seminary

I am currently at the 'Christpower' retreat at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, and this is my first time. One thing that amazes me is the energy and enthusiasm with which almost two hundred teenagers can go out in the community and help others—and they pay to do it!

There are, of course, fun activities planned during the evenings, but the majority of the teens' time is spent at different locations in the Archdiocese rehabbing houses, helping the mentally disabled, playing with sick children, ministering at different places, and doing maintenance jobs. It is truly inspiring to see so many youth involved in this. We have almost 200 teens this week, 100 next week, and there are similar numbers signed up for a similar event held by the Youth Office!

If you haven't yet seen the 'Duel of the Seminarians,' check it out in the blog posting below, or on the video's website.

As promised, I have posted the video I've been working on for the past three weeks. If you can't tell by the title, it is a video involving lightsabers and seminarians (inside the Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, nonetheless!).

You can go to the website for the video by clicking here.

[UPDATE: You can now watch the video directly in the blog posting... Click on the video's 'play' button below:]

Now more than halfway through the Pilgrimage to Koln (Cologne) for World Youth Day 2005, I thought it might be a good idea to reflect a little on the happenings and developments of my journey so far.

Trip to the German Countryside

The seminarians from Kenrick-Glennon had a day planned (the 16th, to be precise) during which we were going to visit a castle (Neuschweinstein I think), tour the countryside on train and visit the wood-carving town of Oberammagau (I think I spelled it wrong). Unfortunately, we did not have much luck doing most of what we had originally planned on doing. It was raining steadily for most of the day, and, after an eight hour train and bus ride, we found that we wouldn't be able to go inside the castle because of the amount of people in line.

Today I was quite moved by the whole Mass celebrated by Archbishop Burke. I especially loved his homily and the Holy Sacrifice on the altar. His statement, “This seminary is the heart of our archdiocese” (i.e. you seminarians are the heart of the archdiocese), REALLY struck me as something important.

He is exhorting us, as Christ did, to live out our lives to their fullest in order to perfectly imitate Christ. Not fifty percent. Not seventy-five. One hundred percent. To the cross.

How miniscule are our sufferings and complaints compared to the suffering Jesus went through! We have nothing to complain about. Jesus has redeemed us through his death on the Cross, and now we MUST work to acheive eternal salvation through our actions on this Earth.

Before I go to bed, I pray this seminarian's bedtime prayer:

God, thank you for this day.
I am sorry for all the wrong I have done.
Please forgive me, and give me a restful sleep,
so I may live for you tomorrow,
in all that I do, in all that I say,
everywhere I go, and in everything I pray.
Amen.

Good night!

Esta mañana, cuando me desperté, usé una computadora leer mi correo electrónico y leer el periódico electrónico y escuchar a la música. In generalmente, comunico con mi familia vía correo electrónico o el teléfono. Vivo en el semillero, lejos de mi familia. Mi familia tiene cuatro niños y dos padres (uno madre y uno padre). Cuando voy a casa en mi carro, miro a veces la televisión con el resto de mi familia mientras meriendaba algunas pretzelas. También lavo la ropa en la lavadora. Muchos familias hoy en día no tienen dos padres, como mi familia. También muchos familias hoy en día no tienen muchos hijos, generalmente solamente uno o dos. Muchas familias se separan porque tenen las problemas y mucho tension y están con uno pocas veces.

"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world… ‘Rabbi, where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come, and you will see.’ So they went and saw where he was staying." (John 1:29, 38-39)

This weekend the Cardinal Glennon College is holding one of it’s two yearly Come and See weekend retreats for high schoolers who are discerning a call to the priesthood. This weekend, we have 15 high school youth!

Please remember to pray for all those discerning God’s calling for them. For more information on my views on discernment, click here (there’s also a cool video I made about discernment in that link!).

Quote of the Day

"The way to become boring is to say everything." (Voltaire)