A sudden session of sweet silent thought

Posted on 12 March 2009 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I just had a remarkable experience.  It may have been the strength and particular hue of the light in my room right now that triggered it.

In a flash a memory flooded back to my conscious mind of standing behind a chair at the table in the dining room of St. Agnes parish in St. Paul many years ago, in the earliest ’80s when I was a shiny new Catholic. 

There was once a remarkable culture to that place, often focused in that room around that table. 

Remarkable days and dead friends summoned in a remembrance of things past.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in Linking Back. Bookmark the permalink.

14 Comments

  1. Larry says:
    12 March 2009 at 3:25 PM

    When something like that happens and I recall a person who has died I try to say a prayer for them just in case they are in need.
    Interesting experiences aren’t they.

  2. Paul Q says:
    12 March 2009 at 3:26 PM

    Fr. Z,

    You have made reference to your conversion to Catholicism before. Is there some place we can read the story?

    Thanks!
    Paul

  3. Larry says:
    12 March 2009 at 3:27 PM

    I just noticed the time of your posting Fr. The Hour of Divine Mercy. Yes I would definitely say a prayer for all those you remeber from that room!

  4. Eugene Lavrenchuk says:
    12 March 2009 at 3:44 PM

    Yes, I also do fondly the dining room at St. Agnes, wonderful conversations with Monsignor Schuler, may he rest in peace. St. Agnes will never be the same without him.

  5. Vincenzo says:
    12 March 2009 at 3:55 PM

    “Is there some place we can read the story?”

    Audio: The Journey Home

  6. John Enright says:
    12 March 2009 at 5:23 PM

    I’ve had great flashbacks like that too, Father. I remember being confirmed by Archbishop Krol before he was elevated to the College of Cardinals.

  7. Greg Hessel in Arlington Diocese says:
    12 March 2009 at 7:55 PM

    I hope that there is still a remarkable culture to that place.

  8. Tim Ferguson says:
    12 March 2009 at 8:29 PM

    That is definitely a dining room filled with a great deal of happy memories, and was a source of tremendous grace in the lives of so many people. Something a foretaste of the heavenly banquet – with coffee, day old pastries and Mrs. Altier’s strudel

  9. Isaac says:
    12 March 2009 at 10:20 PM

    ohh the good old days of St. Agnes!!

  10. jasmine tea says:
    12 March 2009 at 10:54 PM

    Now thousands of miles away, I miss St. Agnes too! I was homeschooled until I started going to the school in 3rd grade, taught by Sr. Mary Claire, and I was able to hear Monsignor Schuler’s sermons many times through his remaining years with us.

  11. Sylvia says:
    13 March 2009 at 5:54 AM

    Isn’t that a gift? Don’t you sometimes think it’s a shame to blog about these kinds of experiences?

  12. ssoldie says:
    13 March 2009 at 8:04 AM

    I had never been able to go to St Agnes’s, I lived up north in Mn, but do remember calling down to Msgr Schuller when I had a serious question as to the Church teaching, when raising my children. His answers to me were always right, and helped me to want to learn more deeply my Catholic faith. God bless him and all who were fortunite enought to have known him.

  13. little gal says:
    13 March 2009 at 9:06 AM

    Vincenzo:

    Thanks for posting the audio of Fr. Z’s interview on EWTN. Hearing his(and other conversion) stories are amazing and powerful examples of the work of the Holy Spirit. Fr. Z’.s reflections on how Mons. Schuler ‘brought him along’ as a patient, spiritual fisher of men was wonderful. He must of been an inspiring priest.

  14. Cathy_of_Alex says:
    13 March 2009 at 11:05 AM

    There is something about Lent and the Divine Mercy, along with our agressive self-denial, that thins the veil between that which we knew and that which we long to know.

Comments are closed.