Why a blog?

   I think a lot.  I have many hobbies and interests, but my favorite pastime is to sit and think.  Contemplate might be a better word, as much of my personal prayer time is spent mulling the mysteries of the universe.  I'm constantly being fed by the books I read, the people I meet, current events, and even the blogs I read (I don't actually follow many, but I'm constantly checking out the links to particular blog posts my friends recommend).

   I enjoy writing immensely, too.  I like to choose words carefully, to articulate a thought so that it means precisely what I want it to mean.  Everyday conversation isn't a great medium in which to practice, although we'd probably all benefit from considering and shaping more carefully the things we say with our tongues.  I don't know that the things I write on this blog will be particularly valuable or profound, or even well-said; there are far more erudite and brilliant writers in the blogosphere than I.  Like Albus Dumbledore's Pensieve, though, I find it helpful to get some thoughts out of my head from time to time, and it would be interesting to me to see what others make of them.

   The title of my blog is quite consciously a reference to Georges Bernanos' classic French novel, Diary of a Country Priest, published in 1937.  It is a story of a humble country priest enduring intense spiritual and physical challenges, weighed down by the darkness and pessimism of a world that has strayed from the path of salvation.  He dies of stomach cancer in the end, murmuring the words, "All is grace!"  A good lady of my acquaintance was surprised I liked this novel so much, as I'm of a sunnier disposition than the tormented, struggling priest of the story.  She thought it all horribly depressing.  Yet I find the nameless priest of the story to be a tremendous inspiration in my own priesthood.  He is gradually conformed to the Cross, descending into the darkness.  The wickedness of the world tears at him body and soul in ways subtle and not-so-subtle, the devil rages, but in the end there is the triumph of the Cross, and that marvelous cri de coeur, "All is grace!"

   A great deal of my ministry as a priest has been among college students at the University of Tulsa and Oklahoma State University.  I owe a lot of my sunny disposition to them, because they strengthen the virtue of hope in me.  I'm curious to see what fruit this blog will bear for me, for others... so let's see what comes out of my ol' noggin.  I don't promise gems and pearls, but if something makes you think more deeply, I'll consider it worth the time to have written it down.