What Do Doozers Do?

Sorry for not posting last week, but it has been pretty busy. It seems there has yet to be a quiet, 'normal' week of postulancy; maybe there never will be!
Last week was the farewell dinner for Brother Luigi, who has been transferred to a quieter assignment in Alton, IL after 35 years at St. Clement's where he served as a cook and provincial treasurer for many years. He has been an institution since the Oblates took over the shrine in 1976, so it really is the end of an era. I often met Br. Lou in the mornings while preparing breakfast and always enjoyed his wry humor, and I will miss him a lot. It was also the end of the conferences for which the Rector-Major and many Oblates from overseas were visiting, so there were more farewell dinners and gatherings. Today was the installation of Msgr. Moroney as the new Rector of St. John's Seminary, so we all went there for mass with Cardinal O'Malley which ended up being a lengthy affair because of all the pomp, family day at SJS, and excessive traffic due to bicycle races and a Red Sox game, but things will mostly return to normal this week.

However, I have yet to define what 'normal' is for a week of postulancy and talk about what it is I do all day anyway, so here is a week in the life:



Monday-Friday
   5:30 am- Rise
   6:00 am- Morning holy hour, Office of
           Readings
   6:30 am- Lauds
   7:00 am- Mass
   7:30 am- Breakfast
   8:00 am-11:44 am- Daily responsibilities (class,        
           study, apostolates, etc.)
   11:45 am- Eucharistic adoration, Divine Mercy
           Chaplet
   12:00 pm- Angelus, lunch
                                                                                     1:00 pm- 4:59 pm- Daily responsibilities
                                                                                     5:00 pm- Rosary, evening holy hour
                                                                                     5:45 pm- Vespers
                                                                                     6:00 pm- Dinner
                                                                                     7:00 pm- Community recreation (usually gym
                                                                                             time, sports, card games, etc.)           
                                                                                     8:00 pm (9:00 pm Fridays)- Study
                                                                                     10:00 pm- Compline and Great Silence


Saturday
   7:30 am- Lauds
   8:00 am- Breakfast
   9:00 am- Cleaning common areas
   11:00 am- Mass
   12:00 pm- 5:00 pm- Apostolate work in Boston
           or free time
   5:00 pm- Rosary, holy hour
   5:30 pm- Grand Vespers and Benediction
   6:00 pm- Dinner
   7:15 pm- Community recreation (usually movie  
           night)
   11:00 pm- Great Silence

Sunday

   9:00 am- Matins, Lauds     

  10:00 am- Choir practice

  11:00 am- Mass

  12:15 pm- Lunch

  1:30 pm- Free time

  5:45 pm- Vespers

  10:00 pm- Great Silence 

 
In addition to the daily structure and classes, apostolates, etc., postulants have a number of other responsibilities assigned. All postulants are responsible for washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen after meals, and there is a weekly rotation for the following tasks: cantor for the Divine Office (also gets to choose the Saturday night movie), altar server for all masses, lector for masses and the Office, and cooking weekend dinners.

In addition to this are personal assignments that last all year, including an assignment for cleaning common areas of the seminary (I am the Dust Buster). Everyone is also responsible for doing their own laundry and keeping their cell neat (surprise inspections on weekends!). Postulants are also able to structure their own free time in the daily schedule between duties and studies for gym time, personal communication, personal prayer, and spiritual or recreational reading.
My personal assignment is to be one of the two sacristans: I am responsible for taking care of the sacred vessels (making sure they are purified, polishing, setting out the chalice and paten preferred by whichever priest has the next mass, etc.); purifying, laundering, and ironing purificators and corporals (and occasionally cassocks and surplices); measuring out wine, water, and hosts for each mass; making sure the correct propers are marked in the Sacramentary; checking that the correct vestment colors are used for feast days and solemnities; keeping four sanctuary lamps burning at all times; cleaning candle holders, incense thuribles, and tapers; doing any set up in the sanctuary, stripping the altar, moving candlesticks, etc.; and taking care of any other miscellanies around the sanctuary and sacristy.
Fr. Tom, my formation director who is also the choirmaster and usual piano accompanist for the Office, started working me in playing piano for Grand Vespers on weekends.

So, if idleness was ever a vice it is no longer! Saturdays and Sundays are a little more flexible: it is permissible to miss Lauds on Saturday and Vespers on Sunday. Some of you have asked how available I am if you visit, and the answer it that it varies: I can be excused from community functions to spend time with out of town guests and can get other postulants to cover my responsibilities, so I can pretty much be free all weekend.    

There are also other outings and events interspersed in the weekly schedule; this is Boston, after all, and there is always plenty to do. Tonight we are all going to SJS for a special dinner and lecture on St. Augustine followed by a screening of the new biographical film Restless Heart at Boston College.

Festa di Santissimo Nome di Maria

Today was a rather exciting day in the life; not every third-week postulant gets to meet the Rector Major (Oblate parlance for the Superior General) of the congregation personally.

To explain: this week the Oblates have an international conference regarding formation and vocations in Milton, MA, so the Rector Major as well as rectors and formation directors from Italy, France, Austria, Brazil, Argentina, Nigeria, the Philippines, and Canada are meeting with the local Oblates.

But for a few out-of-town guests at the seminary, it was business as usual for most of us during the first part of the week while the conference was taking place, but today was the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, which is the titular feast of the congregation and observed as a solemnity by Oblates. Thus we were dismissed from afternoon classes and gathered with all the professed members at the retreat center for grand vespers and mass (in Italiano e Latino), renewal of the dedication of the congregation, and an asado (traditional Argentinian super-barbecue).

Frs. Dave (USA), Steve (Austria), and John (Nigeria/Italy) provided stimulating dinner conversation.

All the Spanish-speaking postulants with the Argentinians, Brazilians and Italians at the equally animated table

The Rector Major, Padre Sergio (seated center). There are pictures of me with him somewhere on the phones and cameras of priests from Illinois and Italy; not sure how to track those down yet.

It was very different from the usual Wednesday dinner in the refectory: I was treated like an honored guest and spent most of the evening trying to convey my autobiography repeatedly to priests who speak as much English as I speak Spanish. But the reunion was much more personal for most and the vino was shared generously, so after a couple hours we were all gathered around exchanging anecdotes in broken English, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese with the help of a few competent translators. I was only able to take leave after lots of blessings and having to promise to visit Brazil. 

Also featured was a rousing rendition of the Oblate anthem Salve Mater Misericordiae, which I learned for the occasion. Here is a more sedate version if you like mode VII chant:

R. Hail, Mother of mercy, Mother of God and Mother of pardon, Mother of hope and Mother of grace, Mother full of holy joy. O Mary!

Hail, honor of the human race. Hail, Virgin worthier than others, for you surpassed them all and now occupy the highest seat of honor. O Mary! R.

Hail, Blessed Virgin yet bearing child: for he who sits at the Father's right hand, the Ruler of heaven, of earth and sky, has sheltered himself in your womb. O Mary! R.

Become, O Mother, our solace: be for us a source of joy, and at the last, after this exile, unite us rejoicing to the choirs of angels. O Mary! R.

It was a great experience I wanted to share right away, but I still have a Latin quiz tomorrow so I will have to post exciting LOTR tidbits later.