Hello everyone,
I figured I'd give you all a sneak peak into what I am giving for a reflection at the nursing home tomorrow during the communion service. As I have done in the past the first part is my reflection, after that I have included the readings which are prescibed by the Church to be read tomorrow. These readings are what I have based this reflection off of, so if you are interested you can read those too.
Peace,
Adam
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(Sung to tune)“You better watch out, you better not shout, you better not cry, I’m telling you why…”
We all know how that song goes. Why are we being told to behave? Because Santa Clause is coming to town. Obviously it is very important to prepare for the jolly man in the red suit to get here, he sees us when we are sleeping, he sees us when we are awake, and worse yet he knows when we’ve been bad or good, so we better be good for goodness sake.
I don’t know about you, but that song always kind of made me think twice before doing something when I was a little kid. But we need to remember that Santa doesn’t come just any old day of the year, he comes when we celebrate the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ. What do we do to be ready for His coming? John the Baptist was trying to get everyone ready for the coming of the Messiah. John knew that his job was to prepare the way of the Lord, as is said in Isaiah. John called on the people to repent of their sins, and to start living for God.
John knew what this meant, and the Jews of the day knew what it meant, they had all been taught the words of Isaiah that we read today. Isaiah was repeating what he had heard from God, that God had made everything, and that He had made it to be lived in, not to be wasted. God does want us to go about our lives, embracing our loved ones, doing good for them, and doing good in general. As is quoted in Isaiah’s writings, “Only in the LORD
are just deeds and power.” We are also given very clear instructions on how to prepare for Christ’s coming, “Turn to me and be safe, all you ends of the earth.”
John sent some of his followers to Christ to ask if He was the one who is to come. Jesus didn’t answer it in so many words, but we know that He is indeed the one who was to come, and we know that he will come again someday.
So we need to remember among the hustle and bustle of this Advent season, prepare for Santa, laying out your milk and cookies. But even more important, prepare for the Lord, repenting of our sin and doing good works for Him.
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Reading 1
Is 45:6c-8, 18, 21c-25
I am the LORD, there is no other;
I form the light, and create the darkness,
I make well-being and create woe;
I, the LORD, do all these things.
Let justice descend, O heavens, like dew from above,
like gentle rain let the skies drop it down.
Let the earth open and salvation bud forth;
let justice also spring up!
I, the LORD, have created this.
For thus says the LORD,
The creator of the heavens,
who is God,
The designer and maker of the earth
who established it,
Not creating it to be a waste,
but designing it be lived in:
I am the LORD, and there is no other.
Who announced this from the beginning
and foretold it from of old?
Was it not I, the LORD,
besides whom there is no other God?
There is no just and saving God but me.
Turn to me and be safe,
all you ends of the earth,
for I am God; there is no other!
By myself I swear,
uttering my just decree
and my unalterable word:
To me every knee shall bend;
by me every tongue shall swear,
Saying, “Only in the LORD
are just deeds and power.
Before him in shame shall come
all who vent their anger against him.
In the LORD shall be the vindication and the glory
of all the descendants of Israel.”
Lk 7:18b-23
Gospel
At that time,
John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord to ask,
“Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”
When the men came to the Lord, they said,
“John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask,
‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’”
At that time Jesus cured many of their diseases, sufferings, and evil spirits;
he also granted sight to many who were blind.
And Jesus said to them in reply,
“Go and tell John what you have seen and heard:
the blind regain their sight,
the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.
And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Back At It, Winter Quarter 2010-2011
Hi there,
So, as it seems I often am in these things I am going to apologize for the length of time between posts. As I said in my last post, I was on a break from classes. It was a great break; I got to spend time with many wonderful people and to do a bit of hunting, and just a little bit of other relaxing. By the end of the break I was indeed ready to get back to the seminary and get moving on with my studies and formation.
I came back on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, as classes started the following Monday. With this being a new quarter, there are new classes and a new schedule. I got heavy into it with 4 classes on Monday. Those classes are, Humanities I, Latin II, Ethics, and Logic. Tuesday is a light day with only one class, that being Ancient Philosophy. Wednesdays I am again going to the same nursing home as before, that will go on this whole school year. Thursdays are only three classes: Humanities I, Latin II, and Logic. Fridays I have two, those being Ancient Philosophy, and Ethics.
Humanities I, seems like it will be a bit of a literature course with finding the lessons and aspects of the faith in various aspects of famous pieces. So far we have ready the plays “Everyman”, and “A Man for All Seasons”. “Everyman” is a mid-evil piece that shows a man who encounters “death” and this causes him to examine those things in life that he thought were good, but were truly harming to him and then he encounters ways to live a better life. This appears to have been written by a priest of the era with its homiletic style and the fact that the clergy was the literates in the time. “A Man for All Seasons” is a piece from the mid-20th century but based on the story of St. Thomas More during the English breaking from the Church under Henry VIII. Thomas More was the chancellor of England who although he wouldn’t speak against the king’s divorce he was strategically silent and would not affirm the kings claim of supremacy over the Church. St. Thomas More was eventually beheaded for this. He is one of the more famous martyrs of this period.
Latin II is simply a continuation of what we have been studying in Latin. It is very difficult, but the priest that teaches it makes it at least interesting while we are there.
Ethics is the philosophical pair of Moral Theology. We are told that the difference between Philosophy and Theology at least in this case is that philosophy can be attained by pure reason, while Theology relies on revelation. So in Ethics we are talking about the reasoning way to deal with many of the same issues that we will encounter in moral theology.
Logic is a bit tougher for me to understand what we are going to be studying. Logic is also another branch of philosophy, dealing with how to properly make connections and how to make items make sense, at least I think that is what it is, ask me about it later and I might understand.
Ancient Philosophy is just as it sounds, the philosophy of the ancients. This goes from the earliest recorded philosophical topics into the beginnings of the Christian period of history. The first philosophers tended to be most concerned with what the world is made of, and ideas along those lines. The better known Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, which we are also covering were concerned with the ideas and definitions of virtues.
In addition to the classes we of course have all of our spiritual direction, formation advising, prayer times, and Masses.
This past Wednesday we celebrated the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Even many Catholics tend not to know what is being talked about when we mention this… so I will explain a little here. Most people think that it is about the time when Mary found that she was carrying the child Jesus. Although that is of course a great act of God, that is celebrated with the Feast of the Annunciation. That is not the Immaculate Conception (I.C.)
I.C. is the teaching passed down from the early Christians that when Mary was conceived the Holy Spirit intervened and prevented her from bearing the stain of Original Sin (the sin of Adam and Eve disobeying God in the garden, which gives us all a tendency towards sin). This is a teaching of the Church that although it is not found in sacred scripture it can be found very early in Sacred Tradition. It was a belief held by most Catholics though-out the world for ages. It wasn’t until the mid-19th century that it was declared to be an official Dogma of the Church. I.C. is the patronal feast of the seminary (as well as the patronal feast of the United States) so it was naturally a big celebration here. We had a morning of prayer, in which all field education and classes are canceled so that we can spend the morning in prayer, then we had a fancy celebration lunch followed by the afternoon free.
Late last week most of the guys in 3rd year Theology left us. They are spending this quarter doing their studies on Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I pray that they are having a great experience and growing during their time walking in the same lands as our Lord did.
I think I have mentioned that we get a lot of time off from here during the school year. This is partially due to the quarter system and the two week breaks between each quarter, but also the fact that as a seminary it is important for us to help out in our parishes when we can. So although we just had two weeks off, we will only be back for three weeks before getting another two weeks off for Christmas.
Well, I think that is enough of an update. I will try not to be so tardy with my next post.
Peace,
Adam
So, as it seems I often am in these things I am going to apologize for the length of time between posts. As I said in my last post, I was on a break from classes. It was a great break; I got to spend time with many wonderful people and to do a bit of hunting, and just a little bit of other relaxing. By the end of the break I was indeed ready to get back to the seminary and get moving on with my studies and formation.
I came back on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, as classes started the following Monday. With this being a new quarter, there are new classes and a new schedule. I got heavy into it with 4 classes on Monday. Those classes are, Humanities I, Latin II, Ethics, and Logic. Tuesday is a light day with only one class, that being Ancient Philosophy. Wednesdays I am again going to the same nursing home as before, that will go on this whole school year. Thursdays are only three classes: Humanities I, Latin II, and Logic. Fridays I have two, those being Ancient Philosophy, and Ethics.
Humanities I, seems like it will be a bit of a literature course with finding the lessons and aspects of the faith in various aspects of famous pieces. So far we have ready the plays “Everyman”, and “A Man for All Seasons”. “Everyman” is a mid-evil piece that shows a man who encounters “death” and this causes him to examine those things in life that he thought were good, but were truly harming to him and then he encounters ways to live a better life. This appears to have been written by a priest of the era with its homiletic style and the fact that the clergy was the literates in the time. “A Man for All Seasons” is a piece from the mid-20th century but based on the story of St. Thomas More during the English breaking from the Church under Henry VIII. Thomas More was the chancellor of England who although he wouldn’t speak against the king’s divorce he was strategically silent and would not affirm the kings claim of supremacy over the Church. St. Thomas More was eventually beheaded for this. He is one of the more famous martyrs of this period.
Latin II is simply a continuation of what we have been studying in Latin. It is very difficult, but the priest that teaches it makes it at least interesting while we are there.
Ethics is the philosophical pair of Moral Theology. We are told that the difference between Philosophy and Theology at least in this case is that philosophy can be attained by pure reason, while Theology relies on revelation. So in Ethics we are talking about the reasoning way to deal with many of the same issues that we will encounter in moral theology.
Logic is a bit tougher for me to understand what we are going to be studying. Logic is also another branch of philosophy, dealing with how to properly make connections and how to make items make sense, at least I think that is what it is, ask me about it later and I might understand.
Ancient Philosophy is just as it sounds, the philosophy of the ancients. This goes from the earliest recorded philosophical topics into the beginnings of the Christian period of history. The first philosophers tended to be most concerned with what the world is made of, and ideas along those lines. The better known Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, which we are also covering were concerned with the ideas and definitions of virtues.
In addition to the classes we of course have all of our spiritual direction, formation advising, prayer times, and Masses.
This past Wednesday we celebrated the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Even many Catholics tend not to know what is being talked about when we mention this… so I will explain a little here. Most people think that it is about the time when Mary found that she was carrying the child Jesus. Although that is of course a great act of God, that is celebrated with the Feast of the Annunciation. That is not the Immaculate Conception (I.C.)
I.C. is the teaching passed down from the early Christians that when Mary was conceived the Holy Spirit intervened and prevented her from bearing the stain of Original Sin (the sin of Adam and Eve disobeying God in the garden, which gives us all a tendency towards sin). This is a teaching of the Church that although it is not found in sacred scripture it can be found very early in Sacred Tradition. It was a belief held by most Catholics though-out the world for ages. It wasn’t until the mid-19th century that it was declared to be an official Dogma of the Church. I.C. is the patronal feast of the seminary (as well as the patronal feast of the United States) so it was naturally a big celebration here. We had a morning of prayer, in which all field education and classes are canceled so that we can spend the morning in prayer, then we had a fancy celebration lunch followed by the afternoon free.
Late last week most of the guys in 3rd year Theology left us. They are spending this quarter doing their studies on Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I pray that they are having a great experience and growing during their time walking in the same lands as our Lord did.
I think I have mentioned that we get a lot of time off from here during the school year. This is partially due to the quarter system and the two week breaks between each quarter, but also the fact that as a seminary it is important for us to help out in our parishes when we can. So although we just had two weeks off, we will only be back for three weeks before getting another two weeks off for Christmas.
Well, I think that is enough of an update. I will try not to be so tardy with my next post.
Peace,
Adam
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