Fr. Stan Fortuna

I am richly blessed by the God of surprises. He has provided me with everything I could ever need to satisfy me. He gives me a little suffering, a little joy and a lot of love. What else could I ever ask for? God is soul good!

What I love the best is when He sneaks up and sends me something fun just when I need it the most. Like yesterday, for example. I received an email from my friend Julie. She was passing on a message from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Campus Minister, Fr. Michael Lightner, telling me that none other than Fr. Stan Fortuna would be appearing on campus that very night for a free talk and concert!

I raced home from work, picked up my son, John and we went to get my friend, Marge, and the three of us hurried to the UWM campus, thinking that the place would be packed by the time we got there. We arrived fifteen minutes before the program was to begin. We found Fr. Stan and a few assistants in the auditorium rehearsing, all alone. Nobody was there! We thought that maybe we had made a mistake about the starting time. But we didn't. In fact, by the time Fr. Stan was ready to start, there were only about twenty people there! We had front row seats to the best concert/inspiration talk/comedy show we had ever seen!

He had us laughing, crying and tapping our feet and lifted our hearts and souls to heaven so easily! There he stood in his grey habit, the bottom hem ripped and pinned in the front, long, thick locks pulled back in a pony tail. He was a one man concert with a recording machine that replayed each sound he played so that it sounded as if he had a whole band with him. He sang a great song to the tune of George Benson's "This Masquerade" about how God comes to us in distressing disguises. He said he wrote that song after first baptizing his guitar.

He shared the story about how God called him to the priesthood. He said he was about as low as a person can get, but then God got lower. That was followed by a Bob Marley impression of a song called "You Go Low, He Go Lower". Then he treated us to one of his rap songs called "FAMILY-Forget About Me I Love You". Every time I looked at my son, he had a huge smile on his face. That's a sight I will never forget! John had the time of his life listening to Fr. Stan sing and speak.

He spoke about how he wants to write a book called "The Rebukes of Jesus", he told us that God gave him a Divine upper cut when he called him to the priesthood, and talked about the baboons in Uganda in a hilarious example of how everybody peels bananas in a different way. He shared stories about life in the Bronx with the poor, mixed in with a few quotes from JPII and B16. But his biggest and most important message was that all hurt comes from no love and we are all called to love. Just love. What a beautiful message.

The evening ended with ten minute long blessing and a handshake from the amazing priest. It was simply fabulous and I am blessed! I had the time of my life and I am spiritually renewed! If you ever get the chance to see Fr. Stan, I highly recommend it, even if it comes last minute!

The Death of Baptism

Last weekend, my niece Jenny and I were blessed to attend a “Lord Have Mercy” Conference here in our Archdiocese. We were so excited to hear words of wisdom from wonderful speakers Dr. Scott Hahn and Matthew Kelly. Yes, they were both wonderful, but even better, in fact, FAR better, was our own dear Archbishop Listecki. His homily at the opening Mass was OUTSTANDING! I’m hoping to find a copy of it somewhere, but in the meantime, I want to share some of his opening remarks with you. I wish I had a video of it to share, because the expression on his face and in his voice really made his words stand out, but for now, I offer you my memory of his words.

While presiding at an immersion baptism, then Fr. Listecki, lifted the naked little boy up and…(“No, mothers, it’s not what you’re thinking! No, mothers, that didn’t happen!”)... just as he was about to lower the babe into the waters of baptism, his four-year-old sister called out loudly “Don’t do it Father! Don’t drown him!”

Of everyone at that baptism, including the adults, it was that little girl who got it right. Everyone was looking at that baptism as a removal of original sin and a welcoming into the church, but that little girl, she saw it for what it really was…a death. Baptism is a death to the old life and a birth to new life in Christ. It was only the four-year-old who could really see that.


Cast aside my fear of death, Lord.
Wash me in Your Holy Water and cleanse me for new life in You.
Refresh my soul so that all I will feel is Your life within me. Amen.

Lord, Hear Our Prayer

Last winter I watched a documentary about a 12 year old Jewish boy with Down's Syndrome who was preparing for his Bar Mitzvah. Everyone who had an important place in this boy’s life was interviewed and they seemed to think that this boy was far more spiritual than anyone they knew and that he had an especially close relationship with God. His main life focus was on his faith and his prayers. Even when he'd be outside on the playground, he would be chanting his prayers.

The interviewer asked him if he thought that God heard his prayers and he said yes. And she asked him if God heard his Dad's prayers (Dad was a Rabbi) and his brother's prayers and he said yes. Then she asked him if God heard his sister's prayers and he said no. When she asked why not, he said it was because his sister didn't pray!

I used to think that if I wasn’t reciting the St. Joseph Novena every day before nine am and the St. Therese Novena every day before 11 am, it was useless, that God wouldn’t hear and answer my prayers favorably. I had so much guilt if I didn’t say a daily rosary, or if I skipped a mealtime prayer. I couldn’t sleep unless I examined my conscience prior to dropping off to slumber. If I forgot to pray the Morning Offering each day before arising, I might as well go back to bed because my entire day was wasted. I was a basket case of guilt and convinced myself that I was a loser at prayer, I couldn’t possibly ever make it to sainthood, and God had lost interest in me because I wasn’t nearly devoted enough to Him.

My whole life I have moved in and out of deep devotion, going for months with much time spent on my knees reciting written prayers, and then going through a stage where written prayers just lost their meaning for me and I simply could not go through the motions and really just gave up. I struggled with this because I know that when our prayer is dry, it means so much to God that we continue, yet I wouldn't make the effort.

Then a wise priest told me that all of my life can be a prayer, as long as I keep my mind focused on Jesus throughout my daily tasks. He told me that folding laundry is a prayer, cooking dinner is a prayer, and even listening to secular music can be a prayer-love songs could be sung in my heart to Jesus and from Jesus. What he was trying to tell me was that like Brother Lawrence and his wonderful way of Practicing the Presence of God, constant prayer could be my way of life as well. It seemed so easy, and it is! I can pray constantly like St. Paul exhorts us, by keeping Jesus in my mind and in my heart in all that I do. The prayer "I love you Jesus" is never far from my heart and I repeat throughout the day. Quotes from scripture come to mind in many situations, and I use them as needed, for example: "I do believe Lord, help my unbelief" and one of my favorites "Look to Him, that you may be radiant with joy and your faces may not blush with shame."

I am finding that living my life in this state of near-constant prayer has been a blessing in all situations. I do still go through stages of deep devotion to daily written prayer, like reciting the Crown of Mary since my consecration and praying the rosary on my daily lunch hour walk, but now, prayer is so much more than that. Prayer is my own personal relationship with God, using my own words and silently listening and watching for the many ways in which He speaks to me as well. I know that the Lord will always hear our prayers if we but open our hearts to Him and His amazing, wondrous ways of working in our lives each day!

His Mercy is so Divine

Happy Divine Mercy Sunday!

My family has not had a devotion to the Divine Mercy Chaplet, and I know that I have not done a good job in teaching it to my children. In fact, it was just about a year ago when I first began to pray the chaplet with regularity myself.

This past year, my family and I have been attending several monthly Holy Hours at our local Seminary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet is prayed at each of these Holy Hours so my children have all been learning the easy prayer, but I didn't think that they knew anything about St. Faustina and the origins of the Chaplet.

I decided that tonight at our family dinner, I would give a little catechism lesson. I had barely begun to speak, when my fifteen-year-old son Justin, interrupted me and gave the lesson for me. He told us all about the little Polish nun, St. Faustina, and the story of how Jesus had appeared to her and asked for a picture of himself to be painted with red and white rays representing His blood and water. He said that the prayer on the bottom of the picture is "Jesus, I trust in you."

As I lifted my chin off the table, I managed to ask him how he knew all of that. His answer put my chin right back on the table.

After the lights go out in our house, John, our sixteen-year-old son, and Justin lay in their bedrooms and send each other text messages until they fall asleep. Last night, John sent Justin the texted story of St. Faustina and Divine Mercy Sunday. Justin couldn't help but add the fact that he was now out of minutes because John had used them all in telling that wonderful story!

I LOVE technology and the way it takes bedtime stories to a whole new level!

Jesus, I DO trust in you!

Praying the Psalms-Thirteen

“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will me enemy triumph over me?” Psalm 13: 1-2

I recognize these words far too well, for they were my daily winter cry. In the gloom of dark days and the chill of blustery winds, my soul, too, grew dark and cold. The Lord seemed to be lost in the dark of the season and I could not find the face of God. My thoughts of despair and emptiness were hard to pin down, try as I might to overtake them with prayers of joy and hope.

“Look on me and answer, O Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
My enemy will say, ‘I have overcome him, and my foes will rejoice when I fall.” Psalm 13:3-4

And suddenly, the Lord’s face shone brightly upon my darkness, giving that much needed light to my eyes. Spring is here, and the sun is shining bright and warm. I can see that the Lord loves me and He will not let my enemy have the last word. I will stand victorious in the light of day, with a calm and serene mind that has cast out the racing thoughts of doom that worked for control of my mind.

“But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me.” Psalm 13:5-6

The Lord heard my prayer and in His great love for me I will forever rejoice. Alleluia!

Join Jenny at Just a Minute to pray the psalms

Easter Guest Post by Fr. Don Hying

I've frequently quoted my dear friend, Fr. Don Hying, on this blog. He is a fantastic writer with wisdom in his words that gives me food for thought and always satisfies my hunger for the Lord in one way or another. Fr. Don is the Rector of St. Francis de Sales Seminary in Milwaukee and writes both a monthly newsletter for the Seminary and a monthly column for the Milwaukee Catholic Herald. He is also a frequently requested guest speaker at many Archdiocesan events, and has his own radio program, "New Heart, New Spirit", on our local Relevant Radio Station. Fr. Don has given me a wonderful Easter gift; he has generously agreed to allow me to post his most recent Catholic Herald column on my blog. I am thrilled to share Fr. Don's Easter column with you and I pray that you, dear reader, will find it to be as wonderful and thought provoking as I do. It is my hope that Fr. Don will agree to become a regular guest writer at Imprisoned in my Bones.

Last year I was blessed to go to the Holy Land for the first time; the highlight of the trip was celebrating the Eucharist inside the tomb of Jesus in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. I felt like I was standing at the center of the cosmos, for this was the spot where the greatest event in the history of the world took place!

As we celebrate Easter, the Church goes back in her mind and heart to that extraordinary Sunday morning when, against all expectation, the women find the tomb of Christ empty and breathlessly run back to tell the apostles. The rising of Jesus from the dead is more than the resuscitation of a corpse; having conquered sin and death, the risen Christ now has a glorified and saving relationship with all of humanity and indeed the entire cosmos. Mistaken for a gardener, a ghost, an anonymous traveling companion, he starts appearing to Mary Magdalene, the apostles, the disciples on the road to Emmaus, 500 brothers at once. The risen Christ could not be restrained by locked doors or fearful hearts anymore than a sealed and dark tomb could hold him.

Clearly, from the day of Pentecost until the end of time, the mission of the Church is to proclaim the death and resurrection of Christ as the foundational event of human history, as the definitive salvation won for everyone through the loving plan of the Father, the obedience of the Son and the working of the Holy Spirit. In every proclamation of the Gospel, in every celebration of a sacrament, in every action of charity and mercy, the Church makes present in this time and place, for these people gathered the saving power of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen. The Acts of the Apostles testifies to the extraordinary success of this endeavor, right from the beginning of Christianity.

What are the events in our lives that serve as our spiritual foundation, those experiences that we return to time and time again in order to draw strength, inspiration and energy to move forward? The birth of children, the day of your wedding, a miraculous healing from sickness, the holy death of a loved one, a religious profession or an ordination, an unexpected moment of grace that led to conversion. All of us have those fundamental “peak” encounters with God which serve as guideposts for the rest of our life’s journey home.

The day of my ordination to the priesthood was the second greatest day of my life, (after my baptism which, like most of us, I cannot remember.) God was so real to me that day I could have reached out and touched Him. Whenever I am tired, discouraged, fearful or overwhelmed, I simply go back in my mind and heart to that glorious day and I am renewed. It is like sticking a finger into an electrical socket. The joy, promise, love and energy flow into my body, soul, mind and heart.

What ordination day is for me is what the resurrection of Jesus Christ is for the whole Church, but with one absolutely fundamental difference. We do not simply go back into the recesses of history to discover the risen Christ; he is gloriously alive, present and active in our midst within the mystery of the Church! Last October, in a presentation he gave here at the seminary, Bishop Blaise Cupich of Rapid City, South Dakota offered his assessment of the greatest problem facing the Church and his answer was not the one I was expecting. He didn’t talk about any of the crises reported in the newspapers; instead, he spoke about many Catholics’ fundamental misunderstanding that the risen Christ is truly, actively and gloriously present, right here and now, in our lives. Too often, we think and speak of Jesus as a historical figure who did great things but has passed from the scene.

How different life becomes when we expect the risen Lord to pop up somewhere in our lives every day. Assuredly, we will not recognize Him at first, just like the apostles didn’t. Probably, we will not fully understand what he is truly saying or asking of us. But when we put on the sacred lens of the resurrection, we start seeing Jesus everywhere! In that homeless man on the corner, in the splendor of the rising sun, in the gentle power of the Eucharist, in our family and friends, in the mystical truth of an El Greco painting and perhaps most surprisingly within ourselves. In God’s timetable, 2000 years is the blink of an eye, so it was just the day before yesterday that Mary Magdalene ran down the path with the astonishing news that the tomb was empty. The risen Christ lives, breathes and walks among us and within us. That Gospel should make us get up and dance! A blessed Easter!

At His Feet

The fragrant oil was poured
upon His feet so sore and tired,
and she knelt down and washed them
with tears of salt and sorrow,
and dried them, oh so tenderly
with her undone tresses for a towel.

He in turn passed on the gift
of service to His friends.
He washed the dust and dirt
from weary, aching feet
before the dinner.

Such gentle gifts of love and service
for the body's lowest part;
why, oh why couldn't
the tenderness last, why must it turn
to pain unimaginable?

The burly solder took the spike and
drove it through his feet.
Ring of hammer could not mask
the screams of pain
this tortuous act had caused.
Blood and tissue, pain untold,
no washing could assuage.

And there they stood,
the ones He loved,
just below those precious feet
that once had been
anointed so fragrantly.
Helplessly they watched the blood
pulse out from the holes in His extremities.

Oh Jesus Christ my Savior,
how I long to ease your pain!
My own tears of distress
I will use to wash away the stain
of blood and hurt inflicted
upon Your feet so bruised and broken,
until the pain exists no more
with only love remaining.