"I have the deck."

I'm happy to report that on Friday, I met one of the biggest milestones of my Naval career as a Surface Warfare Officer. I am now a qualified "Officer of the Deck" Underway. The Officer of the Deck is the eyes and ears of the Captain in the Pilothouse (aka the Bridge) for safe and swift navigation of the ship and execution of the ship's schedule and routine.

The officer of the deck (OOD) occupies a unique position in a naval ship. Nowhere in military or civilian life is there a parallel to the range and degree of responsibility that is placed in the hands of the OOD. As a direct representative of the Captain, he or she acts with all the authority of command and, next to the Captain and Executive Officer (XO), is the most important person in the ship. Qualification as OOD is the cornerstone of professional growth for a surface line officer and the most critical milestone of the Surface Warfare Qualification. (Watch Officer's Guide)

Following a four years of preparation in college and the past year experiencing different evolutions, I was offered to have a qualification board with the Captain, XO, and Department Heads of the ship to earn my qual. After a lot of studying and two practice boards (aka "murder boards") I went into my final board and passed! It gave me a great boost of confidence and excitement. And yet, it is also a great burden--knowing the responsibility which lies in my hands during my watch. Luckily, I am surrounded by fellow officers who will continue to train me and help me through these first few weeks of being qualified. All of this, both my recent qualification and my very status as a Naval officer, is an honor I am unworthy of and try to live up to each day.

When we turnover the watch, there's a formal process of passing down information and a professional military turnover, with salutes and statements of relieving the watch. Standing watch as the OOD is known as "having the deck." I wish I could tell you what it's like to utter those words, especially for the first time, "Attention in the Pilothouse...I have the deck."

Praised be Jesus Christ for carrying me to this milestone. All glory and honor belong to Him--for this is His work.

One Year Down...

Hard to believe. As of today, I've completed my first year as a commissioned officer in the Navy. My first year living totally on my own, out of college and in the world. It's been a year?! In some respects, college seems like a far distant memory; in another, it feels like yesterday that I was walking across the stage at graduation. Moving to my first duty station last May, I never knew I'd experience what I've experienced this year. Not that anything particularly shocking or crazy has happened--it's just that each day, I never know what could happen next.

Here's some particular experiences that have been pretty noteworthy during my first year of "real life"--some were expected, some unexpected:

1. Went to court

Ok, I'll clarify. I went to court with one of my sailors. It's protocol that if one of our sailors has to go to court, be it for a traffic ticket or something more, someone from the chain of command has to go with him/her. It's kind of a neat idea, and is a great illustration of how we in the military really support each other--the whole person. Leadership and caring for your sailors doesn't stop when you cross the brow of the ship--it's a full-time job, and you need your head on a swivel to keep track of everyone. You wouldn't find that in the corporate world.

2. Went to jail

Haha--don't worry, it wasn't me who was in jail! But I did go to jail to pick someone up after getting released. One of my sailors, in fact. I'll never forget what that drive back to the ship was like. Hearing his story of what his 25 days in jail were like, and the fear in his voice knowing he was going to come back to the ship just to be kicked out of the Navy and have to go back on the streets--streets he joined the Navy to escape from. But he was having continual discipline issues, and his bout in jail was the straw that broke the camel's back. I still think about him--I hope he's doing ok.

3. Administered oaths

One of the privilidges you have as an officer is the authority to reenlist a sailor signing on for additional years of service, readministering their oath of enlistment and witnessing the signing of their new contract. This is one of those honors I love to do--and one I never feel worthy of. I was also extremely honored to get to serve as the commissioning officer for one of my friends from college who recently became a Marine Corps officer. I administer the oath of office, that beautiful public vow we make as officers, indefinitely pledging our allegiance to and defense of the Constitution of the United States. Sweet. And I finally got to go to the USMC Museum!

4. Played on a soccer team

I know I know, kinda lame. Not as illustrious as the other items on this list. But seriously--I never would have thought I'd be playing on a soccer team past third grade. Thank you Naval Base Intramurals! And my awesome shipmates/teammates, the base championship runner-ups. :-)

5. Marched for Life

Yes! I finally got to go to the March for Life! What an amazing event it was. I ran into so many people that I knew, and so many friends of friends--it's such a beautiful legit Catholic family we have. I was so encouraged to be there in our nation's capital, standing with my generation for those who have no voice. Pretty moving.

6. Watched the Saints win the Superbowl

I mean, come on. This was the biggest event ever for Saints fans, the city of New Orleans, and Gulf Coast. What a glorious season. And the best part--to be in New Orleans the week after for Mardi Gras, watching Drew Brees reign as Bacchus, and hear WHO DAT while dancing the Second Line nonstop.

I wouldn't say I've learned anything too particularly profound this past year. If anything, I've learned how beautifully simple your life can be, and at the same time, so utterly fulfilling. All it takes is an unwavering attentiveness to God and a total trust in His will. Simple, right?

His will continues to unfold before me, and each day, I wake up ready to set out into the deep, not knowing what is going to happen next. I'm recklessly abandoned to His Divine Providence--only thanks to the grace He never ceases to offer upon my unworthy soul. Who could ask for more?

"Your will is my heritage forever, the joy of my heart.
I set myself to carry out your will in fullness, forever."
~Psalm 119

Right Place, Right Time

For the servant of God,

every place is the right place

and every time is the right time.

Saint Catherine of Siena

What better words could be proclaimed by my dear sister Catherine than these, especially at this point in my life! How better to embrace the sanctity of the present moment than to remember that if we follow God's will and abandon ourselves to divine providence, everything will fall exactly into place, exactly as it is supposed to.

There will be hopefully be more blogging coming up, especially as my shipmates and I prepare to "set out into the deep" in just a couple of weeks. I also wanted to share this lovely photo of some of the Sisters from St. Mary Star of the Sea School in Hampton, a mission of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia, visiting my ship for a tour.

Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever!

Come Awake

The Gospel reading for today, for the Second Sunday of Lent, is of the Transfiguration of Christ, where Christ shone in glory to Peter, James, and John, and His Sonship to God the Father was once again revealed. I love the Transfiguration. My favorite line of the reading is the words of Peter, realizing the beauty and glory of that moment, and saying, "It is good that we are here." I find myself saying that so often in my life. In those moments when you feel so fulfilled, so at peace, so content with what God has given you; how can you not just look around, breathe it all in, and say, "it is good that we are here."

Tonight, though, for the first time, I noticed some new words.

Peter and his companions

had been overcome by sleep;

but becoming fully awake,

they saw His glory.

(Luke 9:32)

Peter and his companions were asleep--definitely a recurring problem for them--falling asleep as Jesus kept His long prayer vigils. At this point, as Christ was praying, Moses and Elijah appeared and were conversing with Christ before Peter, James, and John even woke up! Look at what they were missing! Look at what was happening before them--but--they were asleep. Missing out on the glory before them.

And yet, suddenly, they were awakened. And Scripture doesn't just say "they woke up," but rather, that they became "fully awake." What does that mean? What's the difference between being "awake" and being "fully awake?" If they had just been "awake," they would have woken up, freaked out at the bright light and strange people around them, and we would have heard a much different Gospel today. Instead, they were "fully awake"--and they immediately saw the glory of the Lord before them, recognized Moses and Elijah before them, and immediately saw the Truth, Beauty of Goodness of the Transfiguration. Peter made that beautiful statement, "it is good that we are here," and even offered to build tents, that they might stay there and allow this unbelievable moment to endure. They were fully awake because their hearts were attentive to God and hopeful for what He could do in their lives--and hence, the Transfiguration was not a moment of fright, but a moment of sheer beauty.

So what are we doing? Are we living our lives asleep, blind to what is going on around us, unaware of what God is doing in our lives? Are we not asleep but just simply awake, able to see what God is doing but not able to comprehend it or accept it? Or, are we living our lives fully awake, aware of His grace and His goodness, thriving so beautifully in His will that we cannot help but exclaim at every moment of our lives, "it is good that we are here."

Wake up!

Hope for the world? Union with God.

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, when our Lord Jesus Christ was presented to God in the temple by our Blessed Mother and Saint Joseph. It is also the day we observe the World Day for Consecrated Life. Just as Mary and Joseph brought their Son to the temple to offer Him to the service of God, so too do men and women offer their entirety to the service of God and His Church through the vows of the consecrated life, choosing to mold themselves most intimately to Christ the poor, Christ the chaste, Christ the obedient.

You might hear some argue that such concepts as vowed religious life are "out of date" or "medieval" or "no longer necessary" to the modern world we live in today. With iPods and computers and connectivity and the world literally at our fingertips, why choose to live such an austere and seemingly pointless life? What those nay-sayers don't realize is that the consecrated life is exactly what the world needs. And quite frankly, the consecrated life is the secret to what has kept the Church ticking through 2000 years of joys and sufferings, of successes and hardships.

Nuns and Sisters, Friars and Brothers throughout history have done marvelous things. With lives totally devoted to the service of the Church, they have a unique availability to the matters of God. Countless Saints were religious, serving in so many apostolates: for the poor, for the elderly, for the sick, for children, for the orphaned--and the list goes on. And while this seems to be the most recognized facet of the lives of religious in history, it actually is not the crux of who they are and why they exist. The reality is that the apostolate--the work in the world--is secondary in the life of a religious person.

A consecrated person's primary obligation is union with God--a radical embrace of the life of Christ, living out fully the evangelical councils, and hence serving as eschatological signs to the world of what we should expect in Heaven. If we reduce the religious life to simply a renunciation of marriage for a greater availability to the business of the Church, we are selling the life short of what it truly is.

And so, in a world so in need of workers in the Lord's vineyard, with so many poor and sick and abandoned and lonely people needing the hand of Christ to serve them--what the world needs above all is hope. Hope that there is a reason to get out of bed each morning besides the next paycheck and the next fad. Hope that our lives have meaning and purpose beyond social status and popularity. Hope that there is a place beyond the turmoil and suffering of our fallen humanity.

And where will society find this hope? In the heart of every Christian, radically serving as an alter Christus, another Christ, on earth. And most especially, we find that hope in the heart of every person consecrated to the Lord Jesus Christ, through their unwavering fidelity to prayer, their fixation on the heart of Christ, and the sacrifice of their entire lives for the sake of the Kingdom. May God continue to anoint all religious around the world, today and everyday, that they all remain faithful to their way of life and that we all might benefit from their vocations.

"Virginity is not espousing a cause; but a person."

Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap

Preacher to the Papal Household