This diary of a young American Jesuit's vocation and first six years of seminary training in the early 1960s before being assigned as a missionary to Taiwan is full of youthful optimism. It is the positive, personal story of a vocation told in a relaxed, often humorous voice. It reveals the longing of a heart that finds fulfillment in giving up everything to follow Christ and serve others as a Jesuit.
At the Jesuit seminary in Los Gatos, Calif., the novice learns both the skill of harvesting grapes in the novitiate vineyard and the art of meditating on the life of Christ in prayer. As he contemplates Jesus--walking from village to village, preaching, healing the sick, and announcing good news to the poor-- he wants to do the same in the foreign missions. He is encouraged in his hopes to be a missionary by a saintly Jesuit who left the Chinese missions for health reasons and became his spiritual father.
Gifted in art, music, and writing, the novice learns how to use his talents for the benefit of others. During his long years of study, he discovers happiness through sharing his life with the less fortunate, working in the fields with migrant laborers. This ever-growing desire not only to serve the poor but also to be one of them is a recurring theme in Fr. Martinson's diary.
As a gateway for anyone discerning his vocation, or as manna for those already in religious life, this diary reveals the secret garden of a Jesuit's formative years, sharing many personal, joyful, and inspiring experiences, which, as the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote, are rife with "beauty blooming".
