Merry Christmas!

Dear Friends and Family,

A Blessed Advent and Christmas to one and all! As I look back, it’s amazing how quickly time flies—and how much change can happen in one year. For those of you who don’t have the time to read everything, I’ll give the short version followed by the long one.



Short Version

In short, this year I am currently doing a “Pastoral year” in Astoria, Oregon. It’s basically an internship where I live with a priest and “learn the ropes” from him. I have done everything from office work to teaching Scripture classes to performing at a Catholic Daughters Oktoberfest. In the midst of all the blessings, the Lord has done something drastic which is right now affecting my life.

A few weeks ago, I was informed that my seminary in Belgium is closing (You were in Belgium? Yes, for two years…). Naturally, this came as a shock to me and my brothers studying there. The Archbishop and I discussed options for my final two years of school and this Friday he told me where I was going…Rome. Starting this next academic year then, barring unforeseen circumstances, I’ll be going to Rome to finish my Licentiate in Sacred Theology. Right now, my head is still spinning, but the application process will begin soon for the Seminary and Italian summer school! Please keep me in prayer during this transition time—I still have half a year of pastoral year to do! Thus, you are up to date with all things “Marky”. What follows is the update from last year to the present.



Long Version

At the end of Summer ’09, I had finished a difficult first year in Leuven, Belgium, and had just returned from a stint with Mother Theresa’s sisters in Ethiopia ministering to the poor. (You can find articles about this on an earlier blog post). When I returned to school, it was the year of the priesthood and our seminary was going to Ars, France for our annual retreat. While there, the Lord brought me to a place of greater surrender and healed an area of my heart I was keeping from Him. With this healing, however, I was fairly certain I would be leaving Seminary to pursue other dreams. As the weeks went by, I didn’t leave; in fact, I was given renewed strength to continue and experienced an even greater healing.

As some of you know, I discovered that I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. Belgium is very dark in the winter and my first winter there was miserable. After the retreat, I began exercising, taking vitamins, and getting 8 hours of sleep a night. This brought about such a drastic change that I didn’t need medication that second winter—one which was the coldest in many years! More than the healthy habits was the abiding sense of God’s love—He had loved me into existence and loved me all my life up to this very moment.

In addition, I worked on another icon this year (check the blog for pictures) which was much more complicated than the first one. The Lord really blessed that work and showed me concretely how much His grace had been working this last year to change me. Thank you for all your prayers during that time.

The Belgian youth group that I was a part of also began a new effort at evangelization which culminated in a retreat. I was blessed to be able to share my testimony at this retreat and see the fruit of it—several in the group had also experienced a call to religious life but were afraid of it! I am thankful to all those who encouraged me in this group—they kept me going during times of spiritual dryness my first year.

During the year I was assigned to the SHAPE military base in Mons, where I and several others helped with masses and CCD. I met so many great families and got to help lead praise and worship for the confirmation retreat, as well as one of their youth nights at the end of the year. You were all a huge blessing to me and I’ll never forget you or your hospitality!

The last month of school was very busy writing my thesis and preparing for finals. At the last minute, right before finals, I and two of my seminarian brothers got the chance to see the Passion Play in Oberramergau, Germany. This play is only done once every 10 years and is done by the whole town with live animals and over 1,000 people! It was a once in a lifetime experience, but meant that we had only a couple days before all the finals began—needless to say, the last 3 weeks of school were non-stop cramming and thesis writing! As a happy ending, I passed all my classes and graduated “cum laude” from the abridged bachelor program with my STB.



Summer 10’

When I got home, I turned right around and flew out to Steubenville for the Priests, Deacons, and Seminarians retreat. It was a great time and I experienced even more internal healing and was encouraged by my brothers. If you have the opportunity to go there for any retreat, DO IT! No one does conferences better.

Immediately after returning home, I went to Astoria to visit the parish where I’m currently working and make a “work agreement” with my pastor. A few days later I turned around and flew to Mexico for 6 weeks of Spanish immersion! It was at this time that I realized I was tired of school and really needed a break…but it was only day three of 6 weeks! (check the blog for the full story). Ultimately, I did walk away from the experience with a decent amount of Spanish, so, “Mission accomplished” J.

When I returned home, my sister got married that weekend, which was the event of the year for our parish—The archbishop presided and my siblings did the music—I helped serve. I then had one week of vacation and began my pastoral year at the Parish, where I’ve been going non-stop since I got here.



Pastoral Year

When I arrived at the end of August, the secretary/business manager quit, so I became assistant secretary (really, the only secretary since the person who quit was the only staff in the parish). I answered phones, wrote check requests, and did as much as I could to help Father out. I’ve since been relieved of those duties, but was exposed to the practical day to day workings of the parish, which was great.

I’ve also been diving into the Old Testament this year, teaching 2 adult bible studies on it as well as teaching one day per week in the Grade School for all grade levels. It is challenging but invigorating work—I love the Old Testament (Thank you Dr. Bergsma!).

There have been many other things that have happened this year, but that’s enough for now—if you’ve read this far, God bless you! Know that you’ve been in my heart this last year and without your prayers I wouldn’t still be here today! May the Christ child find a ready place in your heart this Christmas, and may true peace be yours now and always.



In the Love of our Redeemer,

Mark Bentz

Rumors

Dear friends in Christ,
If you have been following the Catholic "blogosphere," you may have noticed a rather shocking piece of news: The American College of Louvain--my seminary--is closing. This is sadly true. The seminary will be closing at the end of this academic year. As a result, I will not be returning to Belgium next year to finish my theology studies. If you wish to read the letter explaining the closure, you can Google "Whispers in the Loggia" and scroll down to last Saturday's articles. Ultimately, it is a combination of financial difficulties, lack of available priest-faculty, as well as an ongoing effort to consolidate American seminaries during these economic times to be responsible with the funds of the People of God.
I personally am quite shocked by this news. For all appearances, having lived there for two years, I saw tremendous growth and a vibrant formation atmosphere. It is an sad occurrence but I trust that God is in control of everything.
You may wonder where I'll be going next year. At this point, the Archbishop and I are discussing options--most likely Rome or Mt. Angel. Please pray for me as I discern where the Lord wants me this next year. There are many blessings available at both locations. Being home would be a wonderful gift, building up the brotherhood and being built up by my future "co-workers in the vineyard" of Oregon. Being in Rome would also be a great blessing and opportunity for growth.
Please pray; thank you for your friendship and encouragement.

Love,
Mark

Mexican Summer

Sorry this one took so long to post gang, the summer/beginning of the year has been a whirlwind to say the least. I put up some pictures of my 6 week stint in Mexico--which was a balance of great things as well as suffering, but overall a tremendous blessing.

As many of you know, I went to Queretaro, Mexico to study Spanish and do a cultural immersion. I was excited initially but realized when I arrived that I had no desire to study in school anymore; I was burnt-out from studies after pushing myself to get my thesis and exams done this last semester.
Yet, I found myself in Mexico doing 5 hours of Spanish everyday in class! I was also discouraged because the learning style and I didn't mesh initially and I didn't feel like I was learning as quickly as the others in my group. It wasn't until the 5th week that something "clicked" and I was finally able to converse in Spanish comfortably! There were other minor unpleasant things, but I'm done complaining--in fact, the blessings that came in the middle of the suffering far outweighed the inconveniences.


During the second week, when I was feeling particularly frustrated, I randomly ran into a group of young people in the street who were advertising the 25th anniversary of the Charismatic renewal in Mexico: the event just so happened to be in Queretaro that weekend in the soccer stadium!

Naturally I went and was blown away to find that around 50,000 young people showed up! This event was great because I got to see the energy and flavor of the renewal in Mexico as well as meet many great people. During the next weeks, I got together with several people in the group for their Thursday night Adoration and praise nights, as well as a healing retreat that they hosted in their parish. Their hospitality was overwhelming and their joy was infectious! I was reminded that wherever I go in the world, I have a home because the Church is there; and wherever I go I have friends because the renewal is there.
I also got to meet up with some good seminary buddies from Steubenville in Mexico City. While there, we saw the Basilica with the image of our Lady of Guadalupe as well.

The next weekend, Jeff and I got together with Jose Manuel (another Portland seminarian) in his home of Morella. We were priviledged to go to a baptism of one of his cousins.

Also, I would be amiss if I didn't mention my wonderful host family. They were very kind and always willing to help me with anything I needed. The mom was a great cook and made sure that I didn't go hungry, despite what people thought when they saw me after returning home!


I also got to try my hand at authentic Mexican cooking! I made Gorditas and sopes as well as a traditional dessert and handmade salsas and pico de gallo! It was muy pica! (spicy) The oils from the peppers got under my nails and I could feel the burn several days later if I even thought about rubbing my eyes.
That about does it for Mexico--I could write more, but I think I'll stop there. The Lord did answer one prayer that I had while I was there: to develop a heart for the Mexican people. As I came home I realized that my heart was indeed burning to help bring them closer to Christ--so many are culturally "Catholic" but in practice, very ignorant or pagan. Yet in some ways, this is better than our attitude in America of indifference toward the truth. Evangelization is needed everywhere! Blessings to you all, and thank you for your prayers this summer! I will hopefully post about my pastoral year soon--It has been a wild ride! Peace to you today and always
~Mark

Year finished, STB, Off to Mexico!

Dear friends in Christ,
As time goes by, it seems I get worse and worse at communicating. I plan on being more consistent this next year. I wanted to give all of you the brief update on my formation and life, but in short--it's simply breathtaking!
After a very hectic exam schedule and no time to pack afterwards, I came home on the 16th of June from Belgium. I received confirmation that I successfully completed the STB requirements (Sacred Theological Baccalaureate) and should be proclaimed today. It has been a great grace and I now have completed 3 degrees-BA in Philosophy/Religious Studies(Mt. Angel), BA in Theology and Religious Studies, and the STB (both in Leuven). God is so good in allowing me to finish the STB ahead of normal schedule, which should allow me to finish my Masters and Licentiate (STL) in 2 years more of school--putting the priestly ordination and return to Oregon sometime around 2013 if all goes well.
You might be wondering what I'm doing now. This year, I will be in the coastal town of Astoria, serving at Mary Star of the Sea parish on my pastoral year. It's a really small, but very close knit community and I'm really excited to be there this year, as there are many opportunities for service, teaching, as well as learning from the people. It will be a blessing to not have school for a year!
But before any of that can happen, I'll be leaving in 2 days for Queretaro, Mexico to study Spanish for 6 weeks! Please pray for me that I receive the gift of tongues and interpretation for this beautiful language so that I can serve the Spanish speaking people in our diocese better. Also pray for safety for me and my seminarian brother Jeff during our travels.
After I return from Mexico, my sister gets married in a week, followed by one week of break before beginning the year in Astoria! Life is crazy busy, but so blessed! Thank you for all of your prayers; my own desire and love for the priesthood increases with each new day and I can't wait to serve you. Please pray for me as always, that I can remain faithful to the calling of God for today and not live in the future--be assured of my prayers for you!

Christ's Peace to all,
Mark

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!

Dear Friends in Christ,
Today, your prayers have borne fruit in this icon. The transformation over the last two weeks has simply been incredible! Not only is the icon done, but finished on a very special day for me: the anniversary of my Confirmation, and the anniversary of my Marian Consecration 5 years ago!

This image was written originally by Br. Claude of Mt. Angel at the request of my former spiritual director. He envisioned it as a "healing icon" for priests. It has truly been a blessing to write this icon during the year of the priest.

The lettering is Greek, and stands for "St. John", "Mother of God", and "Jesus Christ". The scene is, of course, reminiscent of John 19:26-27 where Christ from the cross says to Mary, "behold your son" and to John, "behold your mother". Mary is presenting the stole of the priesthood to John, emphasizing her title as "Mother of Priests".

As with any icon, everything is done for symbolic value. The colors reveal the truths of our faith as much as anything else: Mary is in Blue (Divinity, mystery, eternity) and Purple(royalty) emphasizing her as Queen Mother; John is in Red-Passion, Love; White-purity, uncreated light showing his innocence and love for Jesus and the Virgin; and the Gold leaf represents the Light of Grace and heaven. The shapes are not intended to be "natural" because it is meant to jar us into a different way of thinking: these are windows to heaven, where we will see things differently than we are used to. The perspective is skewed so that we see multiple angles at once (perhaps not in mine, because I'm not the greatest artist), and typically the "vanishing point" is "behind" the icon--drawing the faithful to look beyond the icon and into contemplation of heaven.

May Mary, the Mother of Priests and Mother of God pray for us, that we might follow her Son Jesus more closely everyday. Blessings to all of you!

Icon Progress part 5

Dear Friends,
It is almost finished! All that remains is touch-up work and the varnish. A heartfelt "thank you" to all of you for your prayers--The grace that got me through this last week was truly unbelievable. The Holy Spirit was very palpable during several of the phases. Glory be to God for all His mercy, most especially the gift of Mary, His Mother. I will post a full reflection of the meaning of the icon when it is varnished. Until then...

Icon Progress part 4

Halos are always challenging for me...Fr. Paul helped me a lot on these. Notice also the cool halo effect caused by scratching the gold with a cotton ball.

The other picture is an example of "puddling", a technique which first applies water, then dabs of paint which form "puddles" and diffuse through the water to make unique patterns. (the holy card is of John Vianney, and the small medallion is a relic of St. Faustina).

Icon Progress part 3

Day 3 picture

Icon Progress part 2

After another day of work, prayer, and iconography, here's the results: keep the prayers coming! Blessings to you all and Peace,

Mark
p.s. look at the pictures from the bottom up to see the progression, ditto on the previous post--blogger is not being cooperative...

Icon Progress

Dear Friends,
Thank you for your continued prayers! This week is the final push for me to get the icon done, and I'll be posting the pictures of the progress. Here are pictures from yesterday. There's been a lot of progress today, so stay tuned and keep praying for me! The date I'm aiming to be done by is the 21st of April: the anniversary of my confirmation and my Marian consecration. Blessings to all of you!

Love,
Mark

New Year, New me, Lord's Day, etc.

Dear friends in Christ,
Many blessings and peace to you during this holy Lent! I pray that you are all experiencing the love of Christ in a new and powerful way through your penances, prayer, and alms-giving during these 40 days. As usual, many great things have transpired since the last post, so I hope to share a few of them with you.

Firstly, I completed my second bachelor's in Theology (with the exception of my thesis this June) and have already begun taking Masters classes towards my Licenciate in Theology. Classes are more interesting and challenging, which is great! I've also made a little progress on my icon...which will be pictured in the next post :)

Secondly, at the initiative of Brandon (another seminarian here) and myself, we hosted a "Lord's Day" celebration at the seminary--probably the first one in the history of the American College--which was awesome! You can see some pictures of it below. Brandon made the chili and bread pudding, and I cut the bread bowls and made a strawberry/blueberry/walnut/vinaigrette salad (a first for me). It was a blessed time of community building and I hope that it becomes a tradition. Please pray for continued strengthening of our brotherhood.

Lastly, and most exciting, is that I have been told my pastoral placement for next year: I'll be in Astoria at "Mary Star of the Sea" Parish with Fr. Ken Sampson, a wonderful priest, who I know will be a great mentor for me this next year.

As always, you are in my heart and prayers; each day I yearn more to return home to begin serving you the best I can. Until then, I trust that the Lord will sustain our friendship even across these great distances.