Blessed Solanus Casey (1870-1957) had a number of local connections in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
This holy Capuchin priest is best known as the “porter of St. Bonaventure’s monastery,” providing holy counsel and even miracles while living in Detroit.
Before he was a priest, Blessed Solanus lived in Stillwater, trying his hand at logging. Later, his uncle Pat Murphy helped him to get a job at the Stillwater State Prison. His other uncle (Father Maurice Murphy) was pastor of St. Michael. In that parish, as a young man, he received the sacrament of confirmation. Later as a priest, Blessed Solanus visited the then-College of St. Thomas to see his brother, Msgr. Edward Casey, and stayed in the red brick infirmary building that had a few rooms for visiting guests. The building still stands next to the St. John Vianney College Seminary.
Blessed Solanus’ feast day is July 30, and his life provides a great example for Sunday’s Gospel. The parables of the pearl, the treasure and the net remind us of the sense of urgency in seeking the kingdom of God.
Blessed Solanus was not a nervous man. Quite the opposite, he was a man of calm, kindness and an ability to be very present to those in his presence. Sometimes we equate urgency with running around in a panic. Rather, urgency in the parable is the ability to seek what is most important and set aside what is less important. The merchant recognizes the pearl of great price and sells everything to purchase it.
Blessed Solanus demonstrated this ability to focus on discovering the kingdom in the present moment by accepting his assignment. Blessed Solanus was ordained a “simplex priest.” He was not permitted to hear confessions nor preach a sermon as his superiors did not feel he had the intellectual gifts for this. Instead, he was assigned to answer the door at the monastery as a porter. One might be tempted to be bitter over this characterization and lowly assignment. Yet Blessed Solanus embraced it with great joy as he recognized God’s work before him and the importance and urgency of that good work. Literally thousands of lives were impacted by those who came to visit the joyful porter for his wise counsel, prayer and occasional miracles.
Sometimes we can get all wrapped up in what the world dictates as important, yet Sunday’s Gospel is a reminder to look at things with new eyes. We are called to a new sense of urgency in responding to the good news. This urgency will help us to order our lives, seeking first the kingdom of God.
Father Creagan is the pastor of St. Michael and St. Mary in Stillwater, canonical administrator of St. Croix Catholic School, and a chaplain for the Minnesota Army National Guard.
