Growth, Glitches, and Gales

What South Boston looked like before the hurricane hit...

I have a little more time to post this week because of the weather; we've had a couple of half days because of the storms, but unfortunately the hurricane excuse doesn't work for classes that are down the hall from your room, so it wasn't a totally free ride.

It's the halfway point in the semester and it is time to review my goals for formation and personal growth. That coincides with the November day of recollection, and I will be unavailable from Wednesday evening to Thursday evening this week, but after that I should be free to talk.

The storm was not too bad in our part of town; we're several miles from the unsheltered coast, so there were high winds most of the day Monday and steady rain, but nothing on the magnitude of what was forecast. Everything was shutdown Monday and things have only gotten a slow start today, but aside from some glitches with my internet that are probably weather related, there hasn't been any problem here.

Mama and Papa visited over the weekend and we toured some of the historical sites I had not yet seen in Boston. It was fun and I have some pics to post when the net is working better.

Lastly, thanks to everybody who has been sending mail. I'm trying to reply to everyone individually, but I'm a little backlogged so it might take a while.

Quo Vadis?

  Sorry it has been so long since my last post. After a 15-day hiatus that included most of my mid-term exams, I hope to return to regular bi-weekly updates.

  Today I have the distinction of being cantor for the Office and mass on the first ever memorial of Blessed John Paul II, and while this morning was not too different from any other Monday I'm sure I will look back on it as a noteworthy occasion. Below is the insert released for the Breviary.

October 22
BLESSED JOHN PAUL II, POPE

Charles Joseph Wojtyla was born in 1920 in Wadowice, Poland. After his ordination to the priesthood and theological studies in Rome, he returned to his homeland and resumed various pastoral and academic tasks. He became first auxiliary bishop and, in 1964, Archbishop of Krakow and took part in the Second Vatican Council. On 16 October l978 he was elected pope and took the name John Paul II. His exceptional apostolic zeal, particularly for families, young people, and the sick, led him to numerous pastoral visits throughout the world. Among the many fruits which he has left as a heritage to the Church are above all his rich Magisterium and the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church as well as the Code of Canon Law for the Latin Church and for the Eastern Churches. In Rome on 2 April 2005, the eve of the Second
Sunday of Easter (or of Divine Mercy), he departed peacefully in the Lord.

Office of Readings

SECOND READING From the Homily of Blessed John Paul II, Pope,
for the Inauguration of his Pontificate
(22 October 1978: AAS 70 [1978], 945-947)

Peter came to Rome! What else but Obedience to the inspiration received from the Lord could
have guided him and brought him to this city, the heart of the Empire? Perhaps the fisherman of
Galilee did not want to come here. Perhaps he would have preferred to stay there, on the shores of Lake of Genesareth, with his boat and his nets. Yet guided by the Lord, obedient to his
inspiration, he came here!

According to an ancient tradition. Peter tried to leave Rome during Nero's persecution. However,
the Lord intervened and came to meer him. Peter spoke to him and asked, "Quo vadis, Domine?”
-"Where are you going, Lord?" And the Lord answered him at once: “I am going to Rome to
be crucified again." Peter went back to Rome and stayed here until his crucifixion.

Our time calls us, urges us, obliges us, to gaze on the Lord and to immerse ourselves in humble
and devout meditation on the mystery ofthe supreme power of Christ himself.

He who was born of the Virgin Mary, the carpenter's Son (as he was thought to be), the Son of
the living God (as confessed by Peter), came to make us all “a kingdom of priests.”

The Second Vatican Council has reminded us of the mystery of this power and of the fact that
Christ's mission as Priest, Prophet-Teacher, and King continues in the Church. Everyone, the
whole People of God, shares in this threefold mission. Perhaps in the past the tiara, that triple
crown, was placed on the Pope’s head in order to signify by that symbol the Lord’s plan for his
Church, namely that all the hierarchical order of Christ’s Church, all “sacred power” exercised in
the Church, is nothing other than service, service with a single purpose: to ensure that the whole
People of God shares in this threefold mission of Christ and always remains under the power of
the Lord; a power that has its source not in the powers of this world, but instead in the mystery of
the Cross and the Resurrection.

The absolute, and yet sweet and gentle, power of the Lord responds to the whole depths of the
human person, to his loftiest aspirations of intellect, will and heart. It does not speak the
language of force, but expresses itself in charity and truth.

The new Successor of Peter in the See of Rome today makes a fervent, humble and trusting
prayer: Christ, make me become and remain the servant of your unique power, the servant of your
sweet power, the servant of your power that knows no dusk. Make me a servant: indeed, the
Servant of your Servants.

Brothers and sisters, do not be afraid to welcome Christ and accept his power. Help the Pope and
all those who wish to serve Christ and with Christ’s power to serve the human person and the
Whole of mankind.

Do not be afraid. Open, I say open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the
boundaries of states, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization and
development. Do not be afraid. Christ knows “that which is in man.” He alone knows it.

So often today, man does not know that which is in him, in the depths of his mind and heart. So
often he is uncertain about the meaning of his life on this earth. He is assailed by doubt, a doubt
which turns into despair. We ask you, therefore, we beg you with humility and with trust, let
Christ speak to man. He alone has words of life, yes, of life eternal.

RESPONSORY

Do not be afraid. The Redeemer of mankind has revealed
the power ofthe Cross and has given his life for us.
-Open, open wide the doors for Christ.

In the Church we are called to partake of his power.
-Open, open wide the doors for Christ.

Concluding Prayer: (also the collect for mass)

O God, who are rich in mercy
and who willed that the Blessed John Paul the Second
should preside as Pope over your universal Church,
grant, we pray, that instructed by his teaching,
we may open our hearts to the saving grace of Christ,
the sole Redeemer of mankind.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Columbus Day

Today was my first time ever not having class on Columbus Day; it must be an East Coast thing. But anyway, there were a couple events noteworthy enough for a post.

Our vocations' director celebrated the inaugural mass in the new postulants' chapel/oratory. It is an attic room over the library that has had various uses over the years, but the rector decided to refurbish it with spare altar pieces so the postulants can have a private place to pray. (The Blessed Sacrament is always exposed in the shrine adjoining the seminary, but we are [generally] required to wear a shirt and tie whenever leaving the cloister and not on leave for recreation, so it is nice to have a more private space available as well).
After that, we went hiking at Mt. Wachusett in western Massachusetts. One of the postulant's parents live quite near there, so we went to their home for an evening meal afterward before returning home for studies. 

The attic oratory

Ready for mass ad orientem

The Boston skyline from Mt. Wachusett

Group shot

Fall colors on one of the ski trails

The Blogging Principle

What is it? you may ask; the simple inverse relation that the more happens, the less time there is to write about it and the more compressed everything becomes in less frequent posts. This becomes manifestly evident as midterm examinations approach ominously and craziness continues as usual in Boston.

So, in today's news...

Today (observed yesterday) is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, commemorating the Battle of Lepanto in which the Turks were miraculously defeated. Hooray!

There are two new Doctors of the Church as of today: St. Hildegard of Bingen and St. John of Avila. Now that you know, you can look them up if you are interested in knowing more about them. St. Hildegard in particular is outstanding for many reasons, not the least of which is she is the only Saint to have her revelations declared to be of universal significance (as opposed to personal revelations) since the canon of Scripture was closed.

On the local front...

I promised a film review of Restless Heart, the new drama about the life and times of St. Augustine that I attended last weekend. (Spoiler alert: Augustine becomes a Christian).

The story is good; you can't go wrong with the lives of the Saints unless it is totally misinterpreted or altered, so no problem there. My criticism for the writing is that they tried to cover his entire life in 120 minutes and so many details were glossed over, particularly in his conversion. If you have read The Confessions, you know how richly he describes his experience, and I thought that would make an excellent film segment especially since the conflict he suffers is thoroughly modern and relatable to the post-modern and angst- ridden, but while there was a portrayal of his experience under the fig tree there was little/nothing of internal conflict portrayed. (I was later told that the original film was actually in Italian and more than 3 hours long by a classmate who saw it, so much was edited out from the English version for some reason).

As far as the acting, the principle parts were fairly good but there was something to be desired in the presentation overall; it struck me that they were doing more telling than showing conflict and drama.

As for everything else, I was confused by the use of CGI; there was a scene of migrating storks that was just distractingly fake, so I'm not sure why they could not have just found some stock footage of storks to solve that problem. Then, towards the end of the film, Hippo fell to a horde of 50-100 Vandals, so they really could have used some computer wizardry there to make the invasion a little more credible. The sound mixing also left something to be desired; the soundtrack was much too loud at some points to the extent of overpowering the dialogue.

Rating: 3/5 stars

The most exciting news is last: I had lunch with Jim Caviezel today! I guess he has been in Boston several times before and attended mass at St. Francis Chapel (which is staffed by the OMVs as you doubtless recall from previous posts). Today, he was visiting his friend Andy LaVallee in Boston. Andy is a benefactor of the Oblates who donates goods from his bakery generously and attends mass at the Shrine every Sunday. Andy was taking Jim to the Patriots game today and invited a couple of the Oblate priests to go, so they cam to mass this morning and joined us for lunch in the refectory afterward. Jim was interested in all the seminarians and asked each of us for a brief account of our vocation story. We also got to hear from him about his life, his call to be an actor, personal and professional struggles, and anecdotes from filming The Passion, his other films, and Medjugorje.