MorningStar Renewal Center
Our 4-day silent retreat was at the beautiful MorningStar Renewal Center in Miami, FL (7275 SW 124th Street). We were 60+ seminarians (2 per room) and very comfortable. The place is run entirely by volunteers and the food was excellent. Here are some pictures of the facilities & grounds.
4 day silent retreat
Tonight begins a 4 day silent retreat off-campus from the seminary at MorningStar Renewal Center in Miami. I’ll be back Sunday afternoon. Be blessed. Be holy.
Jesus? + tomacco + retreat starts
MASS – (Fr Michael) — feast of “Most Holy Name of Jesus.” Homily was a reminder of 2 questions that we were asked at the beginning of the school year. Deceptively simple … but not easy to answer (if you’re honest). (1) Do you believe in Jesus? (2) Is your life different because of it? … Yes … ummm … I think so … ummm … retreat time!
DAY DOTS — breakfast Tomacco — newspaper — 11am Rector Orientation — lunch [pan] spill — book sale — TV Hauntings
practical atheism
On the first day back to seminary after a 2 week Christmas break, the Rector Fr Michael had a Rector’s Conference disguised as an “Orientation Meeting” with some great points to think about as we begin a 4 day silent retreat tonight.
Beware of “practical atheism” when we say our prayers … and don’t live them.
Christianity is a lifestyle, not just an idea. C.S. Lewis quote: “For when you get down to it, is not the popular idea of Christianity simply this: that Jesus Christ was a great moral teacher and that if only we took His advice we might be able to establish a better social order and avoid another war?” [from chapter 23 of Mere Christianity]
Pope Benedict XVI quote on priesthood:
The priest must be a believer, one who converses with God. If this is not the case, then all his activities are futile. The most lofty and important thing a priest can do for people is first of all being what he is: a believer. Through faith he lets God, the other, come into the world. And if the other is not at work, our work will never be enough; When people sense that one is there who believes, who lives with God and from God, hope becomes a reality for them as well. Through the faith of the priest, doors open up all around for people: it is really possible to believe, even today. All human believing is a believing-with, and for this reason the one who believes before us is so important. In many ways this person is more exposed in his faith than the others, since their faith depends on his and since, at any given time, he has to withstand the hard-ships of faith for them….
There is a mutual given-and-take in faith in which priests and lay people become mediators of the nearness of God for one another. The priest must also nurture the humility of such receiving in himself ….
The first “task” a priest has to do is to be a believer and to become one ever anew and ever more. Faith is never simply there automatically; it must be lived. It leads us into conversation with God which involves speaking and listening to the same degree. Faith and prayer belong together; they cannot be separated. The time spent by a priest on prayer and listening to Scripture is never time lost to pastoral care or time withheld from others. People sense whether the work and words of their pastor spring from prayer fabricated at his desk. [Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, from A New Song for the Lord, tr. by Martha M Matesich, NY: Crossroad Publishing Co., 1996, and quoted in Magnificat for Holy Thursday, March 24, 2005.]
[Other links not mentioned today …The Nature of Priesthood (1990 speech by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) … Pope Benedict XVI’s Homily to Seminarians in Cologne: “If You Abide in Christ, You Will Bear Much Fruit” (August 19, 2005 World Youth Day Meeting)]
According to St John of the Cross, few will have an ecstacy prayer experience. Opening poem of his Dark Night of the Soul [insert here].
Ended with a guided meditation, “Feed my sheep.”
Lester’s + Legend + seminary return
DOTS — Lester’s Diner — I Am Legend [pf] — Visitation Parish pickup [Md] — COLD night — return to St John Vianney College Seminary (for 2nd semester) — 10pm Compline [Night prayer]
Mother of God feast day
10AM MASS — served at my home parish (St Bernadette) with my Pastor Fr Dalton & Deacon Lou on the feastday of Mary, the Mother of God [more detail info].
EVENING MOVIE — saw National Treasure: Book of Secrets. — What’s on page 47?
prosperity gospel = pyramid scheme
FoxNews reports that there is a senate investigation targeting six ministries promoting the “Gospel of wealth” to innocent victims. — Finally somebody is calling their bluff … but nothing will be done about it.
Prosperity theology is commonly a part of televangelist, charismatic, and Pentecostal churches, that highlights the idea that God wants Christians to be “abundantly” successful in every way, including financially. It’s loosely based on Deuteronomy 8:18, “Remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today.” In a nutshell, it suggests that a God who loves you does not want you to be broke. Some of the evangelists supporting prosperity theology include Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Nasir Saddiki, Robert Tilton, T.D. Jakes, Paul Crouch, Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, Joyce Meyer, Jesse Duplantis, Juanita Bynum, Eddie Long, Brian Houston, Paula White and Peter Popoff, and internet evangelist Chris Mentillo. Pat Robertson calls this theory the “Law of Reciprocity” on his show, The 700 Club[2].
Critics, including CATHOLICS, claim that the doctrine is used by its proponents to become wealthy at the expense of persons who give or that the doctrine’s focus on material wealth is misguided. In my view, I sounds like a glorified “Pyramid Scheme.” If our goverment is starting to look into this, why stop there Senators? Wall Street does this on a daily basis. Vegas and all the lotteries that are under government control do the same thing, promise the moon to lure a victim’s coin. — That’s why nothing will be done.
This got me looking for the Vatican’s guide to tithing our 10%, but I haven’t found anything official. Anybody know what the Catholic Church says about tithing? — Kermit?
Pope to Baptists
I ran across a short speech Pope Benedict XVI gave to the ecumenical council for the Baptist World Alliance on December 6, 2007. Here’s an excerpt (the last line is deep):
As believers in Christ, we acknowledge him as the one mediator between God and humanity (1 Tim 2:5), our Saviour, our Redeemer. He is the cornerstone (Eph 2:21; 1 Pet 2:4-8); and the head of the body, which is the Church (Col 1:18). In this Advent season, we look to his coming with prayerful expectation. Today, as ever, the world needs our common witness to Christ and to the hope brought by the Gospel. Obedience to the Lord’s will should constantly spur us, then, to strive for that unity so movingly expressed in his priestly prayer: “that they may all be one… so that the world may believe” (Jn 17:21). For the lack of unity between Christians “openly contradicts the will of Christ, provides a stumbling block to the world, and harms the most holy cause of proclaiming the good news to every creature” (Unitatis Redintegratio, 1).
where’s Heaven?
A thoughtful closing to Pope Benedict’s 2007 homily at Midnight Mass (reposted by Fr Stephanos, OSB on his blog Me Monk Me Meander).
In the stable at Bethlehem, Heaven and Earth meet. … Just as the sinner is called ‘Earth’, so by contrast the just man can be called ‘Heaven'” (Sermo in monte II 5, 17). Heaven does not belong to the geography of space, but to the geography of the heart. And the heart of God, during the Holy Night, stooped down to the stable: the humility of God is Heaven. And if we approach this humility, then we touch Heaven. Then the Earth too is made new. With the humility of the shepherds, let us set out, during this Holy Night, towards the Child in the stable! Let us touch God’s humility, God’s heart! Then his joy will touch us and will make the world more radiant. Amen.
monks & the Trinity
I found a few blogs done by monks in California: One Monk of the Order of Saint Benedict and Me monk Me meander. The Benedictine Monastery is PRINCE OF PEACE ABBEY in San Diego, CA. Website had some beautiful icons.
Diagram on how Benedictine monastic life leads to God. More info at http://monks.blogspot.com/
Christmas Day
I served with cross at the 10am Christmas Day Mass at my home parish of St Bernadette Catholic Church with my Pastor Father Brendan Dalton and Deacon Lou.
Relaxed with family with great food and some movies (Ratatouille, The Kingdom, The Golden Compass)
X-Mas Midnight Mass
Did some last minute Christmas shopping. Served 6pm Christmas Vigil Mass with Msgr Strano & Deacon Lou at my home parish of St Bernadette Catholic Church in Hollywood, FL. At 11pm, there was a Christmas Program combining a history of Christmas tradition from around the world with the choir’s carols. I had a short reading part from Genesis (God kicking Adam & Eve out of the Garden of Eden). Then Midnight Mass. The procession began with our “Army of Acoloytes” (high school alter servers). I carried in the holy water to bless the nativity scene on the alter. A beautiful service. After Mass, I got a great picture with my family and our Pastor Father Dalton.
The Subtle Knife
With all this talk about how the new movie The Golden Compass is an “atheist” Chronicles of Narnia, I listened to the second book in Philip Pullman‘s literary trilogy His Dark Materials series, The Subtle Knife. — I need to finish the whole series before making any judgement (so far, it doesn’t look good)
FLL pickup
Picked up my sister from the airport.
DOTS — Fracture & Children of Men [project]
home worklist
In order to maintain the “seminary schedule” I’ve grown accustomed to over the past few month, I was strongly encouraged (by Mom) to do a “home worklist.” — I thought “these hands were made for chalices, not calluses”
DOTS — The Simpson’s Movie [PsYcH] — gum bubble
“Spider-Pig, Spider-Pig, does whatever a Spider-Pig does … Look out! Here comes the Spider-Pig!”
1st sem grades
Today I received my grades for my first semester in St John Vianney College Seminary:
Arts & Ideas – (Fr Vallee) — B
Ancient Philosophy – (Fr Santos) — B+
Modern Philosophy – (Fr Santos) — B
Ministerial Methods – (Fr Michael) — A
Intermediate Spanish – (Dr Jimenez) — B
Intro to Old Testament – (Fr Michael) — A
DOTS — Stephen King’s The Mist [PF]
2007 blog traffic
This blog (on WordPress) has some easy to use tracking features. Here’s some blog traffic I’ve had this year, since I’ve started in May, by days, by weeks and by months.
Family Day + StB
MIAMI FAMILY DAY — today, Archbishop Favalora hosts all the Miami seminarian & their families for a Mass & luncheon. We started the morning with a seminarian group picture in our black suits (for a vocation poster) at ~9:45am. I served as “cross bearer” for the 11am Mass —by the grace of God, I didn’t fall over with that heavy 2-piece cross. The Archbishop have a great sermon including family support and after Mass gave all the servers a “ring blessing.” After Mass, we had a great lunch.
HOME PARISH — later in the afternoon, at my home parish St Bernadette (in Hollywood, FL), I joined the RCIT class for their Christmas party and served with incense with Mgsr Strano.
MOVIE — The Nanny Diaries with Wendy’s & canolli.
X-Mas break begins
Morning Mass (Fr Michael) — start 2 week Christmas break — Visitation Parish — caroling copies — decorate home tree
Gaudeamus skit + gifts
ARTS & IDEAS – (Fr Vallee) — last exam & turned in reflection paper on “Amadeus highlighting the Modern Period”
GAUDEAMUS — There’s a tradition at the seminary, called Gaudeamus, where a skit is performed to make fun of seminarians. At the end of the first semester, all new guys are highlighted. At the end of the second semester, seniors are highlighted. Since I’m a “new guy,” over the last week, guys are asking what I think they “have on me.” I have no idea — hopefully nothing that will haunt me throughout seminary. After dinner at 9:30pm, we all gather in the Community Room for the “show.” Just when I think I’m safe, the FIRST guy that comes out is “ME” — making fun of me taking fruit (if that’s all the got, I dodged that bullet!). The whole skit was hillarious with great impressions, including the Rector Fr Michael, Fr Santos, Fr Vallee, & Bishop Noonan.
CHAPEL GIFTS — Our last activity together (besides tomorrow’s morning Mass) was Night Prayer in the Chapel. Afterwards, each class presented their Christmas gifts to their chosen priest and the Rector’s staff presented each of us with a gift — a SJV personalized messenger bag — AWESOME!
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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