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compline + Our Lady of Guadalupe
In this Jubilee Year of the Archdiocese of Miami, there are 2 paintings of Our Lady of Guadalupe traveling throughout the diocese spend a week in each. This week, St John Vianney College Seminary has one.
As a group, the Pre-Theology seminarians had our regular Thursday night Compline (Night Prayer) before Our Lady. We also did a rosary with the Luminous Mysteries (as the lights of the Chapel got brighter). — brotherhood in prayer before Our Lady … 🙂
Senior projects — day 2
Today was day 2 of 2 of the presentation of Senior Philosophy Projects. 15 minutes each. 8 seminarians. Topics included (if I wrote them down right?):
- (Peter) Hermeneutics & Gadamer
- (Michael) Beauty
- (Igor) Personalism …
- (Vely) Poverty
- (Madian) Slavery, Freedom, Conscience
- (Julio) Immigration
- (Justin) To “Be a Man”
- (Ben) Anthropology of Karol Józef Wojtyła
Senior projects — day 1
Today was day 1 of 2 of the presentation of Senior Philosophy Projects. 15 minutes each. 9 seminarians. [Worklist & Holy Hour cancelled today]. Topics included (if I wrote them down right?):
- (George) Play on Words
- (Jose) The character “Hector” in the Illiad & Odyssey
- (Krem) Just War Theory
(Carlos) Virtue of Justice- (Sergio) Dialogue with Cultures by Pope Pius XI
- (Eddy) Happiness
- (Elvis) Dialogue of Catholic Church with Liberalism
- (Dom) Nietchze
- (Robinson) Charity in St John Vianney
Étienne Gilson + Honest to God + simplex priest + Cylon
AQUINAS – (Fr Vallee) — mainly discussed Étienne Gilson (of 20th century) converted to Neo-Thomism … concluded that the metaphysical conclusion of Descartes only make sense in light of Thomas Aquinas. (#2) Also proved there is no single common philosophy inherent in medieval theologies … hence, debunks the pure crystal stream theory and opens the way for pluralism of Vatican II and Fides et Ratio. (#3) He reads Thomism as an authentic existentialism … opposed essentialism of Maritain. (#4) He strongly opposes the separation of theology and philosophy, as practiced by moderns, hence Fides et Ratio.
Philosophy can be authentically Christian and still be philosophy, an idea which perhaps even Heidegger does not accept. Theology is not irrelevant to the work of philosophy … it is relevant to knowledge of God and Man.
[extras: Gospel of Oprah + J’s Pulp FIction + project purgatory]
CONTEMPORARY PHIL – (Fr Santos) — continuing John A. T. Robinson’s Honest to God. God as “ground” … “religionless” Christianity … “demythologization” of Scripture.
MEDIEVAL – (Fr Vallee) — final essay questions on Augustine & Aquinas (aporia, metaphysics, ethics, epistemology) + manualism + simplex (Mass) priest + book of conclusions + William of Ockham + a reverse mermaid
EVENING TV — some classic Battlestar Galactica on NBC.com (new episode every Wednesday). A quote from episode 11, The Young Lords (1978) … Cylon Centurion: “These Humanoids are not well constructed. They damage easily.” Starbuck’s response, “At least we don’t rust.” — a Cylon after Nietzsche own heart(less)
Rhode Island food night
CULTURAL FOOD NIGHT — today was Rhode Island food night with lots of shell food … clams, muscles, clam chowder, and the best part … SWEET ICED TEA with LEMON … delicious!
Spanish class desayuno
SPANISH 2 – (Dr Jimenez) — today, we had class AND breakfast at Brisa de Espana, a local Spanish restaurant. The food was great. I had scrambled eggs with Spanish sausage an Arizona ice tea!
We’re finishing our last chapter 18 with Si (if) clauses and a confusing summary of the use of the subjunctive (ALL OF THEM). — I can’t say I was paying all my attention to our bookwork, cuz the food was delicioso!
Voltron homily
MASS – (Fr Santos) — today’s homily mentioned Father’s favorite anime cartoon growing up (and mine) as Voltron, Defender of the Universe. He followed with a story about a child that thought he could fly … and even tried “flying” out the second floor window … caught by his father working in the garden below … but the father got more hurt than the son he sacrificed for … a great connection to how complete our Heavenly Father’s love is for us … “God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not die but have eternal life” — John 3:16
— plus, any mention of Voltron in a Mass homily is worth noting … lol
Pre-T chapels blessing
Our off-campus Pre-Theology homes were finally ready to have their individual chapels blessed. Each of the 2 homes have room designated as an adoration chapel with the Blessed Sacrament exposed (not yet … that’s Saturday morning Mass in our back yards). We have a red candle holder, holy water font, alter and tabernacle in each, so far.
Us 12 Pre-Theologian seminarians had Night Prayer together and then blessed each chapel seperately (with some book delays). — Beautiful.
apostalic work @ St Kevin
Since all new seminarians this year will be assigned “apostalic work” next year, we’re observing other fellow seminarians in different current assignments for the last few Mondays of the semester. Today, a small group of us visited a residential nursing home with 5 elderly women residents. They were very cheerful and social with us. Since they spoke Spanish, we didn’t know everything being said, but we all knew what was going on. Some Scripture, prayer, sharing and lots of joy. — the Lord’s humor is contagious
next year’s schedule
Today, I registered for classes next semester, starting August 25th (if I pass my end-of-semester evaluation next week, God willing). Other guys say it’s a pretty hard schedule next semester …
On Mon/Wed/Fri, I’ll have Fundamental Ethics (Fr Vallee), Social Ethics (Dr Santos), and Metaphysics (Dr Solis).
On Tues/Thurs, I’ll have Pre-Theology Seminary (Fr Santos) and World Religion & Literature (Fr Joseph).
Here is the TENTATIVE SJV COLLEGE SCHEDULE for next year:
August 07 — New Men Arrive
August 21 — Returning Students Arrive (–that’s me)
August 24 — 11am Mass of the Holy Spirit / Dean’s Award Dinner
August 25 — Classes Begin
September 19-20 — Day of Recollection
September 27 — Parent Day
October 06-10 — Mid-Semester Exams
October 07 — Solemn Mass, Archdiocesen Golden Jubilee (Bank Atlantic Center)
October 10-17 — Mid-Semester Break
October 18-19 — Day of Recollection
October 20 — Classes Resume
November 07-09 — Vocation Awareness Weekend
November 10 — No Class
November 26-30 — Thanksgiving Break
December 01 — Classes Resume
December 05 — Pre-Christmas Mass & Dinner
December 08-12 — Final Exam Week
December 12 — Gaudeamus (of new guys)
December 13 to January 4 — Christmas Break
January 05 — Spring Classes Begin
January 19 — Martin Luther King Day / No Class
February 16 — Mid-Semester Exams
February 20-26 — Mid-Semester Break
February 26 to March 01 — Retreat
March 02 — Classes Resume
March 13-15 — Vocation Awareness Weekend
March 16 — No Class
March 20 — Fides et Ratio Conference
April 03-13 — Holy Week Break
April 14 — Classes Resume
April 16 — Humanities Projects Presentations
April 17 — Senior Interviews @ St Vincent DePaul Major Seminary (–that me)
April 23-24 — Senior Projects Presentations
April 25 — Diaconate Ordination @ St Vincent DePaul Major Seminary
April 27 to May 01 — Final Exam Week
May 05 — Gaudeamus (on graduates)
May 06 — Graduation
Jubilee monstrance pilgrimage @ SJV
Tonight ends a 2 week pilgrimage in the Archdiocese of Miami of a monstrance blessed by Pope John Paul II to encourage vocations, especially in this Golden Jubilee year. Today at 8pm, here at St John Vianney College Seminary, we had a full chapel of visitor for Compline (Night Prayer) with benediction & adoration with the visiting vocation monstrance. Auxiliary Bishop Noonan had a good reflection and I was lector (a bit pro-active) for a great experience.
Serra Club + alter server Mass
MASS – (Fr Manny Alvarez) — today, I was lector for a special morning Mass honoring the best alter servers in the Archdiocese of Miami by the Serra Club (a great supporter of vocations).
Deacon ordination @ SVdP
Today, we drove up to St Vincent DePaul Major Seminary in Boyton Beach, FL (about an hour+) for the ordination of several Transitional Deacons (Priests next year, God willing) in a beautiful Mass with Orlando Bishop Wenski. They also hosted us for lunch and fellowship.
Notre Dame Haitian Mission
Tonight was another stop of a 2 week pilgrimage in the Archdiocese of Miami of a monstrance blessed by Pope John Paul II to encourage vocations, especially in this Golden Jubilee year. Today at 7:30pm, I joined a few haitian seminarians and our Vocation Director Fr Manny Alvarez at Notre Dame Haitian Mission parish for an evening of praise and worship with benediction & adoration before the visiting vocation monstrance. It was very Spirit-filled 3 hours with the vocation testimony of Fr Alvarez and anointings with sacred chrism. — an awesome night (with lots of holy water)
pierogi + Magic
Today, I refried some left over pierogi from Polish food night (Tuesday). Good eatin’
Also watched some brothers play a strategy card game called Magic, The Gathering. Interesting.
SJV St Raphael Chapel mural
As I start feeling the end of the year coming (2 more weeks), I realized how attached I’ve become to the beautiful mural in our main St Raphael Chapel here at St John Vianney College Seminary. The mural is done by Gabriel Loire.
I asked a brother seminarian to take a picture and had it blown up to fit in a 16″ x 20″ silver frame so I have it during our summer break. We had to add a top & bottom border to fit the frame size. A link to the bigger picture is below if you’d like to make one too.
Enlarge picture of Gabriel Liore mural (Sam’s Club): $7
16″ x 20″ silver frame (Target): $15
Prayerful meditation on Chapel mural during breaktime: PRICELESS
Elvis on Univision
Tonight at 10pm, we watched Elvis, one of our brother seminarians from the Archdiocese of Miami, in an interview on a special featuring the Catholic Church and vocations on a Spanish show on Univision. It also featured our Miami Vocation Director, Fr Manny Alavarez along with some video of our campus and small groups of our brother seminarians. — Elvis is famous! I tried to find a video clip to put here, but couldn’t find it.
POLISH food night
CULTURAL FOOD NIGHT — finally! Tonight was POLISH food night! Thanks especially to my Mother for her recipes and advice to START MONDAY (yesterday) … we barely finished by dinner time … the blessing of my wise Mother (and Mary, too).
Yesterday, we made the potato and cheese fillings, but spent most of the time working on the gołąbki (stuffed cabbage rolls). Gołąbki is a hearty traditional Polish dish consisting of boiled cabbage leaves stuffed with ground beef, chopped onions, and rice or barley, baked in a spicy tomato sauce; similar to a Cabbage roll. By the time we stopped on Monday, we only had 1.3 pans full of them (we needed 3).
Today, in the morning, we started the desert with Ramon, our Dominican cook. The desert was makowiec, a poppy seed roll, with a glaze or powdered sugar. By lunch time, we had 3 pans of golabki ready to bake (at least 2 hours needed). After lunch, we got more help from Puerto Rico, Vietnam, Panama, Austria & more to stuff and pinch hundreds of pierogi (stuffed dumplings) with potato and cheese (seperate).
Final phase was the delicate rolling of the poppy seed roll desert, makowiec. We made 5 rolls with some experience from Randy & Ramon (I looked very administrative = more watch, less work). With an extra special Vodka topping, it came out AWESOME (in every aspect of its “being”, including ontologically). We also served some hot kielbasa (sausage).
Thank you to all who helped, especially my brothers in Christ (and Mom)!
RCIT + Christian IPhone
Since we were so close to my home parish of St Bernadette in Hollywood, FL, I stopped in to see the high school RCIT class preparing for Confirmation this year @ 4pm. I saw this cool poster that one of the catechists made and had to take some pictures. It’s a poster of an Apple IPhone, but with Christian buttons. — Some great details
Little Flower Catholic Church in Hollywood, FL
About 1 Sunday each month, all of us seminarians here at St John Vianney College Seminary visit a different parish of the Archdiocese of Miami. Our Rector started the tradition last year and I thinks it’s a great idea. It exposes us to different parish life as well as makes us visible to the community as a living vocation poster.
Today, we all drove up to my ‘hood to Little Flower Parish in Hollywood, FL. (My parish of St Bernadette is also in Hollywood.) The pastor Fr O’Dwyer was one of the priest how interviewed me during my seminarian application last year. The parish was very inviting and provided great food after Mass with lots of conversation with parishoners. I even found a family to practice my Polish with. — Definitely, a great tradition I hope we continue.
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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