Just now, I have been considering my vocation, beyond just being a priest. What kind of work in the priesthood is God calling me to do? I think it may be — although I am wary to write it in case it isn’t true — to shepherd the lost sheep of the impoverished and hurting African American youth. I cannot see any other souls around me so utterly deprived of yet thirsting for love, more specifically the loving nourishment and joy of God’s embrace. My Father, open the door, that I may see clearly my vocation and pursue it with the zeal of your saints.
– Prayer Journal, August 1, 2015
Today we remember the second anniversary of Isaac’s death. He entered into a different kind of vocation exactly five years after he wrote this entry. Yet as we read his journal, we see that Isaac would not have been especially surprised or grieved by the brevity of his life. His prayers show us that he lived each day as if it were his last, even as he prepared for life as if he were to live a thousand years.
Read previous offerings
Recommitment in a time of stress
Drapery and contours of creation
What could approach Iconography?
Peace that is not of this world
The permanence of God’s beauty
Journal entries written on hearts
“If you give me anything, let me love Jesus.”
“I am your servant” — painting the Baptism of Christ
Help me to withhold nothing (“Teach me to be a great saint”)
Ready to receive you (an Advent prayer)
“An intense desire.” A longing to depart from this fallen world.
“Why are you afraid?” Isaac’s final journal entry
“Moved to tears: the meaning behind Isaac’s gravestone”
“The reward of distracted prayer” (November 27th)
“The end of all beauties” (November 21s
“Memento mori” (November 18th)
“Root out my sin” (November 15th)
“Let me suffer” (November 12th)
Why the title? About the Offerings of Isaac