James Keating

Deacon James Keating's newest book, Spousal Prayer: A Way to Marital Happiness affirms that the sharing of hearts is a necessary commitment in both marriage and prayer. If we can learn what the key elements to sharing the heart are and equally what the key elements to receiving the heart of another are, then we will know the greatest of intimacy in both prayer and marriage. The mingling of the love of spouse with and in the love of God is and has always been the foundation for a life of peace, creativity, and vibrancy, not to mention sanctity. In fact, we cannot even understand what marriage is unless we look at how Christ loved His Bride, the Church, till the end (Jn 13:1). For the baptized, Christ has joined His love for the Church to the Sacrament of Marriage and Marriage, to His love for the Church. Each couple is called to allow Jesus to bring them into this great love of His. The couple is not supposed to do all the work of love; they are called to let Jesus gift them with His own spousal love. In other words, couples should let Jesus live His spousal love for the Church over again in their own love for one another. They do this by simply asking Him in prayer to do so and by sharing their needs and desires with Him. Marriage is not a self-help relationship; it is a deep partnership with Christ.… (más)

This book was given to me by Deacon Andrew Kinstetter as a birthday gift. He said it helped him immensely in his journey through seminary and so he wanted to pass it along to me.

The idea of beloved sonship is something that is gaining a lot of traction in seminary formation. If priests are configured to Christ, then they need to see themselves as beloved just as Christ saw himself as beloved. This is an indispensable aspect of priesthood because it allows the priest to find value and self-worth through who he is rather than what he does. As a priest, I love offering the Sacrifice of the Mass for the sake of my people. I love helping people and I am honored when people entrust their burdens to me. Like any basically good-hearted person, I derive a holy self-satisfaction from getting to help people with their burdens.

But that isn't where I should primarily derive my sense of self-worth. My self-worth, that deep heart-felt knowledge that I am good, shouldn't come from what I do. It should come from who I am. But if it's to come from who I am, then the identity of who I am can't be entirely derived from myself, because I know myself to be a sinner. My identity, who I am, is something I have to receive from God, and that's where the identity of Beloved Son comes in. I am beloved by God, and that love gives me my identity and my self-worth.

A priest identifies as a beloved son in a unique way, but it's something all Christians need to grow into: we all need to see ourselves as beloved sons and daughters of God. In the western world especially, where we derive great value from what we do, we need to understand that our primary value comes from simply being loved by God. If you grow in filial identity, it won't make you more productive or fix all the problems in your life, but it will add a deep and unshakable value to how you perceive yourself because your identity will be fixed in the Father who loves you.… (más)