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3 islanders – disciple + missionary
From Morning Prayer, I took hold of Psalm 84:11, “Better one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.” and prayed the song, “Better is One Day,” in my head all day.
MASS – (Fr Joseph) — today’s homily began with a geat story of “The Bishop & 3 islanders.” (My own cliff-note version is🙂 A Bishop gets off his boat and speaks to 3 islanders who don’t know the “Lord’s Prayer,” but instead pray (looking up) “We 3 — you 3 — show us mercy.” The Bishop teaches them the Lord’s Prayer and returns a few month later, but they only remember the first few line, whereupon he tells them to pray their old prayer. — Basically, our faith is simple, yet we try to complicate it — but (I’d like to add) simple does not mean easy.
MODERN PHILOSOPHY – (Fr Santos) — we started the Meditation of Decartes.
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY – (Fr Santos) — we started “Euthyphro” by Plato.
ARTS & IDEAS – (Fr Vallee) — we reviewed some more art slides and continued the Greeks handout.
MINISTERIAL METHODS – (Fr Michael) — we reflected on some Scripture passages that ultimately show “Church as Communion.”
II. Jesus + the preaching of the Kingdom
Mt 20:1-16 — Mt 13:38 — Jn 15:5
III. The Priesthood of Jesus Christ
IV. Sending of the Holy Spirit — Jn 7:37-39
V. Disciple + Missionary — Luke 10:38-42
The last section stood out the most for me. We are called to be “disciples” (followers of Christ) in order to properly respond to our “missionary” call to grow the Kindgom. Although we want to “do” (as Martha did), we (as seminarians) should be focused on being “disciples” (as Mary did) at this point in our formation.
REST OF THE DAY — Watched “300” and played some volleyball. — Better is one day …
wineskins + Homer’s crayon
MASS – (Fr Joseph) — homily began and ended with 2 great stories: the “Amazon Explorer” (who can’t fully explain his experience, but encourages others to experience the journey themselves) and the “outstreached arms of Alexander the Great vs Jesus” (Alex conquered all, but died with nothing — while Jesus began with nothing and died to complete everything). Today’s gospel reading was the parable of the “Old & New Wineskins” where Jesus is the wine and we need to become “new” skins to accept him fully — experience him for ourselves “personally.”
MODERN PHILOSOPHY – (Fr Santos) — today surveyed the concepts of the universe from “geocentric” to “heliocentric” challenging in many ways to faith and the Church. Included was another Simpsons illustration using the episode where Homer has a crayon removed from his brain, becomes smart and Flanders surpress Homer’s ideas because they are too challenging to his belief system. — Ignorance is bliss. We also have to learn the Greek alphabet for next Friday.
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY – (Fr Santos) — more Sophists, their subjectiveness and birth of self-awareness. Also used “Homer’s crayon” and Greek alphabet. — I never really cared for the “Simpsons,” but now I feel like I’m missing out.
ARTS & IDEAS – (Fr Vallee) — continue with the Greeks. We need to watch the movie 300 be next Friday. — cool … I get to post more stills from the movie in this week’s posts.
EVENING — had a “Spiritual Direction” session, watched “Pursuit of Happyness” & did some studying.
Mother Teresa + Sophists
MASS – (Fr Vallee) — at the 10 year anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Fr Vallee noted how newly release letters reveal she experienced long periods of “darkness” when she couldn’t feel God. She would even refer to Jesus as “the absent one” at times. Lately, the media is questioning her canonization with such “revelation,” not realizing all go through such times in the spiritual lives. Even St Augustine, St Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross would echo such experiences. We, just as Mother Teresa, are called to continue through times of spiritual desolation with patience and faithfulness, knowing consolation will come. — even in seminary, I’m anticipating highs and lows.
MODERN PHILOSOPHY – (Fr Santos) — we covered the resurgence of math and rise of modern science. Notable line: “Psychology is the questionable child of philosophy.”
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY – (Fr Santos) — we covered the Sophists. — The politics of today has only perfected the art of rhetoric from the Greeks.
ARTS & IDEAS – (Fr Vallee) — we continued with some slides of paintings and began reading his 40+ page handout on the Ancient Philosophy period. — The power went out during class and lasted through worklist.
WED WORKLIST — Some of our worklist jobs were changed, but I remained in “Sacristy,” where I dusted pews, organized songbooks and collected some garbage. It was hot (no A/C) but fruitful.
WED HOLY HOUR — We had benediction and silent prayer time, where I used my new St Joseph’s Prayerbook (that I just realized I left in the cafeteria) and found some great prayers “Before the Blessed Sacrament.”
movies – Greeks & 3 Amigos
MASS – (Fr Joseph) — Today’s gospel was the parable of “the ten virgins” with lamps awaiting the bridegroom — 5 were foolish (unprepared) and 5 wise (constantly ready). We are called to constantly be alert, prepared and ready for what the Lord has in store for us.
MODERN PHILOSOPHY – (Fr Santos) — Quiz today was 15 true & false question with tricky wording. We reviewed the events of the time that contributed to the Modern Philosophy.
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY – (Fr Santos) — Quiz today was listing philosophy’s “3 major concerns” and “4 major problems” with short explanations. We discussed “2 ways of understanding” with lots of subcatagories that wrap around my notes.
ARTS & IDEAS – no Fr Vallee today (vacation) — but we watched a 2.5 hour PBS special on “The Greeks, the Cradle of Civilization” in the cinema room. We took a break for lunch and finished in the afternoon.
ACOLYTE TRAINING — the new guys were oriented for serving Mass or reading this afternoon. I’m serving as Acolyte a the end of the month and haven’t served Mass since 6th grade.
EVENING – watched “The 3 Amigos” — remembering the “singing bush,” “the invisible swordsman” and their trademark demonstration (of a hernia exam).
stained glass & blue mop
MODERN PHILOSOPHY – (Fr Santos) — we continued with Judeo-Christian thought.
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY – (Fr Santos) — we continued with Greek thought.
ARTS & IDEAS – (Fr Vallee) — we discussed the stained glass in our Chapel & Cafeteria (I need to take some pictures) as well as slides of various art; including Monet’s Waterlilies, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, Rembrandt‘s Prodigal Son Returns, & DaVinci’s Last Supper.
WORKLIST & HOLY HOUR — today, I was assigned “Sacristy” and mopped the floors again. Lesson learned: Don’t pick the “blue mop,” because the strands loop around and get stuck on anything protruding from the floor under the pews (like edges, screws, etc.). — Even though it’s pretty hot inside the Chapel around 2pm, there’s an extra feeling of satisfaction to cleaning the Lord’s house.
classes begin
MASS – (Fr Alvarez) — day one for classes was significant, so I took a picture. (I forgot what the homily was about — sorry Father)
MODERN PHILOSOPHY – (Fr Santos) — we started reviewing the 4 philosophical eras: ancient, medieval, modern and contemporary. We also started the “3 concerns of philosophy” being God, the world, and the human being. — it started out simple enough.
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY – (Fr Santos) — we started with some Greek philosophers like Socrates, “3 major concerns,” and “4 problems with philosophy” — (1) ultimate reality, (2) permanence vs change, (3) matter vs mind/spirit, and (4) unity vs plurality. — having “Ancient” AFTER “Modern” is going to mess with my head.
ARTS & IDEAS – (Fr Vallee) — this is actually a freshman level course that introduces the relationship between art history and philosophy. We’re going to watch movies like “300” and Star Trek II, Wrath of Khan … cool.
MINISTERIAL METHODS – (Fr Michael) — this course is an introductory couse to prepare us for our “Apostalic Work” that we’ll be assigned to next year, like teaching CCD, visiting hospitals and retirement homes, and visiting the homebound. Today we defined a “working” definition for ministry — “CHRISTIAN MINISTRY is the public activity of a baptized follower of Jesus Christ flowing from the Spirit’s charism and an individual personality on behalf of the Church to proclaim, serve, and build up the Kingdom of God.”
SJVCS Seminary Life Album
July '09 -- hospital chaplains @ IPF
Easter '09 -- Miami SJVCS friends
the Son always finds a break in let the clouds
Feb '09 -- school vocation talks @ AMHS
Feb '09 -- cold breakfast with brothers (Matias, Fenly & Randy), now at SVDP and Imad (at SJVCS)
Superbowl '09 -- eating great @ SJVCS
Sept '08 -- Worklist Coordinators?
St Raphael Chapel mural @ SJVCS
Sept '08 -- retreats @ SJVCS
"It's not easy being green"
Catholic Kermit 
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