Family Dinner

The Seminary is a ghost town this week as we are officially enjoying our February vacation. The entire seminary is down to twelve seminarians who decided to spend the break in Baltimore. (as noted in my earlier blog, until the great eye adventure I was to be spending my time in NH :(

Since there were only a few guys left in the seminary I got together with a few friends and decided to plan a big family dinner. Each seminarian contributed in one way or another, and the Rector gave us $100 to cover the food. After a few days of planning and a lot of cooking the evening turned out brilliantly.

We had a gourmet soup as an appetizer, a Polish dish I can't pronounce as the main course, with mashed potatoes (made by yours truly), stir fry vegetables, corn muffins, apple pie, tiramisu, chocolate cake and french wine. We even setup a beautiful table setting in the Donnolly Lounge (the Seminary Pub in the basement), where we spent most of the night enjoying the evenings food and festivities.

All in all it was a great night and an enjoyable moment together. It was a little taste of home, in a place that can sometimes feel very far away from it.


On a side note, one of the other joys of being one of only a few on vacation in the Seminary, has been the incredible sense of quiet. It is wonderful not to worry about being too loud, being able to stay up late, sleep in and just relax. I also find that the quiet makes it easier to pray. When life is busy I tend to go, go, go and not stop, pray, and recenter my life. I could never be a Trappist Monk where you lived much of your life in silence. However, I do enjoy the break and the quiet from time to time. It is amazing how the average week itself can be much the same microcosm of life, and how Sunday Mass can guide us spiritually, emotionally and mentally in the same way.