Life of a college seminarian

04/20/05

Here is our claim to fame

posted by: ajurban at 10:09 | link | comments (2) |

04/19/05

Wow, tonight was a great night. We had our Mass at 5:15 dedicated to Pope Benedict the 16th. We gathered on the roof of our seminary tonight to show the campus that we are dedicated to our new Holy Father and that we are behind him 100% We began shouting various chants: vive il papa, Benedict, habemus papam, etc... We were told to get off of the roof and then we began to parade aroudn the campus, carrying Vatican flags and our processional cross. It is a great time to be Catholic, our rector has told us that this is a time to carry out Pope John Paul II's initiatives, the new evangelization, preaching a culture of life, and most importantly conform our lives to Christ. Blessed be God for his gift to us of Pope Benedict the 16th.

posted by: ajurban at 21:39 | link | comments |

It was a short lived silence. Our shepherd will lead us through the gate and to the chief shepherd. God be with Benedict the 16th.

posted by: ajurban at 12:22 | link | comments |

04/18/05

The seminarian with the meandering mind is going to be silent during the conclave and I will do the same. This is a very historic event happening now. The first in my lifetime, this conclave is a time of vigilance and prayer for all Catholics. The shepherd protects us during the night from the slaughter, may our next pope protect our faith from the robbers and thieves.

posted by: ajurban at 10:26 | link | comments |

04/17/05

I started training for my up-coming sacristan job and there is a lot invovled, I think it will come quickly though. I started on a paper yesterday and about a page into it I realized that it would take me forever, now I have to begin research for this one. It's not due until May 12, so I've got plenty of time. I've got a psychology test coming up that I need to do well on. I'll probably end up cleaning my room and study. I hope there's a game of ultimate frisbee today. I couldn't play last week because of some cramping in my legs. Jesus Christ, the good shepherd, have mercy on us.

posted by: ajurban at 12:42 | link | comments |

04/12/05

Well, I'm the new head sacristan for the seminary. I start in a week and I will be sacristan for the coming semester. I have been told by guys who have done it in the past, that if you don't have a deep love for the Mass yet, you will once you get into it. I look forward to my service in the coming months. St. Stephen, pray for us.

posted by: ajurban at 21:49 | link | comments |

Not too much is going on here, this week is national library week which means the University is selling some really good books. I picked up about 7 or 8 good books for $13.50. I also acquired a copy of St. Augustine's Sermons from a local Theological bookstore in Stillwater, MN. This will provide for some great challenges in my spiritual life. I'm beginning to write my papers for this semester. So far I've got papers in my New Testament, Medieval Philosophy, and general Psychology courses. Most of them are pretty short, but one is due this coming Friday, I'm gonna try and get my research and outline done for my Psychology paper, I guess it would help to have a topic too. I have to read a book for tomorrow about a Holocaust survivor named Elie Wiesel. I've read it a couple of times, so it should go quickly. Also the current liturgical committee is meeting tonight to chose new people (sacristans, music, and master of ceremonies). I would like to have the m.c. position because it is a little less involved than the other positions and would like to learn more about the different aspects of the liturgy. Also I'm planning out my next semester and it looks pretty packed. I'll have Latin, Metaphysics, Greek, and some other class; possibly Modern Philosophy or Astronomy. On top of that I will be teaching religious education at a parish in St. Paul. So it looks like 18 credits and a lot of work.

posted by: ajurban at 16:35 | link | comments (1) |

04/06/05

This past week, we selected our RA's for each floor, and I am pretty pleased with how everything turned out. We continue to reflect on how the life of Pope John Paul II influenced and inspired our own lives. Each day I see something different that he did. We must continue to pray that the Holy Spirit will guide the cardinals in the upcoming conclave. We have been wearing black buttons on our collars to remember the Holy Father and witness to his life. As we prepare for the next academic year we may have a problem with fitting everyone in the house. So far there are about 40 new-men coming here and about 55-60 returning men, which will pretty much max out our building. We will have a fifth priest to be a confessor and spiritual director for us. He is the retired vocations director for the diocese of Des Moines, Iowa. He is a very holy priest and we look forward to having him here to guide us towards Christ.

posted by: ajurban at 09:44 | link | comments |

04/04/05

Here are a few thoughts from a priest-friend of one of the seminarians that is in Rome right now.

2 A.M., Sunday, 3 April 2005

Rome

After a day of quiet and prayerful waiting we have finally received word of the Holy Father's passing. John Paul II is dead. It seems impossible that I am writing these words. This whole day has seemed surreal. My glimpse of it as follows:

After leaving St. Peter's Square at midnight on Friday night, I was back at 6:15 am Saturday morning. I woke up and could not sleep and decided the best place to be was near the Pope, both physically as well as in spirit. The square was quite empty at that early hour. A few Polish pilgrims held a sign that said in Polish, "We are with you." Some Italians sang quietly and prayed the Rosary.

At 7am I went into St. Peter's Basilica and celebrated Mass at the altar of St. Pius X, who was pope from 1903 to 1914. I began Mass with three people attending and ended with a group of several dozen people gathered around the altar. As it was First Saturday, I especially entrusted the pope to the care of Our Lady of Fatima, who asked that the first Saturday of the month be especially dedicated to her Immaculate Heart. It was on the anniversary of the apparition of Mary at Fatima, on May 13, 1981, that John Paul II survived the assassination attempt on his life. The Pope attributed his survival to her, and it seemed to me this morning that she was going to take him to the Lord on her special day.

The morning and early afternoon were spent at home with the radio on. There were no announcements about the Pope's condition for most of the day, and gradually we realized that this meant there would be no news until the announcement we were all waiting for would be made.

At 4pm I attended a Mass celebrated by Francis Cardinal Arinze of Nigeria in the parish church of St. Anne, which is located in Vatican City. Literally in he shadow of the Pope's apartments, I joined the cardinal in praying for the Pope and also for seven young people from Wisconsin, including my youngest sister Maria, who received the Sacrament of Confirmation from the cardinal. They had scheduled this day months ago and also reserved the church, and in God's Providence they found themselves at the center of history in the making. In the sacristy after the Mass I helped sign and stamp the certificates of confirmation, all stamped with the Vatican seal and dated April 2, 2005...they must have been the last seven people confirmed during the pontificate of John Paul II.

By 6pm we returned to the square, which by now was so jammed with people that it seemed like the crowd which gathered for Easter last Sunday had multiplied itself ten times over. Cameras, microphones, and reporters swarmed all over the square, while the crowd sang, prayed, and waited.

I went out to a dinner held in honor of the young people who had been confirmed. We were on our way back towards St. Peter's when we heard the news that the Pope had died at 9:37 pm Rome time. I was actually standing at a bus stop a few hundred meters from the catacombs of Saint Callistus, built in the third century AD and holding the tombs of several of the ancient popes, including Saint Fabian, Saint Sixtus, and Saint Zephyrinus. I led the young students in prayer as we waited for the bus and thought that John Paul II must now be in the company of those great Pontiffs from the ancient church.

Taking the bus back to the Vatican took quite a while, as we expected. We were jammed onto a bus and stuck in heavy traffic. The students, all between 14 and 17, prayed the Rosary aloud on the bus and sang hymns to Mary and Jesus. Their devotion was so inspiring and obviously impressed many on the bus.

We arrived at St. Peter's Square at about 11:30 pm. The entire Via della Concliiazione which leads into the square was a mass of humanity. People were covering the square, some kneeling, other sitting wrapped in blankets, others walking or staring at the windows of the papal apartments, which looked the same as last night... but the Pope is no longer there, only his body.

A prayer service began shortly after midnight. The Scripture readings were taken from the Feast of Divine Mercy, which is celebrated on the Sunday after Easter and was made a feast day by John Paul II, taking his inspiration from Saint Faustina Kowalska, a nun who lived in Krakow and died in 1937. The double coincidence that the Pope has died on a First Saturday and on the vigil of the Feast of Divine Mercy which he instituted is truly remarkable. I take it as a sign that the Lord has chosen the exact moment when he wanted to take John Paul II to himself.

At one point in the prayer service, one of the bishops who was speaking asked everyone to lift a round of applause up to the heavens. The entire piazza began clapping, and sustained this applause vigorously for almost ten minutes. It was quite remarkable. Towards the end of the applause, some young people began the favorite chant, "Giovanni Paolo!" and soon the entire square was calling out the name of our beloved father. The crowd then joined together in singing the Our Father in Italian. The prayer service concluded with the singing of the "Salve Regina" in Latin, an ancient hymn to Mary asking that "after this our exile" she will "show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb Jesus." A prayer that I know on this night has been answered for John Paul II. A light shone on the icon of Mary and the Christ child which John Paul himself put in the square after the assassination attempt in 1981.

About a block from St Peter's Square, all-night adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is being held at the Church of the Holy Spirit, which was dedicated by John Paul as the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy in Rome ten years ago on this feast day, Divine Mercy Sunday 1995. I attended part of a Mass there which was jammed with people. At the moment of the customary prayer for the pope during the Eucharistic prayer of the Mass, there was only a prayer for the bishops of the church and no mention of the pope...because there is no pope. Also at the time of the prayers for the dead, the priest prayed "for our brother John Paul...in baptism he died with Christ, may he also share his resurrection." That moment made things hit home for me.

It has been an exhausting two days to say the least. Tomorrow at 10:30 AM there will be a Mass celebrated in St. Peter's Square. I hope to attend and to continue to be a privileged witness to these momentous days.

Years and years from now, we will all be telling the story of these days. For each person I know there is a specific grace and message from God during this graced time. I know because I am witnessing an outpouring of grace in this city of the Apostles Peter and Paul. Let us all be attentive to what the Lord may be saying within us as we bid farewell to the great prophet and witness of our times.

"Do not be afraid! Open wide the doors to Christ!" These were the words of the Pope opened his pontificate more than 26 years ago. Tonight as his pontificate ended Christ opened wide the doors to John Paul II. May God grant him eternal rest.

posted by: ajurban at 13:01 | link | comments (1) |

It was beautiful in the Twin Cities yesterday, I went rollerblading and played some ultimate frisbee with some of the seminarians and some guys and one gal from St. Paul's Outreach. I got a little sun-burnt, but it's better than being pale and pasty. We have started a table of pictures of the Pope. Each year some guys go to Rome for a semester with the Catholic Studies program on campus. Most of them are from the past two years, it's hard to think that he won't be around any more, he is the only Pope that I have known, just an odd time right now. I hope that I will be able to see the new Pope when I go to Rome for J-term next year.

posted by: ajurban at 10:24 | link | comments |

04/02/05

Karol Wojtyla, requiescat in pace. I am at a loss for words, this man will be remembered by all, wether good or bad. For those of you who pray the Liturgy of the Hours, please pray the office of the dead in commemoration of our Holy Father.

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