A Semester Recap

After a grace-filled summer of travelling, a mission trip to St. Lucia, and a parish assignment at Incarnation Catholic Church in Sarasota, FL, I returned to St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami, FL for my last year of formation here!

Already as I write this, it is hard to believe how fast the year has flown by!   This semester continues to be a busy one!  Although I have less classes this Fall, I have a Senior Project to complete.  It centers around a parallel reading of the German philosopher Nietzsche and that of the great Church Father, St. Augustine. (More details in a following post)

The semester began at the end of August, as we greated a new incoming class of seminarians.  It is edifying to see such a great group of guys, desiring to give of themselves in service to Christ and His Church!  We certainly hit the ground rolling as we delved back into formation.

Once again we participated in the famous Our Lady of Charity Mass and celebration here in Miami, this time to mark the 400th anniversary of La Virgen de la Cobre.

Another highlight about mid-semester was our 40-Hour Devotion with Adoration and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Vincent de Paul Chapel at Seminary.  It is always such a precious time to spend with the Lord, praying for His Church, our family, benefactors, brothers in formation, and ourselves!

After successfully making it through midterms, and spending some time of R&R on break, soon All Hallow's Eve was upon us.  We had a nice celebration of fraternity this year.  The cooler weather sure helped us enter the Autumn mood.  Do not be afraid to celebrate the true reasons behind this holiday, as the picture below is such a precious example!

Additionally, I had the privilege of serving with my fellow seminarians at a priestly ordination at our Epiphany Cathedral in Venice, FL.  Truly a powerful experience!  May many more holy vocations pour forth!

Another seminarian and I were asked to speak at the 2012 Venice Diocesan Youth Rally regarding vocations, our personal stories, and the call to holiness.  What a powerful experience!  It was so impressive to see 1,000 young people gathered together to encounter Christ!  What a beautiful diocese we have and so thankful for Bishop Dewane and all the faithful priests and religious, who offer such a beautiful example of our lived Catholic Faith!

Here are two examples of Eucharistic Processions around the diocese, the first at Ave Maria, and the second at Christ the King in Sarasota.  As recently stated by Cardinal Dolan at the USCCB meeting, we need to recover our Catholic identity as expressed through external signs that reflect the interior reality of our Faith!

Soon after, election time came and went.  This election was such a critical time in our nation and all of us seminarians took great interest in it!  You can be sure that our civic duties were performed!  Although the Gospel of Life didn't triumph, we cannot lose hope!  We turn our eyes ever upwards to the heavens, and beg the Lord to strengthen our resolve to defend the most helpless among us, and to protect our cherished religious liberties.

This banner of the American Revolution sums up our attitude nicely, don't you think?

Last weekend, we had the first of our bi-annual Vocation Awareness Weekends here at Seminary.  It is basically an open house weekend for those young men who are discerning the priesthood.  With about 70 men from all over the state attending, a spiritually-enriching time was had by all!  I was blessed to give a talk about the Intellectual Pillar of Formation and help facilitate a small group discussion.  God is good!

Well then, I think that covers the main points of the semester so far! I'll leave you with a nice motivator from Bishop Sheen!

God Love You,
Seminarian Shawn