WSJ, 'The Hound of Heaven' in Slow Pursuit By Mike Kerrigan This year, my friend Thomas sent me 'The Hound of Heaven," asking whether I was familiar with English poet Francis Thompson's ode to spiritual destiny. I told him I was, and we exchanged thoughts on the 1893 poem's tragic beauty. I thought I had grasped the essence of the poem: God, the Hound of Heaven, pursues us, and we, in our brokenness, resist. But weeks later, after hearing a homily during Mass celebrated by a visiting priest I realized how little of the masterpiece I understood. Father Bartunek showed the meaning in the mystical verse. The priest was Father John Bartunek, best-selling author of "Inside the Passion" and other books. By his own telling, he grew up unchurched. Father Bartunek felt called to evangelical Protestantism in adolescence, Roman Catholicism in young adulthood and, after graduating from Stanford University, to the priesthood. His father, an attorney and widower, was less than pleased with these spiritual developments. He didn't attend his son?s ordination or participate much in his early priestly life. It was not the worldly plan he envisioned for his talented son. Toward the end of his life, the elder Mr. Bartunek warmed to his son's vocation. His health deteriorating, he admitted he'd been raised Catholic and was keen to experience Mass and receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation administered by his son. Father Bartunek obliged, and, hours later, his dad passed away. From the pews, it was hard not to sense that the act of providing his father spiritual nourishment as death neared was the moment for which Father Bartunek had been bom. It happened because Father Bartunek practiced what he preached, or, in this instance, preached what he had practiced. The priest trusted in God, whose unhurrying and unperturbed pursuit won the day, first in him and then through him. "The Hound of Heaven" rushed to my mind, only this time I saw it with new eyes. Like its protagonist, I flee God 'if not "down the arches of the years,' then certainly more than I should. After Father Bartunek's homily, though, I realized something I'd been missing in the mystical verse. Ceasing our own flight from God is good, but better is turning in love and pursuing all who still flee, that they too might find rest. That is loving one another as we are truly loved. As Christmas nears, my heart swells with gratitude for my new friend. Father Bartunek, and all the good souls like him in this world. They are themselves the Hounds of Heaven. Mr. Kerrigan is an attorney in Charlotte, N.C.
