The busy life here

Hello again,
I am so very glad that I warned everyone that I would probably only be able to get a blog up about once a week when I got here to seminary. We are so very busy, nothing too terribly hard, but fast paced that I like to have some down time when I can, and writing a blog is difficult to fit in, but I do really enjoy writing this, it is a nice way for me to do a reflection.

I guess that the first thing that I want to say is that after my last blog I finally got ahold of the choir director and had about a 40 minute discussion with her. She understood my frustrations and it was noticeable during the class on Monday that she was keeping it in mind as she went through stuff. I haven’t decided for sure to stay in the class, but it was a great step and really reduced the frustration level there, which eliminated almost all of the stress that I have here.

I mentioned that I would write a bit about the day to day lifestyle here… I’ll at least get started in this post, but that could get long so I may have to carry it on to another. Our day to day life is very busy, but it tends to be with little things with gaps in between that aren’t accounted for. I have typically preferred to be one who has longer times occupied and then a bit longer stretches off… I need to work at getting going for short stretches. Based on time that I have been around a parish, this is more the life of a priest, with scattered obligations, so it is good preparation.

On the days that I have classes the obligations start at 7:15 in the morning with the community praying Morning Prayer together from the Liturgy of the Hours. This takes about 15 minutes and then there is some quiet time in the chapel before Mass starts at 7:40. Week day Masses take about 35-40 minutes, at which time we go over to breakfast. I think that they put the breakfast out at about 8:15 and it runs until 9:05. Depending on each person’s schedule there are two class sessions in the morning. I have class from 10:45-12:05 on Mondays and Thursdays; Tuesdays and Fridays I have class from 9:15-10:05. I was able to get a work study job to help me to have a little bit of money for fun stuff… I currently have this two hours on Monday and Thursday, after Mass, so 8:30-10:30. I am working in the library, shelving books, working the circulation desk and such. I also work Friday evenings for 4 hours.

Lunch starts at 12:10 and runs to 1:00. Afternoon classes can get going at 1:10 depending on the class length. On Mondays and Thursdays this quarter I have a class from 1:10-2:05 and then again from 4:05 until 5:05; Tuesdays and Friday’s I have two classes from 1:10-4:00 with a 10 minute break in between at 2:30.

The day isn’t over after class though. On Monday’s at 5:15 we get together as a cam (floor and hallway living unit) and pray Evening Prayer together before going to supper. Evening Prayer on Tuesday’s is prayed by language groups… because there are international students here, or those trying to learn another language there are various groups for English, Spanish, Polish, and I don’t know if there are any others… I only go to the English. Wednesday Evening prayer can be on your own with Night Prayer prayed at a cam meeting. My cam has decided to do Evening Prayer again on Wednesdays and then Night Prayer will be either on our own or if we choose to get together again later. Thursday’s night prayer is prayed with the other men from your home Diocese, this is normally followed by some level of social activity, such as going out to eat together. Friday Evening Prayer is on your own, or with anyone that you set it up to pray with.

We also have formation time as a class on Mondays from 7:00-8:30 PM most weeks, there is just a couple of Monday’s per quarter that we don’t have it. During this time we have various topics, such as last night’s running a communion service for the sick… This is an important ministry because obviously the sick can’t get to Mass as easily, but a priest doesn’t always have time to visit them in the home to say a Mass in their home. The Church allows for people to be commissioned to take communion consecrated at a Mass to these peoples home. It is hoped that the person won’t just walk in, hand the sick person the Body of Christ and leave. There is a rite for a small prayer service for this. I will be doing this as part of my field education in the nursing home. I will also be holding a bit larger prayer service with communion consecrated at a previous Mass, this is because there isn’t always a priest available to come in and say Mass even in the community room in the Nursing home. It is hoped that a priest will do this sometimes, but this is another way that people can receive the Body of Christ.

As I have said previously Wednesdays I will be going to a nursing home for a field education. Everyone in my class has their field ed. on Wednesday morning, but not all the other classes do. On Wednesday mornings on campus there is an hour of Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. There is personal prayer time, along with praying Morning Prayer at this point. Mass on Wednesdays is at 4:45 in the afternoon. I think that some years have class on Wednesdays… but I haven’t looked into that for sure.

On the weekends we do have a lot of free time. Some people have field education on the weekend, some in later years go to a parish to help out, others just go to visit friends and family. If we are around we are expected to be at Morning Prayer at 8:30 on Saturday and Sunday and then Mass is at 9:00 each of those days. It is hoped that a guy will be around to be part of the community the majority of the weekends.

In addition to all of this, there is a meeting with a spiritual director that is expected to happen every two weeks at a time set up between them. I have selected my spiritual director and set up a time, but haven’t had a meeting yet, I think this will be for about an hour each time. There is also an hour meeting twice per quarter with a man’s formation advisor, just to talk about how things are going on the whole.

We also have various opportunities for other ways to grow ourselves that come up. This past Saturday I attended a conference nearby with presentations on the Theology of the Body that was geared towards those in celibate life. Theology of the Body is a series of weekly talks given over a multiple year period by Pope John Paul II. This discusses how to properly embrace the beauty of the sexual being as God intended. It was given in part to refute the societal perception that the Church thinks that sex is bad… the Church as long (not sure if I can say always since I haven’t studied that much of the history of it) taught that sex is a wonderful gift given by God to be used within the Sacrament of Marriage to unite a couple and glorify God.

This conference I was at discussed that beautiful aspect of the Theology of the Body, but more focused towards how to properly embrace what God gave us while living a celibate life. It was a wonderful step for me, it helped me move closer towards embracing the gifts that can come from a celibate life.

In addition to the information presented at the conference I was also able to see a wonderful friend who has recently joined a religious order moving towards being a sister (nun). It was great to see her and to catch up. We got to spend a bit of time together, but she was with a lot of her sisters from the same convent she is at so she was also with them. There were men and women from many various religious orders, and men going towards the diocesan priesthood as I am.

Well, this is long enough (maybe too long, sorry).
Peace,
Adam