Open Wide the Doors for Christ!

Well folks, I just finished college!  I managed to survive Monday (which entailed finishing a paper at 2 AM, and knocking out two tough philosophy tests), and then must of us went to the funeral for Joe's brother on Tuesday (hopefully, I can get together a post entirely on that day), so I then had to make up the New Testament test (not too hard because I studied enough for it) and logic (also easier than expected) on Wednesday.  After that, the only final I had remaining was the take-home essay for modern and contemporary philosophy, which was pretty easy (only a few pages long) and only took an hour or two.  

Of course, the difficulties, successes, and completion of finals week isn't enough of a topic for a post regarding the end of the semester and the end of my college career, so I guess I'll spend the rest of this post talking a bit more about the whole experience so far.

To be honest, I've thoroughly, completely, utterly loved seminary over these past two years.  I was scared out of my wits when I showed up, but within hours I had begun to feel the vibe, the energy, the joy, and the intensity of seminary - and I fell in love.  I can't begin to express how wonderful of an experience it has been.  I have learned more than I thought possible - about philosophy, about life, about friendships, about discernment, about faith, about love - and I've enjoyed every moment - including the hard ones, like tests, and dry periods in prayer, and situations that forced me out of my comfort zone, and the awesome ones, like playing in the soccer tournament, those beautiful moments in Mass where everything clicks and it really feels like heaven, going out to eat with some of your best friends, watching countless great movies, spending hours of supreme peace in front of the Blessed Sacrament, study groups.  Yeah, every moment has been phenomenal!  

And now it's all about to change...  On the one hand, I'm excited.  Not only to graduate and enjoy the feeling of completing college, but also to head home (spend some quality time with the family), and then in July to head over to Italy to begin a new (and awesome) chapter in my seminary "career".  Yeah, I'm looking forward to all of it.  But on the other hand, I'm going to miss Brute.  I love the fact that I have a genuine friend in everybody here - something that is going to be much harder when I'm at the PNAC with 250 other guys.  I love the laughter, and music, and singing, and craziness that echos down the halls - this truly is a fun place!  But, on the third hand (whatever that is...), moving on is a bit scary.  Studying in Rome will be fantastic, but it will also be a struggle.  I'll be a long way away from all the great friends I have (here at Brute as well as at home), and my wonderful family - that's hard, it's a sacrifice I wish I didn't have to make...  Most of the guys here at Brute have been moving out yesterday and today and it finally hit me that I won't be seeing a lot of these guys in the near future - it's a happy moment (the semester is over!), but it's also sad.  In 2 months (almost exactly) I'll be doing the same thing with my family and friends back home, and that will be an even more exciting, and even more difficult, moment.  

Still, I'm putting it all in God's hands.  Lord, lead me where you want me, give me the strength to endure the hardships that your vocation entails for me, and grant me the true joy that comes with following You.

The second half of my New Testament final was an exegesis essay on Luke 2:25-35 (the presentation in the temple and Simeon's canticle).  I talked about how Luke's Gospel, all the way through, is looking at how true joy (from God) only comes through a certain amount of suffering, often in self-sacrifice and trusting Him.  Zechariah and Elizabeth experience the pain of not having a child before God gives them one.  Mary is asked to trust God completely, but receives the incarnate joy of Jesus Christ.  Then, arriving at the temple, they are required to offer Jesus back to God, and not only that, but Simeon prophesies that a sword will pierce Mary's heart.  Following God isn't always easy, it isn't always fun; actually it requires sacrifice - only through sacrificing ourselves to Him can He transform us with His joy.  Only through less reliance on ourselves, and more trust in Him, can he replace our pitiable joys with His own.  It's tough to learn - I for sure want to rely on myself, not Him - but ironically, going to Rome - something that I am super excited for - will also end up helping me grow in the trust of God.  God brings good out of evil, but He also bring supernatural good out of our own natural goods (at least, if we let Him).  

Yeah, so I'm excited, and scared, and happy, and unsure - and life continues to spin along.  The future is bright, but a bit unknown at the same time.  Jesus, I trust in You!

 

source: http://www.facebookstories.com/2013/en-en

 

Well, after staying up until (almost) 4AM yesterday, I finally got my metaphysics paper done and turned it in yesterday afternoon (it was a great feeling!).  I think the paper turned out pretty good in the end.  Earlier this week I was spending pretty much all my free time on that paper and it just wasn't coming together how I wanted it to.  I was talking about teleology (that things, particularly humans, have ends, in our case, happiness in God) and this allows morality/ethics to exist.  Basically, without teleology, everybody has to figure out their own end (power, money, pleasure, work, whatever), and for this reason (along with some other logical/metaphysical reasons) teleology must exist and ethics must be based on it.  It was a really cool paper and unfortunately this summary doesn't do the topic justice (my paper didn't either I imagine), but I am really glad that I finally found the sources that I needed to finish the paper off. 

 

I still have to finish up the senior seminar paper, something that I will work on for the next hour or so before meeting with Dr. Denz (the professor for that class).  Hopefully he's happy with my (very) rough draft that I gave him a few weeks back. 

 

Next week I have all the typical finals - Monday: calculus and moral issues (neither will be easy, but shouldn't be impossible either), Tuesday: Augustine and Aquinas (again, it'll take studying, but I'll be ready), Wednesday: senior seminar and psychology (senior sem. is a take-home, but will probably be one of my hardest finals, psychology is a presentation and should be easy), and Thursday: metaphysics (tough, but should go alright).  I am very glad that my finals are spaced out over the week - usually I'd want to get them done as quickly as possible, but all my classes are tough this semester, so I am glad that I should have enough time to study before each one.

 

the holly tree in Brute's courtyard

Of course, the fun doesn't stop just because everybody is getting ready for finals!  This afternoon we are going to play some football (in the snow!), and (recap from the previous post) this evening we have the first-ever Brute talent show.  The Springfield guys will be doing something, and there are a bunch of other guys who will be showing off as well.  It should be awesome!  Tomorrow there are a bunch of us going caroling at a Catholic nursing home (actually the same one that Ray and I have for our ministry) - it was a blast last year, and this year, I'm sure, won't be any different.   On Sunday evening I'm going with some guys to Cincinnati for "lessons and carols", which is some sort of Advent/Christmas concert put on by the seminary up there.

 

Fr. Joe said something quite profound in his homily this morning.  He said that Advent is a time to deepen our faith and, like the blind men in the Gospel this morning, ask Jesus to heal the places within our soul that are broken, hurt, warped, or suffering.  This same faith must then give us the insight to see our life (physically and spiritually) as it really is, a gift from God, and then give our lives back to God.  To cultivate those talents, abilities, and blessings that we have been given, and use them for the greater glory of God and the good of all His creation.  Obviously, my summary is lacking the awesomeness and persuasion that father included in his homily, but my brain is a bit fried from the past few days...

 

I hope you have all had a good (almost) first week of Advent.  I hope to get back to blogging more frequently once I knock out these finals.  May the mercy and love of the Sacred Heart enflame you with His joy, peace, love, and energy on this first Friday, especially in this beautiful season of Advent.

Oh, happy feast of St. Nicholas!

Also, I'm going to post some videos that I've found during this week (they're cool and I won't have time to post something more substantial...)

As with most of my post during the last few weeks of a semester, this will be short.

 

Advent is wonderful.  The readings and psalms are so beautiful in the breviary every day, it is so awesome to read everything in light of the coming of Christ into the world (in Bethlehem, at every Mass, and at the end of time), even the old, familiar things that I say every day take on a new, profound meaning.

 

The metaphysics paper is slowly coming together (meaning I'm a few pages into it, but it isn't by any means in my head yet).  I am really hopeful to get a bunch done tomorrow, but my hopes weren't very accurate today, so we'll see...

 

I'm tired.  Gosh, I thought that the last weekend would push me into the final stretch with tons of energy and enthusiasm, but I am starting to feel the pressure of the end of the semester.  I've got a few things left this week (metaphysics paper being the biggest, but also a psychology test and the senior seminar paper).  Next week should be even more fun, I have 2 finals on Monday (psychology should be easy, calculus will be more challenging), 1 on Tuesday (Augustine and Aquinas, shouldn't be bad if I study enough), 1 on Tuesday/Wednesday (it's the senior seminar take-home, which should be long, tough, and cover plenty of material that I haven't seen yet...), 1 on Wednesday (moral issues, shouldn't be bad.), and 1 on Thursday (metaphysics, should be hard, but I will have time to study, so that's good).  There you have it, the negatives...

 

How about some positives?  I had a fun time this evening going out to celebrate one of the guy's 21st birthday.  I'm not 21, so I didn't participate in any drinking, but it was a fun meal anyway, and a good break from the philosophizing.  On Wednesday we will celebrate the annual Brute Christmas (basically a good meal and a fun time giving each other presents.  On Friday I'll be done with the papers!, and we are also having the first ever Brute talent show - should be quite the evening!  On Saturday I will be going out caroling with a bunch of other guys.  We are going the same place that Ray and I go for our ministry (a Catholic nursing home), so that is cool too!  On Sunday, I'm going over to Cincinnati for a Christmas concert of some sort put on by the seminary over there (Mount St. Mary's of the West).  Basically, the next week will be daunting and awesome!

 

On that note, I'm going to get a decent night's sleep - I feel like I need it right now.  Hopefully the run that I'm going on with a few other guys tomorrow will galvanize me for the rest of the semester.  I'm usually not the guy that wants the semester to be over, I have so much fun and grow so much while here, but this semester has been pretty tough.  Hmmm.  This post isn't overly positive, sorry about that - it's late, I'm tired, and I guess the school work is getting to me...

 

Good Night, I hope that your Advent is a blessed as mine!

Good afternoon!  Well, winter is upon us!  We don't have any snow (yet), but it has gotten cold here in Indy (barely got above freezing today).  I was feeling like I had been lazy the last week or two (exercise wise), so I rode my bike to Marian and back today.  Cue the weird feeling of sweating inside and freezing outside of the coat. 

 

As always (at least for this time of the semester), I am really, really busy.  I think this semester has probably been the most crazy of all my previous ones.  I have 3 big (8, 10, and 15 page) philosophy papers due in the next week or so, and that doesn't count any of the finals (which I haven't even thought about yet).  We have to finish recording the schola Christmas CD tomorrow.  I have to get a letter in the mail to my sister, so she can get it before Advent starts.  Yep, so I'm busy!

However, the semester is going really, really, well!  Being busy is a bit fun, it's a challenge to over come and an opportunity to get better spiritually, intellectually, and every-other-which-way-ally.

 

NCYC was phenomenal.  It was tiring at times, and boring at times, and a bit crazy at times, but I had a wonderful, wonderful time.  I got some posters from the Catholic to the Max booth ($15 for 3 of them).  One is Jesus as Divine Mercy, on is of St. Michael, and one is of Mary with Jesus.  They are beautiful!  I hope to get a post up (with pictures and video) of NCYC asap, but that very well could be at the end of the semester...  (sorry).

 

That's my life for now.  I'll be heading home tomorrow evening to celebrate thanksgiving with the family.  I am sure that will be a great time as well!

Ah well, back to work.

my room being emptied

Here's some pictures of the process:

the piles of stuff forming

Well folks, it is now the last day before finals week, and I really don't feel like studying so I decided to do a blog post.  This is another one of those boring "what's going on in my life" posts:

Last week was somewhat busy.  I had some homework due (not too hard) and the infamous Shakespeare paper.  Anyway, I eventually made it through everything with some late nights.  Unfortunately, that left me with a mild cold for the last few days - ah, well, I can sleep in a week.  Yesterday, I ran the mini-marathon (all 13 miles!), and had a tough, but fun, time.  Later that evening I went out to dinner with (mostly) the Springfield guys.  Mark was here from Meinrad, so we wanted to do something before he went back this morning.  Then we briefly came back to Bruté before some of us went downtown, got some ice-cream, and then went over to St. John's where they were having a party thingy.  We listened to the music for a little while (a really wide range of music was played) and then came back here.  It was kind of funny; we had six guys, so I drove and we all squeezed in my car - it was tight, but that added to the excitement...

Anyway, today has been a bit more laid back.  I slept like a log last night (something about running 13+ miles does that to you), and got up around 8:30.  I led Morning Prayer (I've been the prayer leader for the entire week), and I got nearly everything spot on today.  A lot of guys went out to eat for breakfast/lunch, so the ones that were still here (myself included) made a bacon/ground-beef concoction.  It actually turned out pretty delicious!  This afternoon was really slow, I managed to get next to nothing done studying wise - procrastination has struck again...  At 5 we had a Frisbee game, which we had to play in the poor (60, windy, drizzly) weather.  We didn't play as well as we should have and lost.  I should have thrown myself into it more, but my legs were protesting a bit, and I was feeling sort of lazy.  Anyway, I am now going to go to Adoration, get a grace boost and then hit the books.

Tomorrow at 8 AM I have my theology final - unfortunately, my grade is barely above an A, so I need to pretty much ace this test (bummer).  Then I have the Shakespeare final at 3.  I haven't started studying for it yet - the paper burnt out my appetite for Shakespeare.  On Tuesday I have my Sociology final at 8AM and a take home final due in Ethics at 2.  Once again, I'm behind - haven't started either...  Last, but not least, I have my final in Asian Philosophies on Wednesday at 10AM (shouldn't be too hard), and my take home final is due in Catholic Music on Thursday.  So, there you have it.  I have a good final week schedule and still have managed to get behind on everything.  If I had to guess I'll be up late tonight studying Theology, and then it won't be too bad.  Either way, I'll be done in 3ish days!

I'll have to do a post on how the year in seminary has been overall (great!) at some point.  Probably, it will show up later this week...  I also hope to have some more spiritual style articles up at some point.  I have about 5 spots in my breviary marked that were good lines/bits, and other stuff written on scraps of paper just waiting for me to devote some time to them.  Ah, well, that's the end of the semester for you. 

and just because it is a cool picture of the race yesterday:

Well, here is another weekly recap for you (actually, it will focus mostly on today since that is what I remember best).  This week has been pretty good; below is a quick rundown of what went on in my life (I hope it's not incredibly boring).:

School: I finished several of the essays due next week done (or at least in a state where I could turn them in if I needed to).  I have a few bits of homework left, two different class presentations left, neither of which should be terribly hard, and the Shakespeare paper (yes, I keep pushing it off).  All that will definitively be done by next Friday (whether I want it to or not), so that is the point when I will start studying for most of my finals.  I have 2 on Monday (Theology and Shakespeare), 1 on Tuesday (Sociology), 1 on Wednesday (Asian Philosophies), and two take-homes (Ethics and Music in Catholic worship).  Most are comprehensive, so they will be long and worth quite a bit.  Ah, well, it won't be that bad...

Music: This week I just about forgot that I was cantor on Tuesday (and I'm the guy in charge of the schedule...).  About 5 till Mass, when I typically make sure that whoever is scheduled is there and getting prepared, it hit me that it was my day.  Thankfully, there are plenty of easy Easter hymns, so I just picked one out quickly and went with it.  Actually, most daily Masses are pretty easy unless there is a feast or something, just an entrance hymn and the psalm before the Gospel.  Since this Thursday was St. Mark's feast day, the schola sang for Mass (which was over at Marian because it was Thursday).  It turned out wonderful, no big mistakes and some great songs (and here is my post with videos of them).

Athletics:  This week I played soccer twice (Tuesday and today), for the first times this year; both times were a blast!  Soccer is so much fun primarily because I am pretty good at it.  I don't mean to brag, but while I am pretty fast, my height isn't anything to write home about.  This means that it's harder to play basketball period and it's harder to get open or block in football or frisbee.  In soccer, on the other hand, height doesn't matter as much.  Most of the time the ball is on the ground, and speed is (for me at least) the biggest part of the game - outrunning or maneuvering other people.  Tuesday was rainy and in the 50s, so it wasn't ideal, but we still had fun.  Today, though, was glorious.  It was at least 60 and sunny, and I was playing great - several long shots that actually went in, several good moves, it was a blast!  Running is petering off for the run coming up next Saturday.  This means the runs are shorter, but unfortunately, this means that we go at a faster pace (so they take less time, but aren't necessarily easier).  I ran 3 miles in a bit under 21 minutes right before playing soccer.  It was a pretty fast pace, and I still had something left for soccer - great, fun afternoon!

Mass at Holy Rosary:  This afternoon, after running, playing soccer, and doing Evening Prayer + Benediction, I went to Holy Rosary Parish (In Indy) to attend their Extraordinary Form Mass.  Unfortunately, I have been rather bad at getting over there - there always seems to be something going on (or I just forget).  Anyway, today I went over there for Mass with two other guys (1 of whom goes almost every week, and the other, who had never been to the Extraordinary Form).  Mass was great (as expected), and I think that Adam will be trying it again (I told him that it takes a few times before you pick up on how everything goes).  Every time I go to this church I am struck by how beautiful it is.  Just gorgeous!  The coolest part of Holy Rosary is the sliding altar.  You may notice that there is no free-standing altar, as would typically be used for an Ordinary-Form Mass in which the priest faces the people.  The Extraordinary-Form is always done with the priest facing the same direction as the congregation (ad orientem), but almost all Ordinary-Form Masses are done with the priest facing the people (ad populorum ? - that's a guess).  Anyway, at Holy Rosary the altar against the wall (in the pictures) slides out, away from the wall, for the Ordinary Form Masses.  Unfortunately, it wasn't transformed while we were there, so I can't show it, but when I saw it last time, it was such a "wow" moment.   Ingenuity at its best!

Well folks, I find myself with a few minutes of free time today, a position that is uprising considering that finals will be in full swing in 2 weeks.  Assignment wise, I have 3 papers left: one for theology (4 pages), one for Asian philosophies (3 pages), and one for Shakespeare (10 pages).  Lets just say that I've been postponing the Shakespeare one for a few weeks, but I'm now down to about 10 days to get it done (so I really need to start it).  Otherwise, there is a small assignment in Sociology, and a group project in Shakespeare and I think that is it before finals.  Unfortunately, (in my opinion) all of my classes have finals.  The one for ethics class will be take home (so, that is nice), but most are also cumulative, which I don't particularly enjoy.  Don't feel too sorry for me, I'll make it through alright, but don't expect a ton of posts appearing (not only am I busy, but there isn't a ton of cool stuff happening around here - pretty much everybody is getting busy).  

Yesterday's barbecue with the Serra club (a group that seeks to "foster and affirm vocations to the priesthood and vowed religious life") was a lot of fun.  They attended Evening Prayer with us (and seemed quite proficient in saying it), and then provided a delicious dinner for us.  We ate outside in the courtyard because it was such a beautiful day, and the addition of pulled pork (smoked and sauced)  pretty much made my day.  We threw a Frisbee around for a little while afterwards; it was just for fun, and helped work off the extra plate I ate.  It was actually quite funny; we began playing monkey-in-the-middle with the Frisbee and I somehow ended up guarding Luke (trying to block his throws and/or intercept ones going to him).  Well, lets just say that I am not the tallest guys at the seminary, and Luke is, so there was (quite literally) more than a foot difference in our height.  Not only that, but his arm-span is tremendous.  Needless to say, it was a bit comical, but we still managed to have a fun time.

Tonight we have a inter mural Frisbee game over at Marian, which should be quite competitive.  So far the team I am on has barely lost both our games (within I believe 2 points each time).  Anyway, we are hoping to win tonight...  

On another note, our running training is starting to wind down.  We ran 9 miles on Sunday, and we will probably run 3 or 4 miles for the 3 times this week.  Next week we have one 8 miler, and then it's very easy with I believe a 2 mile run and some walking.  I guess the theory is that we have peaked at 12 miles (so we can definitely do the 13.1 on the 4th), and now we are resting up for the race.  Actually, we met with Fr. Rick Nagel (the pastor at St. John's downtown who is running the race for vocations that day) when we did the ceremony on Sunday at Brute thanking Arch-bishop Buechlein.  He asked us to serve the Mass of the night before (which goes along with a pasta dinner for all the runners), which we, of course, agreed to do.  It should be a lot of fun!

Well, that's all I have for right now.  Sorry these last few posts have been so boring; I haven't managed to think of anything extraordinary, so I'm just trying to keep you up to date.  Keep me in your prayers.  The last few weeks are always the hardest.  Have a fantastic day!

It's St. George's feast day, so I chose this (pretty cool) picture of him.