Mana?O?I?O, Paulele (Faith) Journeys

The images that surround us give meaning to life. I have been most fortunate to have spent my life surrounded by the worlds most beautiful imageshiking the trails of ancient and modern Hawaii in my youth, a sunlit summer in Rome, and further tours, most recently culminating on a wet British Roman wall.

The stories I include here are not linked together in any particular way. They include moments in the lives of my mother and me that span the Third Reich and Republic of Germany and Hawaii, whose legends, wonders, and disappointments have deeply influenced me.

My stories are centered on one principal event in my life, the participation in the Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, simply a Jesuit spiritual program commonly called Ignatian Spirituality, which has altered my life for the better. I never once explained the program. The quotes I include from St. Ignatius of Loyola and few of his most famous devotees are intended as merely a framework. I firmly believe St. Ignatius of Loyola would have it no other way.

I am a Catholic man. I am a gay man. My faith life was first formed by Missouri Synod Lutheranism; the scars have given me the needed push to try a different, more faithful, and kinder faith. I did not initially go willingly.

These are my stories. They may bring a smile, and they may bring anger. I hope and pray they bring hope in others to try Ignatian spirituality for oneself.