Good afternoon, everyone!!! This week, we started the academic year here at St. John Vianney College Seminary and what a week it has been. My class schedule is not too bad, except for Wednesday when there is quite a bit of things we have to do as a community, besides going to classes. Here are the details…

Monday:
7:15 a.m. Morning Prayer
7:30 a.m. Mass
8:00 a.m. Breakfast
9:30 – 10:20 a.m. Ancient Philosophy
10:30 – 11:20 a.m. Themes of the Catechism
12:30 p.m. Lunch
1:10 – 2:00 p.m. Ministerial Methods
5:00 p.m. Meditation/Evening Prayer
5:30 p.m. Dinner
11:00 p.m. Curfew

Tuesday:
7:15 a.m. Morning Prayer
7:30 a.m. Mass
8:00 a.m. Breakfast
8:25 – 9:40 a.m. Spanish I
12:30 p.m. Lunch
1:10 – 2:25 p.m. Western Civilization I
5:00 p.m. Meditation/Evening Prayer
5:30 p.m. Dinner
11:00 p.m. Curfew

Wednesday:
7:15 a.m. Morning Prayer
7:30 a.m. Mass
8:00 a.m. Breakfast
9:30 – 10:20 a.m. Ancient Philosophy
10:30 – 11:20 a.m. Themes of the Catechism
12:30 p.m. Lunch
1:30 – 3:30 p.m. Worklist
4:30 p.m. Holy Hour/Evening Prayer
5:30 p.m. Dinner
6:30 – 9:00 p.m. Introduction to the Old Testament
11:00 p.m. Curfew

Thursday:
7:15 a.m. Morning Prayer
7:30 a.m. Mass
8:00 a.m. Breakfast
8:25 – 9:40 a.m. Spanish I
12:30 p.m. Lunch
1:10 – 2:25 p.m. Western Civilization I
5:00 p.m. Meditation/Evening Prayer
5:30 p.m. Dinner
6:30 – 9:00 p.m. Rector’s Conference
11:00 p.m. Curfew

Friday:
7:15 a.m. Morning Prayer
7:30 a.m. Mass
8:00 a.m. Breakfast
9:30 – 10:20 a.m. Ancient Philosophy
10:30 – 11:20 a.m. Themes of the Catechism
12:30 p.m. Lunch
5:00 p.m. Meditation/Evening Prayer
5:30 p.m. Dinner
1:00 a.m. Curfew

As you can see, my weekdays are booked solid. I guess that’s why they have given us a vast majority of the weekends to ourselves. I look forward to having some time to reflect on the past week and to prepare for the week ahead. I will use most of my free time to study and do homework, but I will also be sure to keep in touch with everyone back home.

I hope everyone has had a great week. Last week was a bit of a fluke for everyone in Florida as Fay was content with staying put right over the central part of the state. The flooding in most parts of Brevard, Seminole, and Volusia counties is absolutely astonishing! Now, we have to keep our eyes trained on Gustav and Hanna. I am praying that Gustav does not go towards New Orleans. They cannot take the impact of another major hurricane. We won’t know exactly where it goes for the next couple of days, so we still have time to pray that it goes elsewhere as a much weaker system.

Until next time, stay safe!! God Bless!!!

Hello everyone! I realize that I have not been able to get on the internet as often as I thought, at least for the first couple of weeks, to keep y’all updated on my new life in the seminary. So, I thought up this clever idea of doing a week in review.

Sunday, August 17th:
On Sunday, the new seminarians began, somewhat reluctantly, their four day silent retreat to reflect upon their journey to the seminary thus far. It gave all of us an opportunity to recall the days of the New Student Experience and how we have all come together as brothers in the faith. We were not able to use any kind of technology, including computers, cell phones, radios, televisions, etc. However, this was a gift from God, because we were able to recognize God’s presence in our daily lives.

Monday, August 18th – Wednesday, August 20th:
The retreat continued until Wednesday, when we were finally able to get our cell phones back from Reverend Doctor Rios (we just found out that he had been taking classes to become a doctor without anyone knowing – including Archbishop Favalora). When I finally got my phone back, I turned it on and was greeted by 41 messages!! YIKES!!

The retreat was an awesome experience! It gave us all the time we needed to have for prayerful reflection not only on these days here in the seminary, but for most of us, our entire lives. I was able to see that God has been present in my life the entire time. I just never really noticed! After the retreat ended and I discovered that my vocal chords did not disappear, I was able to voice what I felt touched me the most. When I was sitting in front of the Blessed Sacrament, a sense of peace and comfort came over me and I knew that God was with me.

Thursday, August 21st:
On Thursday, all of the Returning Men arrived at the college. They are great guys also!! We have all been getting along really well so far. In my book, we are no longer New Men and Returning Men; we are Men of the Church who are traveling the same road of discernment to the priesthood.

Friday, August 22nd: (Happy Birthday, David!!!)
Friday….what a day! It was jam packed with a lot of fun and some not so fun things. We all had to be up at 7:30 for Morning Prayer, which was a little difficult for the guys returning after a long summer break, but I was used to it. Then we had breakfast, got our books for the semester, and the New Men went out on a “Social.”

We carpooled to the Dadeland Mall, which is about 5 minutes to the south of the seminary, and walked to the MetroRail station (above ground rail system). From there, we went to Downtown Miami and attended Mass at Gesu Catholic Church (the oldest Church in the Archdiocese). Then we went shopping for awhile and got back on the train and departed for home. That night, however, the New Men had to vacate the property because the Returning Men had to go on their Day of Recollection (silent retreat).

Well, a group of us decided to go to see a ceremony where some ladies were installed as nuns. On the way home from the ceremony, we were coming down the Palmetto Expressway when we ran over an iron gate that was sitting in the middle of the road. Unfortunately, the SUV I was riding in got a flat tire. At the time, it was about 11:40 p.m. and curfew was at 12:00 a.m. We were only about 5 minutes from the seminary when we ran over this stupid gate and had to sit there waiting for the tire to get changed. But, because so many cars ran this gate over, the Florida Highway Patrol had to come out and take a report, which took some time. By the time we got back to the seminary, it was about 1:15 a.m. way passed curfew!! But the Dean of Men did get a call from us, so he knew we would be late. But, I got very little sleep last night!!

Saturday, August 23rd:
Today, the Archbishop of Miami came and celebrated a Mass of the Holy Spirit with us as we begin the school year on Monday. Following the celebration of the Eucharist, we had a HUGE dinner. Fr. Miguel even came down to see us for this special occasion. After dinner, we had a little bit of free time so a group of us went bowling and had quite a bit of fun!

Hopefully, I was able to catch everyone up on my week. It was a week filled with great triumphs! Even the flat tire was a blessing because we were able to do some apostolic work on the side of the road (make sure everyone was okay, make sure no one needed any help, etc.). All of the seminarians are looking forward to this upcoming year of formation as we are a community of joy!

I leave you with a couple of questions from our retreat to use to reflect upon your own relationship with our Heavenly Father. Where has God been present in your lives? When have you been aware of His presence? When have you neglected to notice His presence? Have you given thanks to God for all the gifts he has placed in your lives?

Bye for now………..

Hello, again! This afternoon, I met with Dr. Santos (Academic Dean) to discuss which classes I needed to take for the upcoming fall semester! Earlier in the week, I got some disappointing news that I would only be able to be a sophomore because some of my credits would not transfer from Valencia. However, now that I am registered for classes, I can finally put that disappointment behind me and move on to the next challenge.

Over the last couple of weeks the whole financial aspect of everything has been weighing on my mind, but I have decided that the Lord would not have called me to this place and I am putting it in His hands. With His help, everything will work out fine!

Hopefully everyone back home is doing amazing. I miss each and every one of my family members and friends. I would like to stay in contact with all of you as much as possible. If you want to send a letter, my address will be listed in the bulletin this weekend. But, if you can’t wait that long, just look around the page here and you will find it.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support!!

More to come……….

Hello everyone!!! I have not been able to sign on to this site since I have been in Miami because my computer was not hooked up to the internet. But, things are up and running now. Now, for some news…

The first couple of days here in Miami were extremely trying for me and my brothers – we all missed our family and friends. Over the last week, however, we have been getting to know each other very well! In fact, Fr. Michael, the Rector and President of SJVCS, says that we have been one of the best groups of new men to enter the seminary because we have become acquainted with each other so quickly. Now, the discomfort of not being at home is beginning to subside. However, the yearning for the closeness of family will never cease because family is a most important element of our lives.

Over the past few days, Fr. Michael and Fr. Alvarez (Dean of Men) have been adding new challenges to our daily schedule, including conferences on priestly formation, academic sessions, registration sessions, and “worklist.” Today was our first opportunity to participate in worklist, which is a list of chores that must be completed on Wednesdays. My chore was cleaning the bathrooms – how pleasant. But, in all honesty, the experience wasn’t that bad.

As you can imagine, the first few days here at SJVCS have been mentally exhausting. So, I am off to bed for tonight. However, I want to keep everyone updated on my progress here so I will update the site tomorrow afternoon.

In closing, I would like to thank everyone for their support, both spiritually and financially. I cannot do this on my own! I will need your prayerful support and ask that you will keep my brother seminarians in your prayers as well.

Bye for now…………

Hello everyone! Convocation was an extremely awesome experience last week as I was able to meet all of the seminarians for the Diocese of Orlando. It was nice to be able to meet the guys I will be attending SJVCS with as it will help with the transition process. I am still unaware of exactly where I will be placed, academically, because we haven’t registered for classes yet. But, I will keep everyone posted on that!

My last weekend at St. Charles was also an awesome experience. It is a great feeling knowing that so many people are supporting me and praying for me as I embark on this new spiritual journey. An official thank you will be published in the church bulletin this weekend!!!

Thanks to all! Bye for now……