Marathon Results

Well I have good news and bad news. The good news is I completed three papers, the bad news is I fell one shy of my goal. Not to worry I have actually started them well in advance and have plenty of breathing room left. I am hoping that I can complete the 4th one this week and be caught up with a week to spare. I will keep you posted on that account.

4 Paper Marathon

I am just starting a marathon to write 4 papers in less than 24 hours. I hope to finish by this time tomorrow. If I do I will be updating the blog and posting something good. In the meantime say some prayers that I don't get writer's block and that my brain is filled with brilliance.

Putting Things Off!

Do you ever have one of those days when you just don’t do what you know you need to? You know the type of days when you occupy yourself with everything else but what needs to be done. For me today started out to be one of those days. I had two simple homework assignments which I needed to attend to. As we essentially have Wednesdays off as a work day, pretty sweet I know, this task should have been very easy. Well it is 2:35pm and I have yet to do what I needed to do. I had a wonderful morning which began with Mass celebrated by the Archbishop of Louisville (he seems like a real nice guy). Following Mass I had a quick breakfast and ran to pay my bills. When I returned I had long lunch, and then returned to my room. It was there that I checked my email, read the newspaper, cleaned my room (yes, for real), cleaned bellringer's tank (note: do not accidently poor the fish out with the water, I did and he was real hard to scoop up as he was jumping around the sink-not to worry he is safely in water now, although I do admit I was a little scared he was going to flop himself down the open drain!) and even vacuumed. I imagine all of you know exactly what I am talking about.
Somehow I can find time to check email, text message friends, relax, watch tv, go for a walk, socialize, eat, eat some more, eat again, and again, and yet not for homework. Why is it so hard to find time to do what you don’t want to do and yet so easy to waste time. Time seemingly is abundant supply when you aren’t doing anything, yet in short supply when you need it most. It is so easy to crowd things out of our lives, things that should not be, things like homework. It seems as if the more you need to carve time out for it, the easier it is not to. Know what I mean? Seriously the greater my need grows; the less I desire to make it happen.
Thinking about my own relationship with God, I can’t help but wonder if all of our prayer lives are like this. Something that needs our immediate attention, something that helps us grow and something that is so easy to put off, rush through or even to pretend it does not exist. Yet in the end, without prayer we are not in a good place at all. One of the things they try to teach us at the Seminary is to put our prayer lives first. Through a rhythm of daily prayer they help us organize our lives in this manner. For me the greatest prayers I have offered thus far are from the bottom of my heart when I visit the empty chapel late at night. There in the silence God waits for me and there in the silence he whispers to my heart. Each and every day I am here I become increasingly aware of this whisper, the love that it entails and its presence in each and every one of us.

A Typical Day

Many of you have emailed asking what a typical day is like, so here was today in a recap.


7:00am Wake-Up
7:05am Think about getting out of bed
7:10am Five more minutes
7:15am Get Up
7:35am Dressed and Ready to go (I have to wear a shirt and tie to class each day)
7:40am Breakfast (Raisin Bran, Yogurt & a cup of tea)
7:55am Head to the Chapel
8:00am Morning Prayer
8:30am My First Class- History of Philosophy- (ahhhh, not to bad today it actually
made sense)
9:45am Class ends :) Head to the Cafeteria for a glass of lemonade
9:55am Fundamentals of Catholicism Class (mostly lecture, but interesting!)
11:15am Class ends :) Head to the library for a quick read of the paper
11:30am Mass
12:15pm Lunch (ham sandwich on 12 grain bread + bowl of potato soup)
1:00pm Check the mail, have none :(
1:10pm Head to my room to drop off my books
1:15pm Get an email with names of Spiritual Directors to choose from
1:16pm Quick call Father John, a priest on the list, the only one who worked in
a school. Figured he would be a good match. Not there, left message (he
can only take one person)
1:20pm Head to my new bank to withdraw money to pay bills. No money
Am mad, call the bank, apparently when at this bank when you open an
account they hold your checks for two weeks. Who does that? Not happy,
try to be forgiving like Jesus, want to throw stones instead, settle for
grumbling here (Wednesday will make two weeks :) Wednesday will also be
the day I close my account and go to Bank of America instead, they were nice

1:30pm Get back to my room, Father John calls, we set up a meeting

1:35pm Begin reading boring packet
1:36pm Wish I wasn't
1:38pm Still wish I wasn't

2:30pm Check email

2:55pm Panic and realize I have a 3:00pm class, run down four flights of stairs

3:05pm Realize class does not begin until 3:25pm

3:06pm Realize I am a fool

3:25pm Prayer/Priesthood Class begins (love it, great priest teaching it,
enjoyable and fun)

5:00pm Head to Chapel

5:15pm Evening Prayer

5:45pm We say Prayers in the lobby around a statue of Mary

5:50pm Dinner (chicken + pasta + iced tea - not bad)

6:00pm Read Time Magazine

6:15pm Continue with Homework

7:15pm Miss call

7:25pm Get Photo text message of my friends and fellow seminarians eating ice
cream, with the message "you should have answered this call"

7:45pm Go to the Pharmacy to turn in a prescription (I am allergic to something)

8:15pm Head on my nightly 2.5 mile walk

9:00pm Return and spend some time in the chapel

9:25pm Chat with the guys in my hall

9:35pm Check email

9:45pm Work on blog

10:25pm Will get ready for bed, say prayers, read some more, watch some tv and
head to bed


11:30pm zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Philosophy

Still have not finished my philosophy reading. I wonder if it will make more sense if i read it in another languag. AHHHHHHH


(On a side note it was a strange weekend. Saturday we had tons of rain, as I imagine most of you did. Sunday was incredibly beautiful! I was able to attend Mass at the Shrine of the Little Flower, a beautiful area parish.- more to follow on this tomorrow)

I hate homework

It is a Saturday night and I will be spending some quality time with my Philosophy reading. I am not going to lie to you, I am not so excited about this prospect. I am not sure if any of you have ever had one of those subjects that just makes your head hurt or not, but philosophy class is that way for me. I am sure with a little time and patience it will make sense. However, at the present I think it would be easier to learn Chinese (sometimes I wonder if the class would make more sense in Chinese, even though I do not speak it, I would likely leave with the same understanding).

I know that the magical light bulb going off moment will come, I just hope it is quick.

On a side note the tropical storm coming up the coast did lend for one humorous moment. I opened my door to go to dinner and created a huge draft between my room and the guy across the hall. Ten seconds later it was a ticker tait (not sure the spelling on that one) parade in the hall way as all of his papers, bills, mail and the like were sucked into the hallway. I felt bad and picked them all up before he returned, none-the-less it was wicked cool to see.

Off to study! Like all good things in life, it will require some hard work.

My First Installment of Pictures

Sorry for the delay with these. Apparently I need a new cord for the camera. Not to worry I will be heading to the store this weekend. These are ones I borrowed from the guy next door.

I hope everyone has had a great week. It has been a long one here, but a good one. Today we had to have our idea photos taken. It was a little strange because I had to wear clerics, translation- the black shirt with white collar that a priest wears. Normally I am expected to wear a shirt and tie every day. Next year i will have to wear "clerics." It is hot down here and part of me wonders if wearing white would have felt better. Then again knowing me wearing white is not such a good idea, it would quickly be destroyed unless I wore a bib, not to mention the contrast with my tan would look funny.

I can't wait to post some pictures of the chapel tomorrow. It is an amazing place. There is nothing as calming as visiting and praying in an empty chapel late at night when you are stressed with work. I honestly wonder how much stronger everyone's faith would be if they had so a chapel to pray. In the end I suppose it is not the chapel that hears the prayers, but God and he is everywhere.

TGIF!