Of the City, Seminarians, Servers and Saints...

This week has seen seminary life with a lot of different activities and events – each I hope – with something to offer us. As we celebrate feasts of saints and souls in the Church, it’s a good reminder of how our work and our lives interconnect in many ways.

This past week, we had my first seminary “field trip”. It was part of the “Formation in Christ” program that new seminarians participate in for their first two years at the Seminary. Each Wednesday we generally meet at the Seminary to discuss a different aspect of spirituality and prayer. This past Wednesday we journeyed to The Cloisters. Here we were given a great tour about this unique space that brings together many artistic works and spaces of the Medieval Era. It’s a great trip if you have a day. Part of what made the day so great was not just the place, but the chance to be community in a little less formal situation. After The Cloisters, we journeyed to midtown to Ellen’s Stardust Diner, Times Square, Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Some of the newest members of the seminary, as I’ve written about before, have never been in the country before, never mind the heart of NYC. The trip had many benefits, indeed!

Today, All Saints’ Day, we welcomed the men from the college residence at Douglaston. (For those following from Our Lady of Lourdes in West Islip, our own David Atanasio is in residence there.) These men, for the most part, are undergraduate college students living in community in Queens. You can read about their program and who they are by going through the site. It’s good to know there are other people planning to come here to the major seminary in the future.

I also had the chance today to welcome the altar servers of Christ the King R.C. Church in Commack. Led by Chris Ferraro, they came to learn about the seminary and who knows...maybe coming here one day :)! Msgr. Joe DeGrocco and I led a tour of the seminary and prayer service for the wonderful young people of Christ the King. They seemed very impressed with the seminary and hopefully left with some good things to think about as they return to serve – both at Mass and outside of Mass – in their parish community. It was good to be connected with parish life – even if just for a few hours!

So there’s a lot going on here at the Seminary these days…The journey to NYC, the visit of the Douglaston community and today’s presentation are all reminders of how the community life here extends beyond this building. That’s a good comfort!

As we celebrate All Saint’s and All Soul’s Days, let especially remember the saints of our lives – those recognized by the Church and those known to us personally - so that we can seek God’s blessing (as offered at All Soul’s Day Masses this day) in our lives:
“In his great love, the God of all consolation offers us the gift of life. May we be blessed with faith in the resurrection of his Son, and with the hope of rising to new life.”