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.

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.