The spring semester’s Vocations Awareness Weekend was so much more profound than the fall semester’s VAW. This time around, the seminary capped the number of young men who could attend to at about 70. Each of the seven dioceses of the Province of Miami brought priests and young men discerning God’s will for the their lives. The quality of guys that attended the weekend was a lot better than I had previously experienced. The men who came down know that there is something tugging at their hearts; they know that the Lord is calling them to do something special with their lives. In an increasingly materialistic world, the courage these young men exhibited in simply coming on the weekend was incredible. The Lord was working in so many ways!!

After Vocations Awareness Weekend, activities at the seminary really quieted down. In fact, most of the time leading up to Easter Break was spent, for most of the seminarians, working on papers. The paper I was working on was for Contemporary Philosophy; it was a paper on Martin Heidegger and his critique of the Cartesian project [For all of you non-Philosophers out there, Descartes' philosophical argument culminated in the belief: "Cogito ergo sum."--"I think, therefore I am."] However, once I got into the paper, I realized that in order to talk about Descartes, I first had to do a brief overview of the entire history of philosophy. I did not have a clue as to what I was writing, but Fr. Vallee seemed to like it because he gave me an A–something I was totally not expecting.

When Easter Break finally arrived, I was looking forward to helping out at St. Charles. I absolutely love being around the people of my parish. It reminds me where I am from, who is important and what matters most in life. On Good Friday, I was given the opportunity (strongly encouraged) to cantor for the first time at my parish. Even though I had done it countless amounts of time at the seminary, I was extremely nervous because it was my first time doing it at home. But, everything turned out okay. Before I went up to the ambo to sing the Responsorial Psalm, I said a brief prayer:”Lord, I am doing this for you. Please do not make me look like a fool.”

The rest of Easter Break was spent in a prayerful mood as I contemplated the gift that the Lord had given us through the suffering, death and resurrection of His son. I was reminded that, throughout our lives, we do not necessarily understand where the Lord is leading us; however, we simply have to put our trust in Him and follow where He leads. Most of the time, when we truly try to follow the Lord, we are going down a certain path when the Lord steps in and takes your hand. At that point, sometimes, we are led down a very different path. All we can do is surrender ourselves to His will.

When we returned from Easter Break, it was time to begin preparations for final exams. I was so thankful to be given a take-home final [Themes of the Catechism of the Catholic Church], three open note exams [Thomas Aquinas in the 20th Century, Contemporary Philosophy, and Anthropology], and only one exam where I actually had to study [Spanish]. I guess we can say that the Lord was very merciful as always.

After finals, the seminary community gathered together to begin community days. In most colleges, after the students take their final exams, they are free to go home for the summer. However, in the seminary, we are a faith community first and foremost. That connection ties us together and makes our school community unique. Therefore, community days are designed to help us come together and experience the Lord firsthand through the relationships we have with one another as brothers in Christ.

Community days and the academic year came to a close on May 5th with the celebration of graduation. Sixteen seminarians graduated from St. John Vianney College Seminary this year, most of which are moving on to St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach. The Mass was celebrated by Archbishop John C. Favalora, which is usually not the case. Archbishop Favalora usually only presides over the graduation ceremony. However, because he is retiring as Archbishop of Miami in the next month, Favalora was asked to preside over the Mass. It was beautiful to share in that experience with him.

Well, there you have it, the final episode of the “Year in Review.” I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to all of you who have supported me in this journey over the last year. I have had some great experiences this year at the seminary, all of which will remain with me forever. Thanks for the prayers and the support. As always, stay tuned.

Pax.

PHOTO: (1) St. John Vianney College Seminary; (2) The Excerpt Mill; (3) St. John Vianney College Seminary–Dan Darmanin

The weekend after the alumni reunion, the seminary again opened its doors to a large group of people for our fall Vocations Awareness Weekend. The VAW that took place from November 13-15th was rather difficult. There were a lot of young men attending that were seriously considering what God was calling them to do with their lives. However, there were others who were here simply because their parents wanted them to come and who had no intention of looking at the priesthood as something God was calling them to do with their lives. However, the Lord worked through all of it. He used each and every one of the seminarians and priests who were here to show the attendees that God loves them and that He is seeking them to serve the Church and the people of God in some capacity. It was rather humbling to see, in the midst of the sometimes chaotic weekend, that the Lord was using me to reach someone I had never met. It goes to show you that the Lord works with what you have to offer, however limited that offering may be. All we can do is surrender it all to Him because we cannot necessarily see how the Lord is working in others.

After VAW, the rest of the fall semester was normal. By no means is seminary ever normal!! Seminarians are constantly embarking on journeys that travel into the deepest recesses of our personhood and it is rather exhausting in itself. However, to have a lot of extra things back to back, the semester was very exhausting. At the same time, however, all of us felt that we had accomplished a great feat; our exhaustion felt good. But, nonetheless, we all were looking forward to getting back to the regular routine of seminary life. Shortly after getting back into the regular routine, the seminarians had their final exams for the fall semester (all of which I passed–to go on the record) and departed for home to celebrate the Christmas holidays with family and friends.

Over the Christmas break, I was able to spend some amount of time at the feet of the Lord. I asked him to continue guiding me, strengthening me, and illuminating His will for my life. The fall semester was one that was filled with many struggles and the Christmas break showed me that the Lord had something rather interesting in store for me during the spring semester. He was going to be working in me and through me in ways that I could not imagine. When we returned from Christmas break, all of the seminarians breathed a sigh of relief when we noticed that the forthcoming semester was rather normal and tranquil.

“On January 15th, the seminary community went on a Day of Recollection to assist us in switching gears from the Christmas Break and to prepare us for the upcoming academic semester. The Day of Recollection, which only lasted about 20 hours or so, was eye opening for me. It allowed me to really reflect on priestly service and the baptismal call of all. The mini-retreat gave me the opportunity to reflect on how the Lord is working in my life and how he continues to call me to serve His church, His people.” [1]

Our semester continued with the presentation of the junior class’ Humanities Projects on January 28th. The purpose of the projects was to show a connection between the study of humanities (art, music, etc.) with that of religion and/or philosophy. To make the presentations go smoothly and not take five days to present, the juniors were broken up into five groups of three. Each of the groups were asked to choose two humanities categories and prepare a 15 minute presentation on how they are connected to theology or philosophy. Each of the projects were rather good; I was impressed by the work some of my fellow classmates completed. My group chose painting and literature and its correlation to theology; we focused on the Passion story–the Way to the Cross, the Crucifixion, and the Descent from the Cross.

The project had a very profound impact on me because I was able to see how, through painting and literature, the Lord can reach us on a level that is immense. I was reminded of God’s love for each of us. It reminded me that, no matter what we do with our lives, as long as we are praising the Lord and working to serve others, then we are living the life that God wants us to live. But it also reminded me of my sinfulness and how the Lord is constantly calling me to a conversion of heart and mind.

The most intriguing event of the second semester was the visit of a very special alumni for the seminary’s annual Fides et Ratio Conference. This year, the seminary was very blessed to have Ambassador Miguel H. Diaz, United States Ambassador to the Holy See, come and give the annual speech to the seminarians, faculty, and other invited guests. “The purpose of Ambassador Diaz’s speech was to highlight the growing relationship between the United States and the Vatican, especially in the areas where the two countries are working together for the common good of all peoples.”

Ambassador Diaz had a message for the seminarians in attendance:

“We need religious leaders who know the world, who know the issues of the world and who can wrestle them.” He went on to say that “we are not called to flee from the world. The Church is in the midst of the world. The people of faith are called to be there, to be in Haiti, to be wherever human dignity is trampled.” And finally, the ambassador told us that “we have to remember the past because we do not want the future to be that past.”

It was a reminder to all of us that the Lord needs us to stand up for our faith and the morals that He gave us. We need to live in a way that illustrates the love of the Lord. We need to defend the rights of others, putting ourselves last, risking everything we have been given to make the voice of God heard in the world.

After Fides et Ratio, things once again returned to our regular routine. In February, after returning from mid-semester break, we went on a three-day retreat. The retreat was very helpful and grace-filled for me. I was given the opportunity to spend a good amount of time in the presence of the Lord without the distractions of the external world. I was able to focus on my prayer and to truly grow in my relationship with the Lord and with our Blessed Mother. A couple of weeks after the retreat,the seminary community once again opened its doors to guests for our second Vocations Awareness Weekend of the year.

As you can see, the post is getting long again. Therefore, stay tuned for Episode III where I will reflect on the Spring Semester from VAW until the present time as we prepare for graduation and Summer Recess.

PHOTO: (1) St. John Vianney College Seminary; (2) St. John Vianney College Seminary; (3) College of St. Benedict–St. John’s University

On Friday evening, the guests arrived to the seminary. At about 11:00 p.m. we all gathered in the main chapel for a welcoming/blessing ceremony with a modified version of Night Prayer. Saturday was packed with all kinds of different activities. On Saturday morning, the guests watched a very…interesting movie created by the Dean of Students/Vice Rector of the seminary. Following the movie presentation, the guests listened to several seminarians describe the four pillars of formation as prescribed by the Program of Priestly Formation (PPF). The seminarians added a personal touch to the pillars to make them more real for the guests.

On Saturday evening, several seminarians were asked to lead small group sessions where the guests could ask any questions about seminary life, the process of discernment in our own lives, etc. During the small group sessions, I experienced the willingness of these young men to open their hearts. Compared to the last VAW in November, the conversation that took place in these small groups was much deeper and more geared towards discernment.

Following the small group sessions, the priests, seminarians, and guests participated in the Stations of the Cross. The guests were asked to carry the cross from one station to the next. It was a very powerful experience for all of us. Following the Stations of the Cross, we re-entered the chapel to find a statue of the corpse of Jesus on the altar. That always seems to take my breath away–it was very powerful.

On Sunday morning, the guests came together with the Vocations Director and seminarians from their diocese to talk about the weekend more in depth. During the Orlando meeting, the seminarians shared a bit of advice to the guests. I simply reminded the guests to be open to whatever the Lord is asking them to do with their lives. I also shared with them that, when I was discerning entering the seminary, I would sit in front of the Blessed Sacrament and simply listen to the Lord. The weekend came to a close with the celebration of the Eucharist in St. Raphael’s Chapel immediately after the meetings.

Over this past week, we have all heard about the news of priest sexual abuse scandals in the Church in Europe, most especially in Germany. Even amongst all of that negative news that is being directed towards the Church, we still have young men who are discerning giving their lives for the spreading of the Gospel. Now, more than ever, we need men–healthy men–who have a desire to love, serve, and inspire others. Now, more than ever, we need men who want to serve the church, who are tired of society telling us to turn away from the love of God. The men that came on the weekend, even as young as they may be, get it! They understand that there is more to life than what society portrays; there is more to life than material things; there is more to life than becoming rich, famous, and powerful. Ultimately, God calls all of us, men and women, to follow him and spread his Gospel message. No matter what we are called to in life, we must remember that Jesus Christ came down to this earth, dwelt among us, and died for the salvation of all.

I know that all of you have prayed that the Lord will send shepherds to guide His Church. Continue to pray for an increase in vocations to the Church because the Lord is answering them. There is hope!!!

Pax.

This morning, I would like to begin by thanking all of you who are loyal readers of this small effort on my part to promote vocations in the Catholic Church by sharing my own journey of discernment. I would also like to welcome those who may be visiting for the first time.

As many of you read on the Whispers of the Spirit blog on Thursday, over the last several months it has become increasingly difficult to keep up two blogs when you are pretty much working on them yourself. The only reasonable thing to do would be to stop posting blogs on one site and focus on the site where I post more articles. Therefore, Whispers of the Spirit will no longer be updated with new information, effective immediately. The work of promoting vocations will continue on this site.

There will be some changes to my discernment blog in the next few months. In fact, if you look at the top of your page now, you will already see something that has transferred from Whispers of the Spirit–“US Vocations Offices”. Information regarding all of the Vocations Offices from all of the Dioceses and Archdiocese in the United States are on that page. Check it out. More changes are on the way.

Thank you, again, for your continued prayers and support! A person’s journey in seminary is not the easiest thing in the world, as I am sure you all can tell from my posts here over the last couple of years. However, knowing that there are people praying for you nonstop is a reassuring feeling; it lets me know that the Lord is with me and will help me persevere in all the struggles that may come my way.

As one of the seminarians responsible for music throughout each week, I, along with the other “music guys,” have been tasked with getting the music ready for all of the liturgies. We have quite a few liturgies to plan for; here is a bit of a breakdown of the schedule for VAW.

Friday Night the seminarians will welcome the guests with a social in the Bishop Noonan Community Room. Following the arrival of the guests, we will all gather in the main chapel for an adjusted form of Night Prayer, with a formal welcoming and blessing ceremony.

Saturday is action packed with the guests being introduced to the “Pillars of Priestly Formation” with a video made by Fr. Alvarez. (That should be interesting to say the least.) To begin the day, we will all gather in the chapel for Morning Prayer. Later in the morning, after the video and seminarian panel, we will all gather in the chapel for Mass. The afternoon on Saturday is meant to be enjoyable; we usually set aside time for all of us to get some recreation, whether that be playing basketball, soccer, football…you get the point. Following the time for sports, we will gather in the chapel for Evening Prayer. After dinner, the guests will participate in group sessions with the seminarians, where they will be able to ask our point of view on formation. (They usually ask about the interview process, the academics, communal prayer, living in the dorms, and our vocations stories. It really is a great time that allows them to gain a human perspective on the experience of seminary.) Following the group sessions, we gather in the chapel for Stations of the Cross.

On Sunday, the guests and seminarians will gather in the Chapel of St. Raphael for Morning Prayer. Following the celebration of Lauds, the guests will have the opportunity to meet with the Vocations Director and seminarians from their Diocese. The weekend comes to a close with the celebration of the Eucharist.

It is going to be an excellent weekend with a lot of graces! For me, the young men who come to share the experiences of Vocations Awareness Weekend minister to me in more ways than I could ever minister to them. They allow me to see that the Lord is still calling people to serve His church despite all of the cultural influences that tell all of us to live life, do whatever we want. The church in Florida has a bright future ahead!!

Please pray for us and for all the guests.

Pax.QFTNS6CMRT8R

Photo 1 Source: St. John Vianney College Seminary

Photo 2 Source: Thomas Pringle

Diocese of Orlando:

Archdiocese of Miami: 305-762-1137

Diocese of St. Petersburg: 727-345-3452

Diocese of Palm Beach: 561-775-9552

Diocese of Venice: 941-484-9543

Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee: 850-435-3552

Diocese of St. Augustine: 904-262-3200, ext. 101

***Note: If you are the bulletin editor at a parish in the Diocese of Orlando, please email me (tom@thomaspringle.com) for additional bulletin inserts promoting Vocations Awareness Weekend.***

On January 15th, the seminary community went on a Day of Recollection to assist us in switching gears from the Christmas Break and to prepare us for the upcoming academic semester. Our retreat master was Monsignor Thomas Caserta from the Diocese of Brooklyn (Pastor of the Shrine  Church of St. Bernadette). Msgr. Caserta spoke to us about the evangelical councils of obedience, chastity, and poverty. (Interesting side note: Diocesan priests do not take a vow of poverty; instead, diocesan priests take a promise to live in simplicity.) The Day of Recollection, which only lasted about 20 hours or so, was eye opening for me. It allowed me to really reflect on priestly service and the baptismal call of all. The mini-retreat gave me the opportunity to reflect on how the Lord is working in my life and how he continues to call me to serve His church, His people.

On January 23rd, St. John Vianney College Seminary hosted the Liga Orante, a group of little old Cuban women who get together to sponsor fundraising events  and pray for vocations to the priesthood. It is always great to hang out with the ladies from the Liga Orante because it allows us to see and thank some of the people who pray for seminarians and support us. We also get to work on our Spanish conversational skills. (I still need a little more practice on this front.)

Throughout the last three months or so, the entire junior class (with only a few exceptions) have been working on our Humanities Projects. The purpose of the projects is to show a correlation between humanities (art, music, etc.) and religion or philosophy. For the project, the juniors were broken up into five groups of three. The groups were asked to choose two humanities categories and prepare a 15 minute presentation. My group chose painting and literature and its correlation to theology; we focused on the Passion story–the Way to the Cross, the Crucifixion, and the Descent from the Cross. The presentations were given on January 28th. All of the groups did an excellent job!!

So, that’s a recap of the last few weeks. Some interesting highlights for the weeks to come include:

• Our annual Fides et Ratio conference takes place on February 5th. This year’s guest speaker is a Pre-Theology alumni of St. John Vianney, the United States Ambassador to the Holy See, Miguel Diaz. Mr. Diaz will be speaking on the relationship between the United States and the Vatican, which is a little different from our usual Fides et Ratio topic of discussion–as the sitting ambassador, Diaz must speak from his office. More to come on this later!!
• Mid-semester exams will take place from February 15th through February 18th. Please pray for us this week.
• The beautiful and reflective Season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 17th.
• Mid-semester break begins on February 18th…I will be home by 1:00p.m. I am quite excited about spending some time with the family, especially Micah D. who is now walking!!!
• We come back from mid-semester break on February 25th and almost immediately go on a three-day silent retreat. Please pray a little extra throughout those three days (Feb. 25th-28th).
• Finally, Vocations Awareness Weekend is already right around the corner. The seminary community will welcome young men from most of the Dioceses of the province March 12th-14th. Anyone interested in attending should contact their vocations directors. Contact information can be found by going to Whispers of the Spirit.

Pax.

PHOTO 1 SOURCE: St. John Vianney College Seminary

PHOTO 2 SOURCE: St. John Vianney College Seminary

PHOTO 3 SOURCE: CNS

This semester is going to be a little different from the Fall semester, mainly because we do not have any major events planned, except our bi-annual Vocations Awareness Weekend in March–I am already expecting to have another well attended weekend. I always look forward to hosting the countless young men who come to the seminary to discern God’s will for their lives for that brief period of two days. I never took the opportunity to come on one of the weekends even though I had been invited numerous times by people in my parish. So, if there is a young man out there from the Diocese of Orlando who is thinking about serving the church as a priest, please seriously consider contacting Fr. Miguel at the Vocations Office about coming down March 12-14, 2010.

Vocations Awareness Weekend is just one event in the calendar for the remainder of the academic year. Below is the rest of the events that the seminarians will be taking part in over the next four to five months.

• Inter-Seminary Day of Communion: The priest, deacons, and seminarians from St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary make a trip down to Miami to have a friendly soccer match with us (St. John Vianney usually wins). We also all come together for Solemn Vespers and dinner.
• Day of Recollection on January 15th and 16th–Please keep us in your prayers these two days.
• Mid-Semester Exams take place from February 15th through February 18th.
• Mid-Semester Break waked place from February 18th through February 24th when we return and immediately go on a three-day retreat. Please keep us in your prayers February25-28th.
• The seminary community will host the John Paul II Vocation Monstrance from March 1st-7th.
• As mentioned above, Vocations Awareness Weekend takes place from March12th-14th.
• From March 26th through April 5th the seminarians will be in their Dioceses celebrating Holy Week with their Bishops, Pastors, parishes, etc.
• Final Semester Exams take place from April 26th-30th followed by “Community Days” from April 1st-5th.
• The seminary community will gather on April 5th to say farewell to the Class of 2010, which includes two young men for the Diocese of Orlando-Joshua Swallows and Chris Dorsey. Beginning in August 2010, these seminarians will begin at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary.

As you can see, throughout the Spring semester, the seminarians will be quite busy. However, we do have breaks built into the schedule to keep us refreshed and ready to take on whatever the Lord throws our way.

Bye for now….

A very good morning to all of you! Tomorrow, the festivities for the celebration of St. John Vianney College Seminary‘s 50th Anniversary begin. Judging by the number of people who have already RSVP’d, we are looking at having a packed house for the next few days. Our Rector/President, Msgr. Michael Carruthers spoke with us the other night about this being an opportunity for the alumni who are returning to experience the healing touch of Jesus Christ. The alumni will be touched by everything we throughout the duration of their visit. May the Holy Spirit guide us throughout the events.

Preparations are still underway for the tremendously joyous celebrations that will take place from Thursday evening through Sunday afternoon. All of the seminarians have been recruited to help out in some capacity. I will be singing with the awesome guys in Schola for the major liturgical events of the reunion. I will also be giving tours on Friday afternoon; that reminds me, I have to get some interesting facts to tell them. (Thanks to Timbo for the awesome idea!!) But, before all of this begins, I have to keep up with school work and…clean my room.

There will be pictures posted every night after the festivities have ended for the day, so be sure to check out the blog a lot over the next few days. After the 50th we have Vocations Awareness Weekend, so there will be many posts over the next couple of weeks. You will all be on the roller coaster ride with me.

May God bless all of you!! Bye for now….

PHOTO SOURCE: Archdiocese of Miami