Board Games

Things come and go like all fads do. The latest fad to hit me and a good number here at the seminary is Euro style board games. We are not talking about Monopoly and Clue here were are talking about games that involve resource gathering, collecting points and armies and the like. These games are usually much more involved and rely less on luck and more on skill. So far I have been introduced to Settlers of Catan and a game called Pillars of the Earth. Both with expansion packs. They are really fun and I am looking forward to getting another one soon. Hopefully in February. I figured one new one a month because some of them can be quite expensive. 

My Scripture class is going well. I am really enjoying it even though the professor is suppose to be crazy hard. But that would be a norm for me. At UGA the worse reputation the professor had usually the better I did in his class and the better I got along with them. Probably I knew that they expected more than other profs and I tried to give them work on the level that they wanted. So that is going well. I am doing a good bit of outside work for Latin and that is paying off as well. 

I have been able to do a good bit of spiritual reading this semester which is nice. I have read a few books on the rule of St. Benedict and then I just got Archbishop Dolan's Priest for the Third Millennium. I am excited. One reason I think the semester is going smoothly so far is that I have iCal-ed my whole life. For those who don't know what iCal is it is a calendar program that will allow you to schedule everything. I know that by doing this I am getting so much more done this semester than last semester yet I am still having plenty of time in the evenings and things like that to chill and hang out with my friends. 

The weather is cold as to be expected. There is lots of snow. I want to go tubing or sledding or what ever they call it but my friends tell we need to keep waiting because the longer I wait the more snow will end up on the ground and the better time we will have. Because they said that for some people the first time can be a let down and then they don't do it again, and some of these guys know because they have been introducing Atlantans to snow for a few year here in seminary. :) So I am working on my virtue of patience. It will come. 

Remember to pray for all seminarians and an increase in vocations for the priesthood, as wellas the religious life. Hope everyone has a great day until next time. :)

So Much...

So much has gone on. I don't really know where to start. I will try and do a little summation but then that will be it. I got back to Latrobe on the 4th which was nice. I had a couple of days to mentally prepare myself, have a little break from everyone, as well as winter clean my room. After all that was done we had a retreat at a Benedictine Monastery in Greensburg (St. Emma's) run by the Sisters. It was really nice. It focused on the beauty of the diocesan priesthood as well as expressing and maintaing the faith. 

One analogy that I really enjoyed that he made was that we need to have a song deep within and that song needs to be able to always express itself. It was really need to think about it because when most of us get here that song is going strong but when you get run down with the classes and everything else that song starts to dimmer and sometimes you just need to remember to let that deep rooted love for God to show to the world. Without that we are not real useful. You can have every Degree in the program but if you cannot show the love of Christ in yourself how is anyone suppose to take you seriously. 

They we get back to the seminary on Sunday night with our regular sunday evening schedule. Which was busy and this past Wednesday was the 200th birth of Boniface Wimmer the founder of the Abbey here so there was a huge celebration with the Abbot Primate from Rome, and since I was singing in the choir I was busy every night from Sunday to tonight really. The Vespers celebration was last night and then afterward I went to iPraise. Which is like praise and worship music for an hour in front on the Blessed Sacrament. There is also a time for intercession which is my favorite part. 

All in all I am so happy to be back. Leaving and them coming back was great. It really helped me to see that I am in the right place for this time in my life. I also learned that I love being in community and living by a schedule. While I was at home all this running around and never doing anything at the same time drove me crazy. 

Classes seem like they are going to be very interesting this semester. I have so far (3 days) been able to stay on top of all my work. I am just going to hope that I can continue the semester in this way. I would love to be able to keep up with everything. So please pray for that. I caught up seminarian is a happy seminarian. 

Alright guys. I am going to promise to try and post more than once a month. We will see. Please continue to keep me in your prayers and I will remember you daily.

First Post of the Year

This has been a long 2008, but the new year looks very promising. I do not have lots of time to type now but I will be back at school on Sunday and then have Monday and Tuesday to my self. Then I hope to catch up. Hope all is well with everyone and I hope that everyone had a great Christmas and New Year!!!

Home!!!

After 14 hours of driving I finally made it home. What was funny it my best friend was at my house before I wasa ready to take me out to dinner which waas nice but after 14 hours of driving I was ready for some sleep. We did have a good time though and I was really glad that we did it.

On Sunday I was able to go to mass in my Parish which was nice. It is nice to see faces from home and to touch base with everybody again. I did not get to serve Mass but I went by the parish office today and I should be able to start doing something soon.

Since I have been home (3 days) I think I have been to Wal-Mart at least 5 times which is sad. I really have no money but there is nothing to do. If my priest does not find me something to do soon I am going to look up the local Food Bank and go voulenteer there. Doing anything helpful is better than what I have been doing.

Looking back on the semester I can say that I grew and developed a lot. I was able to start finding some balance which was nice for me to have along with being much more open to the spirit. I really feel that this is where God wants me to be and it seems that he keeps reaffirming that fact. I loved it at St. Vincent's and cannot wait to go back. I have learning so much in such a short time I can only imagine how much I will know after 6 years (God Willing). So next semester I am going back to continue to discern God's will.

I had a lot of fun this past semester and made a lot of good friends. Hopefully I will continue to get closer with some of them and continue to make good connections.

Please keep all seminarians in your thoughts and prayers especially for the first years who are really adjusting to everything that has been going on.

A Post is in Order

Where do I begin? It has been almost three weeks since my last post. It is already mid-december and I am just getting around to all of this. But as of like 2 hours ago I am done. All my finals are done. All the papers are turned in and the party can now begin. 

No but finals I guess went as well as I could expect. I wish I had been able to study more but I had 5 finals combined with a good bit of papers and final word that were all due within like 5 days of each other. I survived. Tonight I am sure that there will be much celebration. 

It is kinda of funny hitting the reality of going home. I feel that there is so much I need to do but I am just to busy to do it at the moment. I need to go christmas shopping and some other things. I did get all my Christmas Cards done. That was nice. I am watching a good bit of TV. I have gotten wrapped up in One Tree Hill. It has become a guilty pleasure of mine. What is even worse is that it gets my heart rate up so high. Relationships stress me out, so when you watch a drama that is all about relationships and you know who should be together it drives you crazy when there is deception and lies and cheating. I would rather them deal with other issues but who know. 

The first semester of seminary was very good and after some more reflection I will post it on here. But just so everyone knows I am alive, I wanted to post. 

Home Sweet Home

Well I made it. After 11 hours on the road, four on which was in the snow. I got home. It was really nice. It has been nice to get away from the seminary for a little while. Even though I love every minute that I am there it is nice to get out with what I like to call the real people. It has also been nice (and today is only day one) to attend a regular parish mass. My grandmama actually counted and told me that i had been gone now exactly 100 days. WOW!!! I was a little surprised at that. I did not realize that I had been gone that long.

Since only my Dad knew that I was coming home I got to surprise everyone. I think it was good. My Mom was very glad to see me and I was glad to see her, even if she had to work tonight. The good thing is that she has tomorrow off which will be nice. I told them it would not have been Thanksgiving if we had all not been together.

I got a lot of good praying done yesterday while I was on the road. Having the rosary on CD really makes a big difference.

Alright everyone, get your turkeys ready and get the dressing made. Tomorrow is Turkey Day and we all have something to be thankful for. Let us give thanks to God.

Peace to you and your families.

What a Weekend!!

This has been quite the weekend. It has been very busy yet at the same time it has been very nice. We had the seminary Thanksgiving dinner this weekend. I had a really good time. I signed up to cook and got to make southern dressing which most of these people have never had so that ended up working well. It was also neat to hand out with all the guys in the kitchen. It really does become sort of like a family.

Speaking of family I am going home for Thanksgiving and none of my family knows. It is kind of exciting. I hope that they get a surprise when the see me. I assume that they will.

I am suppose to get my loan check in the next week which will make life easy. I will be able to pay off everything that I owe and help my parents some. Which will be nice. Also knowing that I was getting a little money in I went ahead and bought myself a couple of small but very useful Christmas gifts. I got a EEE PC which I am using right now. It is like an oversized cell phone. It is basically a really small 8" laptop. I got it primarily to use in my classes next semester but also going home and stuff it will be much easier to travel than my Mac. I also got a garmin GPS. It will help me get home and back much easier than my first voyage up here.

Other than that nothing much is going on. I did put some more pictures up on the internet so check out the links on the side. Please continue to pray for me and I will pray forall of you.

Peace and Blessings.