Paul StuligrossNo, this wasn’t a Lions game. They wouldn’t have elicited that level of excitement. It was for the beatification Mass of Fr. Solanus Casey. I’ll admit, prior to this, I didn’t know as much about the life of Fr. Solanus. Then I realized I’d be talking to theology students about his significance. So, I began reading more.
By now, most of us know his story: a “simplex” priest who wasn’t even allowed to preach homilies or hear confessions; but one whose full embrace into his state of life is what made him holy. That level of trust is what high school students can learn from. In fact, we adults can learn a thing or too, as well.
High school students today are overwhelmed with pressures to succeed. A recent study showed that teenagers today are three times more likely to suffer from anxiety than they were a half-century ago. There are plenty of reasons why. But perhaps the biggest culprit is social media. Human beings are competitive by nature. It’s what drives us to excel in sports – that’s the good part. It’s also what drives us to beat ourselves up – that’s the bad part – and social media, more than anything else in their lives, facilitates that by foisting them into a cavernous tunnel of how “bad their life is” compared to everyone else.
Want to feel bad about yourself? Just spend some time on Snapchat and see how “great everyone else” has it. He made varsity football and I didn’t. She had a party and didn’t invite me. He’s getting all A’s and I’m struggling. For adults, it isn’t much different. Her kids are all on the honor roll. His kids are getting into the best colleges. What’s wrong with me?
Theodore Roosevelt once wrote: “Comparison is the thief of joy.” If that’s true one could say social media is the arbiter of thievery. Moreover, perhaps Snapchat and Facebook are what St. Teresa of Avila would have called "dead trees." “The tree beside living water is fresher and gives the most fruit,” she said.
I don’t see much living fruit in the social media world – just some deception and selfies.
Early on in his novitiate, one of the things Fr. Solanus did was come up with a list of resolutions titled, “Means for Acquiring the Love of God.” There were five, the first of which was quite appropriate for our comparison-bent culture. He said: “Detachment of oneself from earthly affections and singleness of purpose” were of utmost importance. Detachment from earthly affections? You mean that urge we have for that one-thousandth like? Singleness of purpose? You mean not carrying on a conversation while checking Snapchat, Instagram and watching Netflix all at the same time? Maybe … just maybe social media is the devil’s tool to launch us into bouts of despair when we realize our lives aren’t perfect. Newsflash: no one’s life is.
The beatification of Fr. Solanus mesmerized me in a way I didn’t expect. It launched me into a spell of emotion from the moment the opening processional began -- a true glimpse of what heaven must be like. Then I was brought back to reality, shivering off the cold, soaked clothing my students and I were wearing despite our job helping the elderly in from the buses. To be frank, I’d become annoyed with the torrential downpour -- until I realized something: Fr. Solanus would have done that without complaining. We all love the ceremony. What we have trouble with is the grind that gets us there.
Our culture’s eruption of around-the-clock entertainment has driven young people into an endless array of comparison, and an avenue to leapfrog the “grind.” Now, it’s not good enough to be average. We all have to make the dean’s list, the varsity team and the homecoming court, or we’re failures. I wonder if Blessed Solanus Casey would agree with that.
Being this “close” to a saint reminded me that though our grind may not be of a spectacular nature, it’s that very grind that keeps us humble enough to rely on God. Recently, my wife and I got to spend some quality time with our daughters. What made it “quality?” They’d both “lost” their phone privileges temporarily and were invested back into the simple.
“Thank you, God, ahead of time.” And thank you, Blessed Solanus Casey, for being humble enough to show us how it’s done.
Paul Stuligross is director of campus ministry at Orchard Lake St. Mary's Preparatory in Orchard Lake and is a retired police officer.
