I Think It’s Time We Took A Break

Walking away for a little while helps us know we were in the right place all along.

With part one of the postulant year coming to a close, it’s time for another Vocation Vacation. Like our break at Christmas, we’ve been encouraged to break ourselves from the routine of the religious life so as to discern its effect on us (and us on it) over the past nine months. It’s a helpful reminder that we still haven’t formally committed to anything about the Order, and so are not bound by any vows in this process. Essentially, stepping away may be the best way to take a step closer. (This is not to say that we’re free from the Ten Commandments while we’re gone, but you know what I mean.)

The challenge of this break will no doubt be its length. Five weeks is quite a long time. With no money, less contacts than before, and a limited amount of responsibility, there is plenty of room to get bored. As our director told us in our last meeting, however, this is actually part of the design: with so much time and probably very little to do, it’s inevitable that we’ll begin reflecting on the year and hopefully realize how much religious life has come to mean to us.

As for me, I have little evidence to believe my director to be wrong. I will be spending one week traveling around visiting friends from college, during which I’ll be attending a Dave Matthews concert, but other than that I have four weeks without plans. I’m looking forward  to spending a lot of time with my family, possibly getting to the beach for a few days, and just relaxing without any stress or responsibility. As it will be the last time home before I’m a simply professed friar (occurs in 15 months at the end of novitiate), there are also a number of practical things I have to take care of, such as putting my finances in my parents name, getting rid of a few superfluous possessions, and taking visits to the doctor and dentist while I’m still covered under my parents insurance plan.

All in all, I’m looking forward to the time to catch up, reflect, recharge, and dream for a life to come as a friar. If I find the time, there are a few topics on which I’ve been meaning to post, so look for a few sporadic posts over the coming weeks. Otherwise, pray that I have safe travels and check back in June for the next step in the life of a friar in training!

 4 Comments

 Posted on May 12, 2012 by

 Discernment, News

     , , , ,

“Acting” Like Friars

For those of you that read Quiet Weekend, Busy Weeks and were completely confused by the picture at the bottom, I apologize. I thought that I had mentioned that earlier, but apparently I did so only on an individual basis.

At the Inter Franciscan Formation Programs held at the Graymoor Spiritual Life Center twice a year, there is a talent show on the last night of the workshop. Being the ham that I am, I took the opportunity to rouse the crowd with a fake magic show, as pictured in the other post. To my surprise, one of the sisters actually recorded it. For your viewing pleasure at my expense:

The skit was such a hit, that we were inspired to come up with another idea. Here’s what we did this past weekend. It’s a bit longer, but it’s pretty funny:

I said it in “Mission” Accomplished and believe it even more now that we’ve done these two skits: Friars working separately may be more efficient, but it won’t be more effective. It was harder to work with extra people, and it may be been a little rustier as a result, but our witness as brothers really made the difference. I hope that these silly skits will remind me that brotherhood is our first priority, and from it, ministry will follow. To confuse this order is to confuse our Franciscan charism.

 2 Comments

 Posted on March 11, 2012 by

 Fraternity, News

     , , , ,

Quiet Weekend, Busy Weeks Ahead

After spending so much time in preparation and implementation of the Parish Mission last week, the other postulants and I enjoyed what turned out to be a very quiet weekend: with the exception of class Friday and Today, and an integration seminar on Saturday, we were actually free to do as we pleased all weekend. This was much appreciated (and much deserved, if you ask me!)

Besides the usual reading, YMCA, and group movies, it was also a weekend of “firsts” for me: on Saturday, Dennis, Ramon, and I went exploring the nearby park looking for good walking trails by the river, and on Sunday, I cooked dinner for the first time. No one died as a result of either experiment, so I would consider it a pretty successful weekend!

There won't be any "magic" in our sketch per se, but we've got a few tricks up our sleeves...

A relaxing weekend couldn’t have come at a better time, because by 6:50 tomorrow morning, it’s back to the Postulant grind. We’re starting with mass at 7:00 at the Poor Clare Monastery here in Wilmington, followed by lunch and fellowship at the Poor Clare Monastery in Wappingers Falls, NY, before we arrive once again in Garrison, New York for a Franciscan four-day workshop at the Graymoor Spiritual Life Center. If you’ll remember, we spent four days at Graymoor back in November and had an excellent time (you can refresh your memory with my post, Finally, a Franciscan!). We’re all really looking forward to another fully Franciscan run, Franciscan themed, and Franciscan attended workshop.

That’s it for now, but make sure you check back next weekend when we get back. I don’t want to give too much away, but the other postulants and I have been working on another routine for this year’s talent show that you’re going to want to hear about! Wish us luck!

 3 Comments

 Posted on March 5, 2012 by

 News, Postulancy, Trips

Quick Update

As expected by all, the year has reached a very busy point! With travels, in-house workshops, mid-year evaluations, and all the regular day-to-day activities, I have had little time to post over the past few weeks; add to it the parish mission and Lent fast approaching and you see a busy future ahead of me.

That being said, I wanted to point out a few things past, present, and future in the life of a postulant:

  • We spent last weekend in Brentwood, NY, at the Sister’s of St. Joseph motherhouse for a workshop on the environment. I’ve uploaded pictures of the complex here.
  • Dennis and I are trucking along through the Bible in our sessions with the retired residents. Having completed the Pentateuch and the Historical Writings, we’ll be moving on to Wisdom Literature this Thursday.
  • Having hit a bit of a “wall” motivationally last week (writer’s block was an additional factor in my lack of posts), I have since picked up a little more reading that has inspired me greatly: I’m rereading The Screwtape Letters, and diving into the deep end of philosophy and theology by getting back to Catholicism by Richard McBrien, a book I read a lot of last year.
  • Dominic Monti, OFM, is coming back for the second half of “The History of Holy Name Province” workshop that he started a few weeks ago (of which I mentioned here.)

More to come later! Have a great week everyone!

 Posted on February 14, 2012 by

 News

     , , , , ,

New Photos

After a while of neglect, I have finally updated the Shutterfly website with an additional 20-30 pictures from our December and January trips. This includes our trip to the Cloisters, New Jersey Parishes, and Wisconsin, as well as a few new pictures added to the Graymoor, and Cincinnati albums.

In the future, I’m going to link the blogposts to the Shutterfly albums so that it’s easier to navigate, but for the time being you’ll have to click here and scroll down through the albums. This link can also be found on the “Photos” tab and the link on the righthand toolbar.

 Posted on January 31, 2012 by

 News

     ,

Breaking In The Habit

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.