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lector + missing Psalm + poverty + underdog croquet
MORNING PRAYER & MASS – (Fr Vallee) — today, I was lector for the Mass reading (conversion of St Paul) and lead Liturgy of the Hours (Morning & Evening). While reading morning Laud, I TOTALLY SKIPPED the 3rd Psalm … ??? … nervous, I guess … and was reminded about it all day from my seminary brothers. — I appreciate the fraternal correction 🙂
AQUINAS – (Fr Vallee) — started Pope John Paul II’s encyclical letter Fides et Ratio. Spent some time on the opening greating:
Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth — in a word, to know himself — so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.
CONTEMPORARY PHIL – (Fr Santos) — started The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels with discussion on the “working class” and poverty. Watched an assigned video about world poverty, “When Did I See You Hungary?” a film by Gerard Thomas Straub narrated by Martin Sheen.
MEDIEVAL PHIL – (Fr Vallee) — “paradigm shift” + permanence & change + the one & the many
OLYMPIC CROQUET — our new sports coordinators have created an Olympic Sports Tournament over the next few weeks, including ping pong, relay races, volleyball, soccer, croquet & more. Today was our Olympic Croquet tournament, which I signed up for. 16 guys in 4-4 player games, whereby the winner of each plays for the Gold. I won my first round as an underdog in a very exciting & close game. The final round was actually ALL underdogs from the first rounds, ending with the champion being my “Guadeamus Clone” who must have copied my abilities & strategy into his collective. — A great tournament!
EVENING PRAYER & DINNER — In order to redeem myself with this morning’s blunder, my post-dinner prayer (also the lector’s job) included an “excerpt from this morning’s missing Psalm” and gratitude for food, friends, fellowship, faith & fin de semana (“weekend” in Spanish). — Dr Jimenez would be proud!
Communist Manifesto + lost weekend + homosexuality
HOMEWORK CATCH-UP — behind on some assigned reading, I spent some of the day reading The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx for Contemporary Philosophy class tomorrow.
PRE-THEOLOGY UPDATE — (1) the chapels in our off-campus housing should be done in about 4-6 weeks. (2) Since we raised concerns about feeling distant from the campus community, our personal “free-weekend-a-semester” opportunity has been rescinded. (3) Our house will have resident priest in a couple weeks. (4) Our backyard furniture has no status yet.
RECTOR’s CONFERENCE – (Fr Michael) — part 3 of a series on Fatherhood titled after a 2005 Vatican document, “The Instruction on the Criteria for Vocational Discernment with Regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in View of Their Admission to the Seminary and Holy Orders.” [full text of document]
PRE-THE NIGHT PRAYER & ROSARY — 10pm.
INCONSISTENT SCRIPTURE — as I’m practicing tomorrow’s Mass reading (I have lector duty), there are 2 passages to choose from since it’s the feast of the Conversion of St Paul. There’s a detail in both that is inconsistent. In one reading, when Paul is blinded by the light and hears Jesus speak to him, his companions “heard the voice” of Jesus … but in the other passage, they “did not hear the voice.” I tried finding some footnotes in various Bible versions, but only found a note in the NRSV that noted the inconsistency, but didn’t give any possible explanations. — I need to look up a comentary in the library
means well + ethical hero + dualism + Taliban
MASS – (Fr Alvarez) — [an “extremely liturgically strict” priest is a poor example]
AQUINAS – (Fr Vallee) — 3 reasons for studying philosophy: (1) apologetic, (2) dogmatic, and (3) pastoral. Nemo dat quod non habet = no one gives what they don’t have. CCD teacher that only teaches emotion … 8th grader observation: “She means well, but doesn’t mean much.”
CONTEMPORARY PHIL – (Fr Santos) — finished Kierkegaard‘s Either/Or. The “ethical existence” is choosing to be who and what one truly and uniquely is (a subject, a self, unlike any other self, unlike any other thing). Even though we have many potential directions, TO WILL EVERYTHING IS TO ULTIMATELY WILL NOTHING (one’s energy is dissipated). The self willing involves an ongoing task/process, not a finished product. Negative view of the “mystic.” The “ethical hero” is interested in becoming a “genuine human being” and “honesty to oneself” ready to give up the aesthetic if it classes with the ethical or “for the sake of” something higher. The RELIGIOUS STATE is an intensified version of the ethical, making a relationship with God the highest priority. — need to read Karl Marx Communist Manifesto for Friday.
MEDIEVAL PHIL – (Fr Vallee) — elitism (death penalty debate) + virtue (through humility) + dualism (the Forms eternal are a problem to creation) + Justin Martyr (creation, faith & reason) + Philo the Jew (the Forms are ideas in the mind of God)
WORKLIST — with the rain, the “outdoor guys” were reassigned to help other crews, which made our McCarthy House crew finish even faster.
HOLY HOUR – (Fr Alvarez) — Taliban + scandal + “be a man”
DOTS — Next
synoptics + Mark + Matthew + Columbian food + pro-life Rosary
MASS – (Fr Santos) — “the sabbath was made for man , not man for the sabbath”
SPANISH 2 – (Dr Jimenez) — chapter 15 on haber + past participles. If we stay on schedule this semester, we’ll try to read the Spanish version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
NEW TESTAMENT – (Fr Michael) — today, we started the Synoptic Gospels (reviewed side-by-side syn-optically), more specifically the Gospels of Mark & Matthew. Even though Mark is the shortest gospel book, 80% of Mark’s verses are reproduced in Matthew while 65% is in Luke. There may also exist a hypothetical source “Q” that scholars propose to explain other similarities between Matthew & Luke not borrowed from Mark.
CULTURAL FOOD NIGHT — today was Columbian food night with a small army of cooks creating some great food.
PRO-LIFE ROSARY — after dinner in the McCarthy Chapel on the anniversary of Roe vs Wade for the dignity of all human persons, especially for the end to abortion.
McCarthy House + new worklist
NEW WORKLIST JOB — we got new semester “Worklist Jobs” (on Wed afternoons) and “House Jobs” (daily) today. For worklist, I am “Head of McCarthy House.” There are 4 of us seminarians that clean the priest residence & faculty offices. Garbage, sweep, mop, dust, vacuum, & stock fridge drinks. For house job, 2 of us have McCarthy House … basically we check on the house daily for minor clean-up and maintenance. — my favorite part is the beautiful McCarthy House Chapel
DOTS — “PB” left — Holy Hour incense — keep the Church in my discernment — MP3 curse
beast of burden + men are right + Unknown God + body theology
MASS – (Fr Michael) — today’s Mass intention was for Pope Benedict XVI, very appropriately with the Gospel reading of Jesus telling Peter to “Feed My Sheep.” The story behind the significance of the Corbinian Bear on the Pope’s coat of arms (upper right) was told. According to the background on Saint Corbinian (a Frankish bishop), a bear killed his pack horse on his way to Rome so the saint commanded the bear to carry his load. Pope Benedict XVI first adopted the symbol when, still known as Joseph Ratzinger, he was appointed Archbishop of Freising-Munich in March of 1977. He retained the bear in his revised coat of arms when becoming Cardinal in the same year and when elected to Pope in 2005. In addition to the obvious reference back to St. Corbinian, the founder of the diocese where Benedict was bishop, the bear represents Benedict himself being “tamed by God” as a “beast of burden” to bear the spiritual burdens of Benedict’s own ministries first as bishop, then as cardinal, and now as pope.
AQUINAS – (Fr Vallee) — more on Modernity and the extremes of Rationalism (reason) & Fideism (faith). Nature + supernature. Grace + nature. Samuel Taylor Coleridge quote: “Most men are right in what they affirm, and wrong in what they deny.”
CONTEMPORARY PHIL – (Fr Santos) — opening quiz on reading of Kierkegaard‘s “Equilibrium between the Aesthetic & the Ethical” in his book Either/Or. Introduced “inauthentic existence,” “radical subjectivity,” “disolving into a mutitude,” and self as “task” & “a dynamic process.”
MEDIEVAL PHIL – (Fr Vallee) — reviewed Stoicism and reflected on St Paul in Athens (Acts 17), especially his approach to preaching the gospel message among the Greeks of his time about their statue to the “Unknown God.”
MINISTERIAL METHODS – (Fr Michael) — “Classroom Management.”
RECTOR’s CONFERENCE – (Fr Michael) — usually on Thursday, this was an exceptional day since this Thursday we’re hosting the seminarians from the St Vincent’s Major Seminary in Boyton Beach, FL. Today’s topic was (part 2 of 3) on the Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.
DOTS — night walk — Superman Returns — busy day
parent’s love + sons of God + Bart Simpson + Flanders
MASS – (Fr Santos) — today’s Gospel is the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by John the Baptist where ‘ “a voice [God the Father] came from the heavens, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” ‘ (Matt 3:17)
With a very loose (but very illustrative) connection with a scene from The Simpsons Movie (since Fr Santos is a BIG Simpsons fan), he reminds us of our need to be affirmed as “sons of God,” countered with the experience of abandonment as Jesus on the cross pleading, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46).
In The Simpsons Movie, Bart Simpson sees an affirming and nurturing side to Ned Flanders (Christian father with 2 kids next door) that he does not recognize in his own father Homer Simpson. Bart agrees to let Flanders take him fishing, where Bart drops Flanders’ favorite fishing pole to an agressive fish. Bart, expecting to be choked for messing up (like Homer would), starts gagging and shortly realizes Flanders doesn’t hit him in disappointment. 
In fact, Flanders reaffirms Bart by saying the only reason to lay his hand on his son would be to “pat him on the back” affirming him. Even as Flanders pats Bart on the back, Bart flinches expecting a “hit” but, instead, realizing affirmation feels so good that he requests another.
We all need affirmation … in what we do … in what we think … in times of struggle … in times of joy … but, mostly, in who we are, “sons of God.” — the Lord loves us more than we love ourselves … it’s hard to accept, but a parent’s love is the grace of our relationship that makes our Christian lives so alive, so joyful, so fruitful, and so awesome!
Confirmation Retreat
Today is day #2 of my parish Confirmation Retreat (it started last night) for the 8th grades of St Bernadette (both School & CCD). Since most of the CCD kids were my students last year, I assisted with a few minor things. The theme of the Holy Spirit was implimented with the popular LifeTeen format called “Fire & Ice” that is supposed to be a 3-day retreat, but it was a adapted to 2 long evening sessions. Simply … it was awesome! The parish hall was used for most activities with awesome decorations themed FIRE & ICE. Most of the talks were done by former high school confirmandi of the parish. The small group discussion were facilitated by peer ministers from local Archbishop McCarthy High School and the activites were a lot of fun (especially the “Human Pinata“).
The end of the retreat got pretty emotional, especially with Adoration/Benediction, a video from YouTube.com (below) featuring a skit at a Christian youth conference done to the Lifehouse song “Everything” (definitely moving), an altercall & open mic sharing, but everything affirmed the Holy Spirit moving in our lives preparing to affirm their commitment to the sacrament of Confirmation.
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.
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?
moral virtues
Today’s Rector’s Conference was for new guys on “The Moral Virtues in Relationship to Seminary Life:”
I. Opening reflection: Ephesians 4:30-5:2
II. Pope John Paul II speaks to French Bishops about Priestly Formation (March 22, 1997):
(8.) Composed of people from different walks of life, the seminary must become a family and, in that image, enable each young man, with his own sensitivity, to develop his vocation, to become aware of his future commitments and to be formed in the community, spiritual and intellectual life under the guidance of a team of priests and teachers trained specifically for this task. … Further, it is appropriate to develop in candidates the practice of the theological and moral virtues, by training them to discipline their lives and to exercise self-control. A future priest must also learn to put his life in the Saviour’s hands, to consider himself a member of the diocesan Church and, through her, of the universal Church, and to undertake his activity in the perspective of pastoral charity.
III. (this year’s seminary theme is) Living the Real: Jesus, the Incarnate Mystery
IV. Habits & Virtues
A. “Habit” — a quality difficult to uproot that is well or ill-disposed regarding his nature or operations
B. “Virtue” — good habit
V. Kinds of Virtues
A. The Natural Intellectual Virtues
1. Virtues of Speculative Intellect (Understanding of First Principles & Science)
2. Virtues of Practical Intellect (Art & Prudence)
B. The Nature Moral Virtues (Cardinal Virtues)
Prudence, Justice, Temperance, Fortitude
C. Theological Virtues (for next week)
Faith, Hope, Love
VI. Moral Virtue: PRUDENCE
A. Prudence — order of right reason applied to doing things (human acts)
B. Sins against Prudence
1. Sins by Defect
a. Precipitation (Haste)
b. Inconsideration (Thoughtlessness)
c. Inconstancy
d. Negligence
2. Sins by Excess
a. Carnal Prudence — using reason to get an evil end
b. Craftiness — use evil means to get a good end
c. Excessive Solicitude — too prudent to move (paralyzed)
VII. Moral Virtue: JUSTICE
A. Justice — constant & perpetual will to render to everyone his due
B. Verbal Justice outside of judicial proceedings:
a. Contumely (reviling, insult)
b. Detraction (backbiting) — Simple (spread truth) & Calumny (spread lies)
c. Whispering (tale-bearing)
d. Derision (mockery) — joking manner
e. Cursing — wishing evil on someone
VIII. Moral Virtue: TEMPERANCE
A. Temperance — moderate man’s appetites …
B. Vices opposed to Temperance
1. Insensibility — too much
2. Intemperance/Immoderation — do whatever you want
C. Related Virtue vs Vices
1. Abstinence (from food) vs Gluttony
2. Sobriety vs Drunkenness
3. Chastity, Purity, Virginity vs Lust
4. Meekness, Clemency vs Anger, Cruelty
5. Modesty vs Pride
6. Modesty of Action and Dress
a. Good manner in society
b. Modesty in external behavior (“father” neither too macho nor effete)
c. Modesty in Recreation
d. Modesty in Dress
IX. Moral Virtue: FORTITUDE
A. Fortitude — pursue a difficult good even in the face of death or danger
B. Vices:
1. Cowardice
2. Fearlessness
3. Foolhardiness (too clueless to know one should be afraid)
C. Assist vs Oppose
1. Magnanimity
a. Presumption (overestimate our ability)
b. Ambition
c. Pusillanimity (underestimate ability)
2. Magnificence vs Stinginess
3. Patience vs Impatience
4. Perseverance vs Inconstancy
X. Pope Benedict Speaks
XI. Colossians 3:9-17
(no finished — details need to be added)
StB incense
Today was my first time altar serving at my home parish of St Bernadette Catholic Church in Hollywood, FL. At 10:45am Mass, I did incense with my Pastor & Deacon for the feast of Christ the King. I fumbled around, but did fine and was warmly greeted after Mass.
DOTS: 6pm Mass — Mexican food — break over — Night Prayer: “keep routine”
Buddah + Big Dog + sacristy
MASS – (Fr Vallee) — Today’s Gospel shows how critics saw John the Baptist as crazy and Jesus as a “glutton and a drunkard.” You can’t please everyone all the time. It’s what God thinks of you that matters … not anyone else. Some key phrases … “It’s easier to wear slippers than to carpet the whole world.” & “If you meet Buddah in the road, kill him.”
MODERN PHILOSOPHY – (Fr Santos) — continued Descartes. I think [of other] therefore I am.
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY – (Fr Santos) — watched a story video on Socrates. Finished “Crito”
ARTS & IDEAS – (Fr Vallee) — pgs 17-23. “Forms.” Icons (windows) vs Idols (the end).
WORKLIST & HOLY HOUR — for worklist, I cleaned the sanctuary & mopped the sacristy & some pews in the Chapel. For Holy Hour, Fr Alvarez told a story of “the Big Dog.” (Chris-notes🙂 Big dog was in control of everything except his wagging tail — tried to catch it & control it — little dog gave advice from experience — if you stay focused forward, everything else will follow. — so it is if we focus on Christ.
Seminaries need Windex
Today, I’m in the waiting room of a doctor’s office for a physical. As I begin to get impatient waiting more than an hour for my appointment, I hear laughter from behind the frosted glass as I stare at a sign next to the window. It reads, “Please check-in & notify us. We will NOT know you are here if you do not. Thank you.” First of all, I already checked in (so they know I’m here). Second of all, since the frosted glass is closed, I start assuming the worst as the laughter continues (like I’m being delayed because of slow officer workers who have time for fun & jokes when patients are waiting). And third, as I’m trying to calm myself and think happy thoughts, I can’t help make a connection with this experience to the seminary. Why? Let me explain.
When parishes try to encourage “vocations,” they usually refer to the “priesthood and religious life” in very broad terms without great detail about what each involves or even the differences. Most people understand matrimony (which is also a vocation), but see priesthood & religious life so different & mysterious, that they don’t give it attention. I don’t think young men & women know what they’re saying “NO” to. Even as an active Catholic involved in catechesis and youth ministry, I didn’t know much detail about the priesthood & religious life until I actively did some research and started asking question I think many have. Questions like, “What the difference between priesthood and religious life?” “What kind of things do priests do (during the week)?” “Are they expected to do EVERYTHING?” “How much to they get paid?” “Do they get time off or vacation?” “Do they have to be perfect?” “What is seminary life like?” “Can you quit?” “If I want to get married, any I rejecting a vocation?” and more. We need better “marketing” of vocations.
As a catechist, I know I have not presented priesthood & religious life to be very attractive (if I presented at all). Because of ignorance or lack of knowledge, many develop our own picture of vocations that are not only irrelevant to our own lives, but just plain wrong. As I tell people I’m a seminarian, some of the questions I get are surprisingly simple. We need ways to make vocations (and the formation process) more “transparent” to everyone. Replace the “fogged glass” with “clear glass” so that attitudes on vocations don’t rest on bad examples of priest, seminarians and the Church. We need Windex! 
I know priests are always to encourage vocations. And seminarians are probably the best poster-children for vocations, but “who knows a seminarian?” A young man goes off to seminary for 6-9 years and parishes get a occasional “freak show” viewing that make the formation process look even more irrelevant to the laity. Maybe if the formation process toned down the emphasis on “community life” (to live at seminary 7 days a week and be removed from the laity), seminarians would be more “real” to outsiders and (in my opinion) a better preparation for the “diocesen priesthood” (around “real” people) instead of the “religious priesthood” (where community life is more important). — What do I know? I’m new here. Kermit? Anyone?
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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