Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

I was intending to post pictures from the Thanksgiving road trip to Quebec this week, but today I was at the center of Boston excitement of quite a different sort.

After doing a preparation-intensive group presentation and Q&A session on Aristotle's Metaphysics in philosophy class this morning and finishing another group research project at Boston College by 11:00 am, I decided to take the rest of the morning off and instead of reading went on a walk down to Boston Common.
It's approximately a 30-minute walk, so after doing a loop around I decided to take the train back to give my feet a rest and be back to St. Clement's in plenty of time for the 12:10 pm mass. So I boarded the T at Park Street on the far side of Boston Common.

When the train approached the platform at Boylston, the next stop on the far side of the Common, people had just started to disembark when there was an enormous impact that sent people reeling. I turned around actually expecting to see the rear of the car crunched (it was not, but it was still quite a jolt).

Now, I had only just made the train at Park Street and was standing at the very back, even up against the rear of the end car, when it left the station. Providentially, I mistakenly thought I had boarded a train which bypassed my destination so I had decided to move forward to change trains at the next stop.

Thus, I was fortuitously no longer against the back of the train car and ~5 feet away from the point of impact when the collision occurred. I was also facing squarely away and walking so my legs absorbed most of the impact. I was also sliding along the bar even though the train was stationary, so I didn't get sent flying. So, I only suffered a big jolt and extremely loud noise.

Also mitigating damage was the fact that the accident occurred only just before noon rush, so most passengers were seated and not knocked into each other. In my section, a couple men lost their feet, cell phones and i-pods went flying, and I was just missed by an airborn cup of hot coffee, but there were no serious injuries. All told, about a hundred people were treated at the site and 35 were taken to hospitals for treatment of minor traumas.

Video footage from local news here

I didn't stick around for that: because no one in my train was seriously injured, we all filed onto the platform when the operator manually opened the doors at the front, and, after milling around for a minute to see if anyone needed urgent help, I headed up to the street to walk home in time to catch the carpool for my afternoon class in Brighton. There was a big hullaballoo with first responders trying to get down into the station and MTA people shutting it down, so that was another reason to get out of the way.  

So, aside from a massive adrenaline rush that lasted a few hours and probably some soreness tomorrow, I escaped unscathed and can check "hit by train" off my bucket list. Hitherto, my safety precautions in Boston have been centered around inevitable altercations with crazy drivers, so it's ironic the first accident occurred in the safest part of the transportation system.  

Also, for anyone interested I did not already notify, I will be flying back to MI on Christmas Eve and in town until Epiphany, so let me know if you want to make plans to get together/hang out in the intervening period.

Another Long Weekend

Well, between almost every bank holiday in the Fall semester being on a Monday and the hurricane, it feels like long weekends happen at least twice per month. I'm not complaining, but I guess I shouldn't come to rely on them for catching up on reading and studying for exams.

Mama and Papa visited two weeks ago and we enjoyed a long Saturday of touring Boston and we hiked the entire Freedom Trail, from downtown Boston to Charlestown naval shipyard.

A beautiful Autumn morning on Boston Common.

The Marzonies in their element at the historic Granary Cemetery.

Samuel Adams' grave.

The Boston Massacre victims' grave marker.

The Old Statehouse, hub of activity c. 1776.

Pausing for a break at Faneuil Hall.

The U.S.S. Constitution, oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat, at the end of the Trail.

In other news, I survived my first "nor'easter:" there was about 2 inches of snow accumulation Wednesday before things heated up again. I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially since I got to make a few trips out and spend some time wading through the snow.

In addition to remembering all veterans who have served in the U.S. armed forces today, I also remembered my grandfather Marzonie today. It's hard to believe it has been 18 years. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.

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.

Michaelmas

Today is the feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Rafael, and I have some thoughts to post, mostly drawn from a homily of St. Gregory the Great.

First is that "angel" does not actually designate a type of being, but rather a function performed by some heavenly spirits. As messengers of God the angels have had a profound impact on the history of salvation. The archangels are those who bear the most important of these messages and, according to the Books of Tobit and Revelation, are "the seven who stand before the Lord."

It was Rafael ("God heals") who instructed Tobias how to heal his father's blindness and defeat the demon Asmodeus. He is not mentioned in the New Testament, but because of his connection to healing he is associated with the pool of Bethesda where "an angel of the Lord descended at times into the pool, and the waters were moved" and the first person in the pool was healed of infirmity.

Gabriel ("God is my strength") is held by St. Gregory to be the highest of the archangels because it was he who delivered the greatest message of all time; that God the Son was to be incarnated. The very nature of this greatest message was also unique because it was essentially a request rather than instruction. He also foretold the birth of John the Baptist to Zechariah and explained Daniel's heavenly visions. 

Michael ("who is like God?") is mentioned in the Book of Daniel three times as a "prince who stands up for the children" of Israel, and in Revelation as leading in the defeat of Satan. Interestingly, the earliest Christian invocations of St. Michael was as healer rather than warrior and it was for this reason that St. Basil the Great considered him to be the greatest of the angels, although in latter times the second sense of protection has come to predominate and replaced devotion to early martyrs such as St. George, St. Theodore, and St. Sebastian as military patrons. 

St. Michael, patron of Kiev

There are some differences in tradition between the West, where St. Michael is associated with death and the transport of souls, and the East, where the same role is assigned to St. Gabriel. Both are very highly regarded in Eastern Churches, where there are even akathist hymns devoted to St. Michael who is referred to as the Archestrategos ("supreme commander (of heavenly hosts)").

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.

A Monstah of a Different Color

Tonight was a different kind of adventure than yesterday's asado internationale. Tom Ledbetter is a friend of the Oblates and also a season ticket holder at Fenway Park who generous with his extra tickets. Tonight, he stopped in to visit during dinner and offered a ticket to tonight's game. I was the only person interested, so I saw my first professional baseball game: Red Sox vs. Yankees at Fenway Park, front row seats on the first base line.

It was an interesting immersion in East Coast baseball culture, but fun nevertheless. Unfortunately, the Sox lost 2-0, but I was surprised how well the Boston natives seemed to handle it considering my observation of their behavior at traffic lights and movie theaters. Perhaps their reputation for churlishness is overstated. 

Across from the "Green Monstah."

My actual distance from the baseline.

Bill Cosby threw the opening pitch.

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.

Festum!

Hodie est Festum Nativitatis Beatae Mariae Virginis! (And I'm ready for the quiz!)

In honor of the Nativity of Mary, we had a day off from studies and took a trip up to Lake Sunapee, New Hampshire. The family of Fr. Ed Broom, an associate at the Oblate parish in Los Angeles, hosts an annual picnic for the OMV postulants at their lakeside home. It was great not only to escape Latin drills but to have hiking, kayaking, swimming, tennis, and barbecue.

 

Domus magnus apud lacum (the large house at the lake).

Conflictio epica inter tamais et sciurus in dispensatoribus aviarius cibi (epic chipmunk vs. squirrel face off at the bird feeder).

Excitus super navigatione in caiac! (excited about kayaking!)

I might never have wanted to come back to the city, but a fortuitously timed downpour got us on the road at the right time; late enough that I escaped having to make dinner (the postulants have assigned weekends to prepare evening meals) but early enough to eat it! Br. Jerry, a brother from the Philippines, was kind enough to do my job, prepared an excellent Italian-style dinner, and even had a birthday cake.  

The News Is Out!

The St. Ignatius Province webpage has been updated with shots from our photo shoot for the OMV newsletter, so my postulancy is 'internet legit.'  You can also read blurbs about the other six postulants here.

I now realize I have not linked to the website before, so if you are interested in more information about the order than I have offered, you can see the provincial website to read about Oblate history, apostolates, foundations, and spirituality.

Me, Isaac, Josh, Fr. Tom Carzon, OMV (formation director), Scott, Chris, Rafael, and Paul.

Missions and Apostolates

God, who called blessed Teresa, virgin, to respond to the love of your Son thirsting on the cross with outstanding charity to the poorest of the poor, grant us, we beseech you, by her intercession, to minister to Christ in his suffering brothers.
- Collect, 5 September

I thought that today being the memorial of Bl. Teresa and the day of the week devoted to intentions for the poor and suffering, I could post about the apostolate work I will be doing this semester.

Part of the Oblate formation program is spending at least a few hours each week working in an apostolate, either independently or with one of the professed priests or brothers. I found out today that my assignment for this semester will be working with the elderly, ill, and disabled through Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Network, a healthcare system that encompasses mainly short-term care and rehabilitation but also extended care facilities and hospice. My primary assignment will be to take Holy Communion to patients, as well as visiting and comforting the ill and residents at the homes for the elderly.

This apostolate is actually unusual for the Oblates; although they do hospital visits on request and if they are working in a parish, working with the sick and dying is not often part of their ministry. (I think there are too many postulants and novices this year for everyone to work with a professed member and they had to find something we could do independently. Hearing confessions, preaching, and spiritual direction are obviously off the table.)

When I found out about the extra assignment today after a long day of classes, my initial inclination was to complain about having something additional on top of studies and other responsibilities. God certainly caught me there having it be on the memorial of Bl. Teresa:

"I pray that you will understand the words of Jesus, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Ask yourself “How has he loved me? Do I really love others in the same way?” Unless this love is among us, we can kill ourselves with work and it will only be work, not love. Work without love is slavery."

"Before you speak, it is necessary for you to listen, for God speaks in the silence of the heart." 
   


Speaking of classes, I will be auditing the class on JP II's encyclical Fides et Ratio instead of taking it for credit; I guess 18 credits is considered an unreasonable course load during postulancy. Ah, holy obedience. Also, I may not be able to share my Peter Kreeft lectures due to education fair use guidelines and also technical difficulties. However, I can still keep you updated. The course is "Philosophy in Literature" and we are reading The Lord of the Rings (!) and The Brothers Karamazov.

Listen to the Sound.... (of Silence)

After only a few years of trying, I finally made a silent retreat; I guess all I had to do was go to seminary first. It was a great experience, and I enjoyed the silence and meditation so much I almost wish classes weren't about to start... almost!
The retreat was patterned on an Ignatian structure: I had four scripture passages assigned every day for 60-70 minute meditation at 90 minute intervals. The structure was free within the daily framework, but was more or less two morning and two afternoon reflection periods unless you wanted to be up extremely early or extremely late. Every day we had lauds 6 am, mass at noon, vespers at 6 pm, and a scheduled one-hour meeting with your retreat director, otherwise it was complete silence for four days.

There isn't much more to tell (unless you are really interested in my deeply personal reflections), but I snapped a few shots of St. Joseph's before leaving so I can at least give you a virtual tour.

       

St. Joseph's House is a century-old mansion bequeathed to the Oblates that has been slowly renovated to serve as a retreat house for Ignatian retreats. 

    

St. Mary's Chapel is a small structure recently added on the grounds to augment two interior chapels. We had noon mass, 5 pm holy hour/ adoration, and vespers out there every day.

     

The entrance way and grand staircase.

Undoubtedly the most awkward part of a silent retreat: trying to eat silently and avoid eye contact in the refectory.

The library- where I spent most of my time not assigned to scriptural reflection reading Tolkien, Lewis, Sheen, and the Lives of the Saints.

They recently added an all-weather porch that extends off the library. None of the other rooms in the old house provide an outdoor panorama and it is used as overflow dining and reading space and for spiritual direction. 

The upstairs chapel where I prayed lauds at 6 am.

 One of the deluxe retreat accommodations, as compared to...

the postulants' retreat rooms, which I did not fail to notice are in the old servants quarters. However, they are quite a bit more luxurious than I imagine they were a century ago. 

Last of all, the attic chapel right above my room. A very peaceful place for contemplation, except on Saturday (when Logan's landing flights were roaring over every 10-15 minutes).