding our minds with Scripture and quality spiritual books, podcasts or lives of the saints. They will nourish us with truth and inspire us to love more deeply and generously. Knowing the Lord, and being known by him, is a firm foundation for spiritual and mental health.

Bodily health needs protection with a robust immune system, and spiritual and mental health need protection, too. The two most important pieces of defensive wear for the spirit are helmets and protective vests.

For spiritual armor, St. Paul says, we must put on “the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet that is hope for salvation” (1 Thess 5:8). Faith and love guard our hearts by protecting us against temptations to abandon God because of a distorted view or weak affection. I find it interesting that the helmet is hope, since we most often associate the head with the intellect and faith.

Yet as I ponder it further, I find hope quite fitting. When we consider two common struggles with mental health — anxiety and depression — both are intensified by feeling our human limitations and powerlessness and the temptation to despair. Hope, on the other hand, takes an eternal perspective. It says, “even though I can’t see how this will work out, God does, and he promises it will be for a greater glory.” Hope says, “Jesus I trust in you.” Instead of worrying if there will be enough of what we need for tomorrow, we trust God will provide what we need for today, every day. We put on the helmet of hope to drive away discouragement and replace it with the encouragement of the Spirit, reminding us that all things have been made subject to Christ.

The Easter season lasts 50 days. As summer’s growing lushness and abundance unfold, may the season inspire us to do the same in our lives with Christ.

Jendro teaches theology at Providence Academy in Plymouth and is a member of Sts. Peter and Paul in Loretto. She’s also a speaker and writer; her website is taketimeforhim.com.

Deacon Romens earned a degree in civil engineering at the University of Minnesota Duluth. He worked for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation as a bridge designer. It wasn’t until he was in The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul that he learned one of the pope’s official titles: Pontifex Maximus — Latin for “supreme bridge-builder.” 

“I always liked math. It made sense,” Deacon Romens told “Practicing Catholic” co-hosts Leah Heselton and Father Tom Margevi?ius for an episode that debuts May 22 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM. “The beautiful thing about the Catholic Church is it makes sense. Everything’s coherent. Everything fits together.” 

While working in Madison, Wisconsin, Deacon Romens attended daily Mass at a church in the area that offered it. The church also had perpetual adoration. He went to Mass after work and prayed a Holy Hour before going home each day.  

“During my time in Madison, it became really clear that I wanted to be a priest,” Deacon Romens said. “I started to watch the priest say Mass.” 

Deacon Romens watched an older priest who was feeble. The priest took his time with every movement. He “was just so careful and reverent,” Deacon Romens said. Deacon Romens said he thought it was beautiful, and he thought to himself, “I would love to be a man like him someday.” 

Deacon Miller attended the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, and got a degree in business administration. In high school and college, he was convinced he was meant to be married. He chose his degree because it would be helpful in supporting a family. He graduated college with a girlfriend and a job lined up. 

Then came 2020.  

“I graduated in December 2019 right before COVID(-19),” Deacon Miller said. “Long story short, my girlfriend and I eventually broke up. It was the right decision for both of us, but it was hard, and then because of COVID and the economy, I could not get hired on to my job.” 

During college, Deacon Miller said he developed a strong daily prayer life. Wondering where his life would lead him, he prayed often.  

“I was praying the rosary a lot during those tough spring, summer months of 2020 and asking Mary, ‘Hey, Mother, I know God has a purpose for me. I don’t know what his plan is right now, but please just give me trust in him. … I prayed that intention every single day, and then also, like silent prayer and then visiting (a) 24/7 chapel nearby, and all of a sudden, thoughts of seminary started popping into my head.” 

To hear more from Deacons Miller and Romens about their discernment to the priesthood, listen to this episode of “Practicing Catholic,” which repeats at 1 p.m. May 23 and 2 p.m. May 24.  

Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest episode also features Deacons Alexander Hall and Sebastian Spencer in an interview about their discernment process for the priesthood. The episode is produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.? 

Listen to interviews after they have aired at practicingcatholicshow.com or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters. 

In this column, we’ve been looking at social and political aspects of Jesus’ founding of the Church to emphasize that the Church has always had — or rather, has always been — a social teaching.

In other words, we’ve been looking at the Church as Catholic social teaching. This way of framing the significance of our social tradition shifts the emphasis away from abstract issues (that can often be comfortably kept at arm’s length) to a focus on the form of life the Church is called to embody in our encounter with the world.

Last month we continued exploring the theme of the Jesus movement as an alternative Temple movement. We saw that narrative arc come to its fulfillment in the Last Supper, where Jesus instituted an alternative Passover meal — the Eucharist — as the center of the new Temple, with himself as the new Passover lamb.

In this way, Jesus had stepped into the central plot of the Old Testament story and recast it around his movement. Before moving on, let’s take a step back and be sure we see how the big pieces of Jesus’ story that we’ve covered in recent months fit together so far.

Jesus had shown up on the scene preaching that the kingdom the Old Testament had foretold was breaking into the world in the small communities he was gathering. They were the people through whom, starting with Abraham, the world was to be blessed. If you wanted to be in the right place in Israel’s continuing story, here was the movement for you. Here was the true king; here was the renewed Temple.

For this Temple there was a new ritual system, but in strong continuity with the old. The old Passover sacrifice and meal was a revolutionary liturgy anticipating Yahweh’s liberation of Israel from Egypt and their establishment as a sovereign people. It was the ritual meal of a new kingdom: Israel. Now, in the Last Supper’s repurposed version of the Passover, Jesus brings to a climax what so much of his ministry had pointed toward: here in his communities is not only the new Temple, but the new Exodus people. Here is the new kingdom about which he’d been preaching. This was Israel reconstituted, as the prophets had promised, right here in rural Galilee. He gives these communities the new Exodus liturgy — the Eucharist — to be the center of their life together.

We fail to appreciate the full significance of the Eucharist, therefore, if we reduce it, as we sometimes do, to a pious ritual for private devotion. Like the original Passover, it is first and foremost the central communal act of God’s alternative society — the source and summit of a life and identity together. Too much of the time we focus on it only as a means of individual forgiveness of sins or reduce it to a one-on-one encounter with the real presence of Christ. Of course, no Catholic would ever want to deny either of these things! The Eucharist does re-present Christ’s sacrifice — it’s a key way we make that forgiveness our own. And that sacrifice is really and truly present in Christ’s sacramentally present body and blood.

But the Gospel accounts of the Last Supper help us see that these enormous benefits are ours as part of being members of God’s liberated people. We partake of the sacrifice, the forgiveness of our sins, and Jesus’ body, blood, soul and divinity, as participants in God’s revolutionary community. We are not first individuals who have personal relationships with Jesus that only then come together to make an “us”; we are only individuals in the first place by being the “us” that is the Jesus movement. We only know Jesus by first being members of his body; this is our most important relationship with him, and it starts by sharing the new Passover meal that makes us that people. In it we declare ourselves citizens of his kingdom.

Miller is the director of the Center for Catholic Social Thought at Assumption in St. Paul. He is the author of “We Are Only Saved Together: Living the Revolutionary Vision of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement.”