In Genesis, Eve was created in the garden. But Adam was created in the wild, before the garden took shape. Formed from dust in the outback, his soul—and hence the soul of every man—would bear the imprint from that primitive place where God molded mud into muscle. 

Can you see it? Can you taste the tang of it? A rushing river. Jagged peaks. Yellow aspen. The yelp of coyotes in the distance. For many men, the call of God and the call of the wild are one and the same. Adventure. Excitement. Risk. These are the prods and prompts of the angelic infantry that stalk the dreams of many a boy. 

I grew up on a family farm in the 1960’s and spent Sunday afternoons playing baseball in the pasture of a neighboring farm with a family of thirteen kids. My buddies had an uncle who was a missionary priest in the South. He was a pilot and each summer flew his Piper Cub up north to visit his family. I’ll never forget my first ride in a plane with Father Clem.

Crammed into a tight seat next his nephews, Fr. Clem bolted the cabin door. We took off, heading for the reservoir, the plane shook and rattled. We arced to the left and dove toward the water, nearly skimming the surface. Then the plane climbed, pressing our backs against the metal seat. We glided over our village where the houses and streets looked like a game board. We circled the steeple of St. Bridget—and continued to circled it—until I nearly threw up. Then we headed west where we buzzed my dad’s herd of Holsteins!

I rode my bike home and ran to the barn where my father was attempting to milk traumatized cows. I told him I had a ride in Fr. Clem’s plane and that I was going to be priest. He looked me in the eye and told me never to climb in Fr. Clem’s plane again. 

He never said not to consider the seminary. 

Years later, Fr. Clem died on a beach after saving the life of a man caught in an undertow. To this day, I pray to be one-tenth the priest that he was. 

God formed Adam in the wild and breathed into his soul a spirit of adventure. As a boy, that thrill throbbed in my chest like a pounding propeller and with it came the call to priesthood, a call that, even today, excites my soul like some wildcat pilot. 

[ For reminders of new posts, please email Fr. Luke at [email protected]]