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It's been a crazy couple of weeks at the Josephinum, and we're not going to get to slow down anytime soon. Last weekend was our first free weekend of the year, where we were free to leave campus. Several of us went to the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. It's four giant hangars full of old planes throughout this history of aviation. I've been several times in the past, but this was the first time for many seminarians. I enjoyed seeing some of the newer acquisitions like the Memphis Belle, a B-17 bomber that survived a full tour in WWII.
This weekend is family weekend, so everyone is trying to complete homework and chores early so we can give the weekend our all. Friends, family, graduates, and donors come to the Josephinum for our annual Mudbowl, a flag football game between the College of Cardinals and the Papal Bulls. I'm sure I'll have many stories from the Mudbowl next week! Go Cards!
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Every Thursday, pairs of seminarians go out to charities and parishes around the seminary to minister. This year, another seminarian and I have been assigned to the Run the Race Center, an inner-city after school program.
I'll share more stories from our time in ministry there as they arise. Needless to say, it is heartbreaking to see and hear the bad situations these sweet children face every day, but it is even more beautiful to see the effect that the volunteers have on the kids, teaching them manners, respect, and showing them God's firm but unconditional love. Please read about the center's mission and story here. The founder has a powerful and moving story that continues to inspire her ministry and is inspiring me and everyone who works there. Please also pray with all of us seminarians as we bring God's light to the dark places in Columbus. I always leave a silent retreat with a different intention than I entered it with.
It's rather common for seminaries to start the year with a silent retreat. The Josephinum gives the new guys a week of orientation and a first week of classes before our 40 hours retreat. It's a guided silent retreat that's centered around Jesus' presence in the Holy Eucharist. Jesus is exposed in the Monstrance for 40 consecutive hours, day and night, and there are always at least two people in the room praying to Him and spending time in His presence. We're always suggested to prepare intentions for the retreat and to ready ourselves for a weekend of intense prayer and silence. 40 hours is very short in the grand scheme of things, but it's still a unique and challenging experience every time. I brought my usual set of vices to conquer and my virtues wishlist. After Evening prayer on Friday, silence began. Our retreat director was Mother Olga Yaqob. She has an amazing story and everything she said touched my heart. The other seminarians won't stop raving (now that silence is over) about how amazing she is. She focused her talks on three points: relationship, identity, and mission. The priest receives his identity from his relationship with Christ. Everything the priest does in ministry comes from his identity as "another Christ." Through the talks and the hours of prayer I spent, I meditated on this reality a lot. As a seminarian, my time in formation is meant to shape me as a person, man, and a son of God, and into a foundation that's open to receiving the graces of ordination. But it's God's grace, and not my own strength, that will effect this change in my life. My prayer changed from asking God to help me change parts of my life to asking God to help dispose me to whatever he wants to do with me. I was brought back to thinking about my experiences during last year's 40 hours retreat. I was brand new to the school and was still trying to find my place in the midst of the intensity of the high-pressure, character-forming schedule of seminary. I spent my 40 hours praying for the grace to trust God with my seminary formation. As much as I'd like to be a good seminarian, and one day a good priest, I believe God wants it even more. The capstone of the retreat is the investiture with the Pontifical Cassocks, symbolic of the seminary's special status as a Pontifical College. We invest the new seminarians with the Cassocks during Saturday's Evening Prayer and it marks the moment they officially become part of the fraternal community. I had the opportunity to vest one of the new seminarians. It's beautiful for me to see the graces I prayed for last year become visualized, and I can only imagine the ways that God will allow me to grow in my relationship with him, in my identity as a son of God, and in my mission to love him and serve him with my whole heart over this next year. I might have missed the seminary fraternity, and the necessity of forming well-educated priests is not lost on me, but my love of learning is still distinct from the challenges of a heavy course load. Although I'm in my second year of formation, I'm in my third year of college Philosophy. Last semester I focused on Ancient Philosophy: thinkers before Socrates and up to Aristotle. This semester, I'm taking Medieval Philosophy: Augustine's re-emergence in the middle ages, Bonaventure, Aquinas, and many others.
I'm doubling up on Literature classes this semester, taking a survey of Ancient Literature and Modern Literature. The literature of a time period is a vivid example and expression of the philosophies of the writer and culture in which it was written, so part of our philosophy education is a liberal arts education. Last year's broad look at the history of Western Civilization is being narrowed into this semester's study of U.S. History, with an emphasis on the forces of change that result in the events of history. For example, one could make the case that the spirit of American independence was with the country ever since people in crowded Europe realized that there was large swathes of land westward. I'm particularly excited about delving into an area of theology that's always fascinated me, but that I've never really been able to explore, namely, Moral Theology. Even though I'll be studying exclusively theology in a few years, the Josephinum makes a point to ground us in the basics during our philosophy years. Also I'm still taking Latin. It's my last semester and I couldn't be happier about it. As much as I might find it challenging to get back in the academic side of learning, I have to remind myself what a joy it is to be learning and to have this opportunity to grow in wisdom and understanding by being mentored by priests and faculty who have dedicated decades to studying and appreciating the truth. |
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July 2023
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