Archive
“book” + clay ashtray – “J”
MASS – (Fr Michael) — the main Chapel was FULL today for the “Father & Son” retreat for Columbus High School nearby. I was serving with “Book,” which means a lot to do, but I did alright. The homily was, not surprisingly, about the relationship between Father and Son (with a “clay ashtray“).
NIGHT PRAYER — baseball hats – lost a seminarian today [J]
Divine Mercy Mass
MASS — today, the Miami seminarians were asked to serve/join Miami Auxiliary Bishop Estevez’s Mass for the spanish Divine Mercy Conference going on this weekend including some Sisters from Polish Saint Faustina’s order. A beautiful service. — I left my camera phone in my room … the pictures would have been nice.
Serra Club dinner
Tonight, 13 of us Miami seminarians helped the Serra Club fundraising dinner near Coral Gables. Fr Vallee and Chef Ramon cooked a dynamic 2 course meal with desert for $$$ per plate. Auxiliary Bishop Noonan and Vocations Director Fr Manny were present to thank all who gave toward the funding efforts for the new Pre-Theology housing that the seminary recently purchased. We helped with parking (in the rain), serving food, cleaning, washing dishes, drying dishes and ate some “costly food.” — Lots of work … and lots of fun … brotherhood in action!
Fr Omar + icons
Tonight, instead of a “Rector’s Conference,” we had an “Academic Conference” presentation by Fr Omar about religious icons & iconography. A great insight into the background and creation of icons with various samples to see. We’re currently studying them in “Arts & Ideas” with Fr Vallee, where we’ll need to write a 3-5 page reflection paper on an icon of our choosing. — I should start looking.
DOTS — Spanish vocab quiz — salmon burger — “Black Hawk Down”
sister visit
SPANISH – (Dr Jimenez) — I don’t know how I got an 88% on the chapter 12 test, but I’ll take whatever I can get to keep my head above aqua.
OLD TESTAMENT – (Fr Michael) — we reviewed previous material and covered Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy.
SISTER VISIT — since my sister was in town visiting, she came by the seminary and spent time with all the seminarians for Evening Prayer (Vespers) and Dinner (“Savannah, Georgia Night“). Coldstone’s Ice Creamery for desert!
Miami bowls
After our retreat ended with morning Mass, the “Miami guys” had an outing to the Dolphin Mall. We ate dinner, went bowling and hung out. — great time (I actually bowled a 149)
Navy SEALs retreat
Today’s silent retreat was led by Fr Peter, a Dominican priest from the New England area. Using the analogy that seminary training is like Navy SEAL training, we had 5 sessions, each highlighting essential aspects of the priesthood.
1. Holy Eucharist is the center of our lives.
2. Virtues of “generosity & self-sacrifice” are essential for true “fatherhood.”
3. Virtue of “truthfulness” must be lived and preached.
4. “The sanctity & dignity of human life” must be preached, especially now.
5. Our prayer life should include (1) the Blessed Sacrament and (2) a devotion to Mary.
break over + retreat begins
Tonight, I’m back in seminary … mid-semester break is over. Tonight, we also begin a 3-day silent retreat until Sunday morning Mass. Compline (night prayer) @ 10pm … got to go! — Be holy!
new men commit – steak & champaign
SPANISH 2 – (Dr Jimenez) — today we continued the imperative verb forms like “ataca Anti-Christo” and revisited the “gang of irregular preterites” (–ataca them too)
MASS – (Fr Michael) — today’s schedule was changed with 4:30 Mass for the “New Men Commitment & Reception Ceremony” to officially accept the New Men into the house, marking the end of the “New Student Experience.” The homily highlighted the feast of the Korean martyrs Andrew (priest) and Paul (catechist & seminarian). A beautiful Mass with a steak & champaign dinner afterwards. —delicious
RECTOR’s CONFERENCE – (Fr Michael) — the “New Men” had part 2 of 2 on “The Priesthood: A Theological Overview.” — Busy day.
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.
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.
Catholic military chaplains
I finally received a packet from the Vocation’s Director of the Archdiocese for Military Services (AMS). It contained a couple brochures specific to Catholic chaplains, but mostly brochures from the Army, Air Force & Navy. I asked for the Marines, but I guess they’re considered part of the Navy. Anyways, there’s some interesting figures:
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The AMS serves 375,000 Catholic soldiers — 520,000 family members — 204,000 in Reserves & National Guard — 29,000 Catholic patients in 172 Medical Centers — & 66,000 Catholics in government service overseas (in 134 countries).
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Geographically, the AMS is the largest in the Church, trans-national without borders at 220 installations in 29 countries.
- To meet all those needs, they have fewer than 350 full-time Catholic military chaplains with the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines & Coast Guard.
- They have 480 priests serving part-time with Reserve forces & National Guard.
- The priests serving full-time are on loan from 142 dioceses and 44 religious communities.
As excited I am about the military, I also realize the needs and dynamics of serving soldiers can be extremely diferent from Miami pastoral ministry. I’d like to stay open to the possibility of a summer internship (in a theology year), but I don’t currently feel drawn into any permanent call. — I need to slow down and focus on the now.
Miami seminary
I was looking on the Archdiocese of Miami website for a video of catholic military chaplains that is no longer on their video page (–I downloaded it last year). There is, however, a great little video about St. John Vianney Seminary in Miami (which I’m starting next month) called “A Call to Faith” (DSL or dialup).
While I continued searching the website, I found a great article from last year called, “The people of God deserve the best.” It’s an interview with Father Michael Carruthers, the new rector of St. John Vianney Seminary. He spoke about the quality and “wholesomeness” of the young men who are entering the seminary today. I found a profile on him as well as 24 other priests on another page called “Building the City of God.” Besides hearing some great homilies last November @ the “Seminary Vocation Weekend,” I personally met with Father Carruthers (as part of the application process) and was very impressed by his sincerity, encouragement and attentive ear. — he’s definitely someone I look forward to grow with.
military priests
Reading and writing about military chaplains over the past couple of days awoke my passion for the military. I wrote an email to the Archdiocese of Military Services, and got a response from Auxiliary Bishop Estabrook.
The Archdiocese of Military Services doesn’t take priests directly but rather accepts priests “on loan” from individual dioceses for a period of three years and up. They don’t have a seminary or incardinate priests. All their priests must have been priests and had a pastoral assignment for at least three years before coming on active duty.Each Service has a seminary program. When accepted by that Service and with permission of your diocese, you could be commissioned a reserve officer while in theology and have a chance to serve at an installation sometime during your studies just to see what the chaplaincy is like.
Father Chandler, the Vocations Director, will be sending me materials and be in touch. — I’ll see what happens.
Happy is God’s Will?
Continuing the discussion on “following God & seeking His Will” from last Sunday’s readings, I recall an experience. — Last year I was at a men’s study group where everyone was asked “How do you know you are following God’s will in your life?” After we spend some time getting everyone’s opinion (I forgot what I said), the facilitator (a priest) answered simply “When you’re happy.”
WHAT?!?! I hate that answer! (In his defense, we were running out of time and I think he was moving the meeting along) Happiness is relative and can be found in anything. Even doing something bad or sinful can have temporary (or fake longterm) happiness … that’s WHY we do bad things … it fills the “God-size” void we have.
Happiness is a feeling we get … and you can’t always trust feelings. “Joy,” on the other hand, is different. We get “joy” by knowing we have salvation through an active relationship with God. You can always be joyful even though circumstances may make us miserable and very UNhappy.
If a believer is being persecuted for their faith, are they following God’s will? Even though they’re not “happy” at the moment? Do we fast to be “happy”? I hope I misunderstood the answer, because I need some clarification. — Anyone else? Kermit?
Church history, #2 Paul the Troubleshooter
As I revist the book, The Story of the Church: Peak Moments from Pentecost to the Year 2000, chapter 2 is “First-Century Adjustments,” focusing on Paul the Apostle. It has always confused me how Paul was the “go-to-guy” to answer any questions of theology & the Christian life. He wasn’t even one of the original 12 apostles, but spoke with such authority, even declaring himself an apostle. His conversion story (Acts 9) is amazing enough. But even more unbelievable is how fast the Christian community embraced him and bestowed authority to dictate Christian “policy,” an even greater testament to grace and the submission to the Holy Spirit.
Paul is a master cameleon of evangelization, able to adapt the gospel message to any culture. He was well-versed in the Hebrew Scriptures (OT), had a heart for his audience, walked in their shoes, and presented the challenge of the Gospel in their “language.” — everything a Christian is called to do. A great example is Paul’s sermon to the Athenians in Acts 17:16-34. It seems so supernatural … because it is … it’s only possible through the Holy Spirit.
That reminds me of a line from the “Fishers of Men” priesthood video when it’s said, “It’s not natural to be a priest … it’s a supernatural calling.” — You can’t disagree with that.
Exorcism outs the Devil
One of the greatest “gifts” God gave to the Church was the power of exorcism. What most people think about when you say exorcism is actually a “major exorcism” where the Church determines a demon has possessed someone’s body (but not taking their free will) and a priest (approved by the bishop) does the rite of exorcism (usually done in 5 minutes, but may take several months). I didn’t explore my ignorance about exorcism (because I thought it may invite bad stuff) until I saw a DVD available called “Interview with an Exorcist”.
Here’s a few facts that clarified my misconceptions. Although a demon may possess a body, it does not control a person’s free will. All priest are taught the rite, but the bishop must approve doing one. A priest prepares more for the the sacrament of reconciliation than the rite of exorcism. Priests have been known to successfully perform exorcisms in the state of mortal sin (it’s not a battle between the priest & a demon, it’s between GOD & the demon). Any prayer denouncing the power of Satan is a prayer of exorcism. Although a majority of possessions includes some occult practices, even a Christian believer can be possessed (although less likely).
I think I was more afraid of exorcism due to my own ignorance than I am today. I would recommend more knowledge & understanding to those who may empathize. A new book supplements the DVD just came out. More Catholic resources on exorcism are HERE. The movie The Exorcism of Emily Rose is also pretty good.
I saw an episode of Showtime’s Penn & Teller’s Bullsh*t about exorcism (season 5#5). They had some ridiculous (non-Catholic) “exorcists” that made the whole rite into a joke, concluding there is no such thing as demonic possession. They just affirm Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey), “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist.”
This is WHY exorcism is a “gift.” In an exorcism, Satan is manifested (revealing his existence) and the supreme power of God over evil glorifies our Lord. — but I don’t want to be the person in the middle (possessee).
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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