Hello everyone,
I have been thinking about what to write this week and I decided that I would post one of the papers I have written for class. This one is a personal reflection paper for my Anthropology class. In it we were asked to write about our ideas on a variety of topics about humanity. For example these might be: what is a human?, what is human happiness?, what is it all for in the end?, what is the role of religion in humanity? and such like that.
I assume that my thoughts on these topics will grow over my time in seminary and my whole life, but this is what I wrote for now.
I hope you enjoy.
Peace,
Adam
-----------------------------------
In thinking about this writing assignment I am fairly excited about it. I am going to write a bit about my personal philosophy of life. I do anticipate that my philosophy of life will change over my time here at seminary. I think that it will be very interesting to look back on this paper at the time of my Ordination, to see how my ideas have changed and how they haven’t over the time that I am in seminary.
My personal philosophy doesn’t get into all the tiny details of a definition; it is more a conceptual way of looking at things. When I say that I don’t worry about the definitions as much as some others do I mean that the definitions that I use may be a bit broader, and could be used to capture other items than just what I am defining. This look at definitions may be a challenge for some, but I tend to rely on a common understanding of the topics I am talking about.
One example of this outlook on more open definitions is the idea of what it means to be human. I don’t tend to worry about that issue since to me it is an almost intrinsic quality that makes a human. I think that someone either will recognize what makes a human on their own, or the wording of a definition won’t have much effect on them. My definition of a human is a sensing mammal created in the image of God with an eternal soul. There isn’t much there for people to go on who don’t have an idea of what that means already. I could get into the details of most humans being mobile biped creatures, but there are some other creatures that would fit this, and some humans that wouldn’t. I could describe our senses a bit more, but some people are lacking some of the senses while some other creatures have the same ones. The idea of a soul could be used as a distinguishing characteristic, however, there is much debate of what a soul is, and there is no way to say who/what has a soul other than saying that just humans do… a circular argument. Therefore, I think that the intrinsic knowledge of what is a human should be something that we can accept as known by others… if not, then we would be at a loss to go any deeper anyways.
The idea of human happiness may be even harder to define than that of what it means to be human. Assuming that we can accept a general idea of what a human is would of course be the first step. I think that happiness can come in so many forms. There can be happiness for some which others would find to be merely satisfaction. There can also be happiness which could seem to be joy. Happiness can appear to some as love.
I think that happiness is a bit more of a “catch-all” phrase for all of these. I think that at some times what others would term satisfaction can be true happiness, when it comes after a period of complete discontent. Happiness can also mean joy for some, a time when we experience pleasure in one or many areas of our life. I believe that these two forms, while being true forms of happiness are also quite temporary. I think that the greatest definition of happiness would be equated by some as love. This can be a romantic love, the love of friends, and the love of material or self. Even greater than that is a true sense of love for all that is around you, and all that comes from God, and thus a love for God himself. This is what true happiness is for humans. I think that the other definitions which I mentioned are mere reflections of this kind of happiness.
The role of humans in the whole of God’s creation is a question that we won’t find the answer to until the coming of God’s kingdom, if it is even revealed to us at that point. Our first and most important role is to love God and to help others to love God. In doing so we are to care for all of His creation and works. I think that this is the main niche that we fill here on Earth.
I don’t know how to begin writing about what roll we play in the creation outside of Earth. Maybe God did make other creatures similar to us in other parts of the cosmos, if so we wouldn’t be the only ones who are supposed to love Him. I think that we can’t rule that idea out, but need to simply accept the things we do know and understand that God will work with us in our own way.
I don’t think that anyone can answer the question of what our place is in the cosmos other than God Himself. We aren’t all knowing as He is so we just have to accept what we do know, and as we know more we have to grow to understand that this is how He works in the world.
On the question regarding what is this all leading to I can only go on what the Church teaches and I believe. I believe in the eternal life of the soul, in Heaven or in Hell. I believe that all who have faith will be raised up with Christ into the Kingdom of eternal glory. I really don’t know what that means or what it will look like, but I trust that it will be great. I believe as has been said, “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard what God has ready for those who love Him.”
I am truly not trained in the theology of salvation. I don’t have that great of a grasp on what is understood through millennium of teachings as to who can be saved and who can’t. I do know first of all that those who put their trust in Christ and his forgiveness will be saved. I think that the greatest way to show this trust and faith is through participation in the Sacraments of the Church that He founded. I also believe that while it may take more time in Purgatory all Christians, whether or not they participate in Christ’s Church will be saved.
My area of being unclear on what this all leads to is the thought of salvation for those who don’t have a strong faith in Christ. I believe truly what Christ said about Himself being the way, but I struggle with the idea of what that means for those whom haven’t yet made the choice to believe, as long as they don’t outright reject Him. I do believe that those who reject Him are choosing their eternity to be separated from God. Even the Church, in its enormous wisdom teaches that we rely on the mercy of God for those who haven’t been taught about Him. I question and struggle with what level of knowledge is enough that a person is seen as rejecting Christ. The God that I know and love will take into account those to whom he wasn’t presented in a sufficient way for them to accept His saving grace.
For me the idea of religious belief does play a huge role in humanity. Probably not in any individual as we all know people who have rejected all religious belief, but for humanity on the whole it is an essential. I think that God put the need for faith and religion in us as an essential part when He created us. This can be seen from the evidence that no society has ever grown up without having a religion, whether it be a monotheistic faith as in Christianity, Judaism, or Islam, or it be a polytheistic as in Hinduism or many of the ancient religions. I think that the need for organized religion even shows in traditions that base on the spiritual rather than a deity, most of those (of which Buddhism is a great example) eventually morph into a religious ideal with practices and/or some level of higher beings.
I think that religion is a strong part of humanity purely from societal reasons as well. I believe that the moral codes found in religion assisted humanity in survival during challenging points in evolutionary history. Although most religions have had times where violence was allowed to a certain extent, there is also a strong sense of peace and doing good for others in most religions. I think that this has helped humans evolve into the beings that we are. In society, those with religious beliefs may be more likely to help others survive, and thus someday that person might help them, assisting the species and society in growing into what it is today.
I think that God put the desire for religion in us when we were made so that humans would go through the full process to discover who He is. I think that he revealed the truth of His nature when He felt that we would be ready and able to accept and at least somewhat understand. When God started to reveal Himself through the Jewish prophets is when He thought that our societies had advanced enough to accept Him and move ourselves towards salvation. Obviously, there have been setbacks in this process, but God’s infinite mercy allows us to keep moving forward in advancing the Kingdom.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Midterms Fall 2010
First off, I’m sorry that it has been so long since my last post. As I have said before, life here is very busy, and I just didn’t get around to it last week.
So… after my last post I had a lot going on. I had the big Latin exam that I mentioned. It went pretty well. I made a couple of stupid mistakes, and there was some stuff that I just didn’t know well enough, but on the whole I was surprised. I ended up getting a B on it, so how can I complain.
I also ended up re-writing the paper that I had mentioned in a previous post. It was done, but I didn’t like it, and decided rather than chopping it up completely, which would be tough to make it flow, I just hit delete and started anew, it went pretty well, we’ll see what the grade did. I also had an essay exam for the same class last week; I feel that went pretty well too, I hope the priest that teaches it agrees.
Today I had an exam in my Catechism of the Catholic Church class. This was pretty easy. The priest in that class is teaching it as a fast paced overview into the Catechism, so that we know what is there to be able to look up details later. Because of this mentality the test was written to ensure that we retained the big ideas, very much geared towards my learning style, so I think that I nailed that test.
Aside from the tests and class work there have been a couple of cool things going on since I wrote last. On Wednesday of last week we had a Mass for the newly ordained. Those men who were ordained priests this past year returned (well most of them did, others had different obligations) for a Mass here. One of them was the presider at Mass, while another gave a wonderful homily tying the scripture readings to the experience of going through seminary and then being a new priest. It was wonderful to see the energy and enthusiasm that these men demonstrated. I think that one of the other great things about this Mass with the newly ordained was it being a reminder of what we are doing here. I often see guys making it appear as if the seminary is all that we are about… I don’t think that I’ve gotten to that point, but with the busy schedule it would be an easy trap to slip into. This Mass reminded us that there is a much greater goal in our time here, that of being out serving Christ and His people and bringing the Sacraments to them.
After that Mass I just had to get through the Thursday classes before having a three day weekend. I left right after my last class on Thursday and headed up to Stevens Point to spend time there. While I am truly loving my experience here, it is indeed nice to get away for a while. I got into Stevens Point about supper time, and got to hang out with my friends that I was staying with, and their two kids. I left after a while to go to supper with Fr. Tom, it was great to have that supper to talk about the experiences that I am having here at the seminary.
Friday I went to Mass at the Newman Parish and then spent most of the day just hanging out and relaxing, including a wonderful nap (it was great). I spent Friday Night with Fr. Tom and another priest going to supper again, and then going to a Play. I spent most of Saturday hanging out with the people that I was staying with and their kids. While I love their kids, and enjoy my time with them, I am not used to having a 1 and 2 year old running around, I excused myself for a while and met up with another great friend that I hadn’t seen in a while.
Sunday I got to go to both of the Newman Sunday Masses, it was great to be back with that community and talking to them about what is going on in my life. While I was talking to them I realized that I have absolutely nothing that I can complain about with my time here. My classes are wonderful, my classmates are wonderful, the living conditions are wonderful… I am amazed by the fact that everything is going so very well. It also kind of worries me, when I am I going to wake up from this dream? I hope that it continues this great, because I imagine everything being even greater after Ordination (still 6 years away, but I can think about it).
Well, with all the tests taking up class periods I don’t really have that much new material from my classes to talk about. I am preparing a presentation on Buddhism to give to one of my classes, a full 55 minutes. We are doing this with many other religions and other Christian denominations, just so that when we hear about them we have an idea of what is meant by each of these other faiths. It is not to refute their faiths claims or find ways to attack them, just to gain a better understanding of what they are about.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention. God has answered our prayers. The classmate that I mentioned previously who’s sister and cousin were kidnapped from their school in Uganda have been found and returned. I don’t know the extent of any injuries they might have received, but they are safely home, thank you to all who included these young ladies in their prayers.
Peace,
Adam
So… after my last post I had a lot going on. I had the big Latin exam that I mentioned. It went pretty well. I made a couple of stupid mistakes, and there was some stuff that I just didn’t know well enough, but on the whole I was surprised. I ended up getting a B on it, so how can I complain.
I also ended up re-writing the paper that I had mentioned in a previous post. It was done, but I didn’t like it, and decided rather than chopping it up completely, which would be tough to make it flow, I just hit delete and started anew, it went pretty well, we’ll see what the grade did. I also had an essay exam for the same class last week; I feel that went pretty well too, I hope the priest that teaches it agrees.
Today I had an exam in my Catechism of the Catholic Church class. This was pretty easy. The priest in that class is teaching it as a fast paced overview into the Catechism, so that we know what is there to be able to look up details later. Because of this mentality the test was written to ensure that we retained the big ideas, very much geared towards my learning style, so I think that I nailed that test.
Aside from the tests and class work there have been a couple of cool things going on since I wrote last. On Wednesday of last week we had a Mass for the newly ordained. Those men who were ordained priests this past year returned (well most of them did, others had different obligations) for a Mass here. One of them was the presider at Mass, while another gave a wonderful homily tying the scripture readings to the experience of going through seminary and then being a new priest. It was wonderful to see the energy and enthusiasm that these men demonstrated. I think that one of the other great things about this Mass with the newly ordained was it being a reminder of what we are doing here. I often see guys making it appear as if the seminary is all that we are about… I don’t think that I’ve gotten to that point, but with the busy schedule it would be an easy trap to slip into. This Mass reminded us that there is a much greater goal in our time here, that of being out serving Christ and His people and bringing the Sacraments to them.
After that Mass I just had to get through the Thursday classes before having a three day weekend. I left right after my last class on Thursday and headed up to Stevens Point to spend time there. While I am truly loving my experience here, it is indeed nice to get away for a while. I got into Stevens Point about supper time, and got to hang out with my friends that I was staying with, and their two kids. I left after a while to go to supper with Fr. Tom, it was great to have that supper to talk about the experiences that I am having here at the seminary.
Friday I went to Mass at the Newman Parish and then spent most of the day just hanging out and relaxing, including a wonderful nap (it was great). I spent Friday Night with Fr. Tom and another priest going to supper again, and then going to a Play. I spent most of Saturday hanging out with the people that I was staying with and their kids. While I love their kids, and enjoy my time with them, I am not used to having a 1 and 2 year old running around, I excused myself for a while and met up with another great friend that I hadn’t seen in a while.
Sunday I got to go to both of the Newman Sunday Masses, it was great to be back with that community and talking to them about what is going on in my life. While I was talking to them I realized that I have absolutely nothing that I can complain about with my time here. My classes are wonderful, my classmates are wonderful, the living conditions are wonderful… I am amazed by the fact that everything is going so very well. It also kind of worries me, when I am I going to wake up from this dream? I hope that it continues this great, because I imagine everything being even greater after Ordination (still 6 years away, but I can think about it).
Well, with all the tests taking up class periods I don’t really have that much new material from my classes to talk about. I am preparing a presentation on Buddhism to give to one of my classes, a full 55 minutes. We are doing this with many other religions and other Christian denominations, just so that when we hear about them we have an idea of what is meant by each of these other faiths. It is not to refute their faiths claims or find ways to attack them, just to gain a better understanding of what they are about.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention. God has answered our prayers. The classmate that I mentioned previously who’s sister and cousin were kidnapped from their school in Uganda have been found and returned. I don’t know the extent of any injuries they might have received, but they are safely home, thank you to all who included these young ladies in their prayers.
Peace,
Adam
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
In the groove
Wow, so much happens here that I hardly know what to write about. I am absolutely loving my time here.
Last week I had my first official meetings with both my spiritual director and my formation advisor. A formation advisor just talks to you about what is going on both in prayer life and in the total formation process here. He also keeps a seminarian accountable for full participation in the formation process. For example, although I am free to come and go from here as I please I am of course expected to be at certain things, such as community prayers and Mass. If I want to go off of campus for a weekend, such as to go home, or to visit someone I have to clear it through my formation advisor. In discussions with my formation advisor he feels strongly on the importance of participation in the community but understands that people want to get away or are asked to be somewhere at different times. I just have to make him aware of when and why I will be gone, he will tell me if it is too much. My formation advisor will also follow up to ensure that I am following the university’s policies and performing academically, it isn’t as if he is to crack a whip over us, he is to discuss issues and help us figure out ways to grow and achieve our goals. Discussions with the formation advisor are considered to be in the “external forum” meaning that he is free to discuss my performance with those whom it is appropriate to do so i.e. my Bishop or my vocation director.
The spiritual direction process sounds similar to the formation advising, but it is considered to be in the “internal forum” so anything talked about there is held in confidence. Spiritual direction doesn’t have the same status as the sacramental seal of confession, so if the spiritual director hears something that would be required to be reported as a mandatory reporter by law he is still obliged to do so. In spiritual direction I talk about similar things to what I discuss with the formation advisor, but we go at it in a different way and try to figure out more spiritual ways to grow (as would be expected by the name). In both of these meetings for this first time I spent a good deal of time discussing my vocation story on what has made me believe that being here is the right thing for me… I also talked about areas that I knew in advance that I would need to work on, and the goods and bads that I have experienced here so far.
Other than that it was pretty standard during the week. The weekend was very nice, my mom and her husband came down since it was family day on Saturday. They expressed the same thing that I have about it being a beautiful campus, we even got to take a tour of the campus with an expert in classical architecture. During the tour we were taught that if done properly you can determine the importance of a building by the design of its pillars and many other aspects, although I won’t remember the specific details it was great to be exposed to those thoughts so that I do appreciate the designs here that much more. I truly enjoyed meeting the families of many of the guys that I am studying with, and my mom and her husband said that they were glad to meet the people I am studying with so that they may be able to put a face with whomever I may be talking about. Other than that it was a great weekend just to spend time with them and hang out… obviously we went to Mass together and to the formal gatherings, but we did our own thing quite a bit too.
This week I plunged headfirst into leading community events. The day that I am scheduled later this quarter to lead Morning Prayer conflicted with my field education at the nursing home, so I traded and took Tuesday of this week. Although it really isn’t that big of a deal to lead the community morning prayer, it was a great feeling and made me feel even more a part of this wonderful community. I did this both for Morning and Evening prayer, I was surprised that I wasn’t nervous about it at all, it kind of just felt right.
Today at the nursing home was another wonderful experience of helping to lead. During my time at the nursing home I spend a lot of the time visiting rooms of those who can’t get out, I bring them communion if they want, chat with them a bit, and help them with any needs that I can (I do have to check with a nurse before giving water or such since they may be on restrictions) this is very fulfilling, and I think will be even better as I get to know the people more. We also have a communion service for those who can get to it. This has a lot of the appearance of Mass, but doesn’t contain the Eucharistic prayer as there is no priest there. During the communion service we use the same assigned readings as we would at a Mass and then there is a reflection given (a homily if by the Deacon) followed by a few prayers and then distribution of communion that has been consecrated at an earlier Mass.
Today I got to give the reflection, this may seem like a minor thing, but after Ordination these would be homilies, so I am excited to get some practice in it. Everyone said that I did well (a patient even said that it was a nice homily, but I didn’t bother to go into the differences, just said thank you and moved on). The first reading from today was from St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians when he talks about confronting Cephus for living wrong. The Gospel reading was from the Gospel of Luke when Jesus teaches the disciples the “Our Father” prayer (Lord’s prayer). My reflection focused on the idea of these scriptures telling us how to live our life quite directly. In Paul’s letter it not only talked about actually living the way that we are taught, but it gave the example that if we feel someone is doing something wrong we need to address it with them, rather than simply harboring bad feelings. In the Gospel I broke apart the Our Father and discussed lessons in how to live life from the various parts of it.
As I said, between leading morning and evening prayer for the whole community and giving the reflection at the communion service I have kind of dove headfirst into this. I love it, it was so much fun, and both just felt right to be doing.
I have my first paper of seminary due tomorrow in my intro to spiritual life class (yes mom, it is already done, and has been for a couple of days). I have a big test in my Latin class on Friday. I am very much enjoying the study of Latin, but it seems that I understand what is going on during class, but when I sit down on my own to go over it I struggle. Probably the biggest challenge to me in Latin is the fact that I don’t know English grammar well enough to understand how it transfers to the Latin. In English I can tell if a sentence is wrong, but I can’t normally give the exact reasons that it is wrong… so that is just something that I am trying to learn as I go to help with the Latin.
Although there are obviously many prayer requests that I could write in the blog, I normally don’t as you know. One that I am going to ask for today though is this. The sister and one of her friends of my brother seminarian here, Martin, were abducted from their grammar school in Uganda (he is studying for his home diocese there). Please keep these two young ladies and their family in your prayers. For their safe return, and for a conversion to peace for those who have abducted them.
Peace,
Adam
Last week I had my first official meetings with both my spiritual director and my formation advisor. A formation advisor just talks to you about what is going on both in prayer life and in the total formation process here. He also keeps a seminarian accountable for full participation in the formation process. For example, although I am free to come and go from here as I please I am of course expected to be at certain things, such as community prayers and Mass. If I want to go off of campus for a weekend, such as to go home, or to visit someone I have to clear it through my formation advisor. In discussions with my formation advisor he feels strongly on the importance of participation in the community but understands that people want to get away or are asked to be somewhere at different times. I just have to make him aware of when and why I will be gone, he will tell me if it is too much. My formation advisor will also follow up to ensure that I am following the university’s policies and performing academically, it isn’t as if he is to crack a whip over us, he is to discuss issues and help us figure out ways to grow and achieve our goals. Discussions with the formation advisor are considered to be in the “external forum” meaning that he is free to discuss my performance with those whom it is appropriate to do so i.e. my Bishop or my vocation director.
The spiritual direction process sounds similar to the formation advising, but it is considered to be in the “internal forum” so anything talked about there is held in confidence. Spiritual direction doesn’t have the same status as the sacramental seal of confession, so if the spiritual director hears something that would be required to be reported as a mandatory reporter by law he is still obliged to do so. In spiritual direction I talk about similar things to what I discuss with the formation advisor, but we go at it in a different way and try to figure out more spiritual ways to grow (as would be expected by the name). In both of these meetings for this first time I spent a good deal of time discussing my vocation story on what has made me believe that being here is the right thing for me… I also talked about areas that I knew in advance that I would need to work on, and the goods and bads that I have experienced here so far.
Other than that it was pretty standard during the week. The weekend was very nice, my mom and her husband came down since it was family day on Saturday. They expressed the same thing that I have about it being a beautiful campus, we even got to take a tour of the campus with an expert in classical architecture. During the tour we were taught that if done properly you can determine the importance of a building by the design of its pillars and many other aspects, although I won’t remember the specific details it was great to be exposed to those thoughts so that I do appreciate the designs here that much more. I truly enjoyed meeting the families of many of the guys that I am studying with, and my mom and her husband said that they were glad to meet the people I am studying with so that they may be able to put a face with whomever I may be talking about. Other than that it was a great weekend just to spend time with them and hang out… obviously we went to Mass together and to the formal gatherings, but we did our own thing quite a bit too.
This week I plunged headfirst into leading community events. The day that I am scheduled later this quarter to lead Morning Prayer conflicted with my field education at the nursing home, so I traded and took Tuesday of this week. Although it really isn’t that big of a deal to lead the community morning prayer, it was a great feeling and made me feel even more a part of this wonderful community. I did this both for Morning and Evening prayer, I was surprised that I wasn’t nervous about it at all, it kind of just felt right.
Today at the nursing home was another wonderful experience of helping to lead. During my time at the nursing home I spend a lot of the time visiting rooms of those who can’t get out, I bring them communion if they want, chat with them a bit, and help them with any needs that I can (I do have to check with a nurse before giving water or such since they may be on restrictions) this is very fulfilling, and I think will be even better as I get to know the people more. We also have a communion service for those who can get to it. This has a lot of the appearance of Mass, but doesn’t contain the Eucharistic prayer as there is no priest there. During the communion service we use the same assigned readings as we would at a Mass and then there is a reflection given (a homily if by the Deacon) followed by a few prayers and then distribution of communion that has been consecrated at an earlier Mass.
Today I got to give the reflection, this may seem like a minor thing, but after Ordination these would be homilies, so I am excited to get some practice in it. Everyone said that I did well (a patient even said that it was a nice homily, but I didn’t bother to go into the differences, just said thank you and moved on). The first reading from today was from St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians when he talks about confronting Cephus for living wrong. The Gospel reading was from the Gospel of Luke when Jesus teaches the disciples the “Our Father” prayer (Lord’s prayer). My reflection focused on the idea of these scriptures telling us how to live our life quite directly. In Paul’s letter it not only talked about actually living the way that we are taught, but it gave the example that if we feel someone is doing something wrong we need to address it with them, rather than simply harboring bad feelings. In the Gospel I broke apart the Our Father and discussed lessons in how to live life from the various parts of it.
As I said, between leading morning and evening prayer for the whole community and giving the reflection at the communion service I have kind of dove headfirst into this. I love it, it was so much fun, and both just felt right to be doing.
I have my first paper of seminary due tomorrow in my intro to spiritual life class (yes mom, it is already done, and has been for a couple of days). I have a big test in my Latin class on Friday. I am very much enjoying the study of Latin, but it seems that I understand what is going on during class, but when I sit down on my own to go over it I struggle. Probably the biggest challenge to me in Latin is the fact that I don’t know English grammar well enough to understand how it transfers to the Latin. In English I can tell if a sentence is wrong, but I can’t normally give the exact reasons that it is wrong… so that is just something that I am trying to learn as I go to help with the Latin.
Although there are obviously many prayer requests that I could write in the blog, I normally don’t as you know. One that I am going to ask for today though is this. The sister and one of her friends of my brother seminarian here, Martin, were abducted from their grammar school in Uganda (he is studying for his home diocese there). Please keep these two young ladies and their family in your prayers. For their safe return, and for a conversion to peace for those who have abducted them.
Peace,
Adam
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