THE HEART OF A SEMINARIAN

Wednesday, 31 January 2007

MY JOURNAL FROM MY HOLY HOUR

1/12

(AP) God guess what? I remembered my pen! Yeah. (The last entry was in pencil) The retreat is over today and I start a new one for youth. Thank you for this time to organize my day, read some books, and most of all spend some time with you. The fruit that I see from this retreat is most of all, an awareness of the imagined conversations and the beginning of the prayer and conversations with you throughout the day. Turning the imagined into prayer. That as I see it will be the biggest fruit which will be constantly fruit giving as long as I continue it. Second fruit is a deeper appreciation of the Mass. There was so much there in the Lamb’s Supper but I hope I can continually grow in my understanding of it. Those two should be enough to say that it was a great retreat, but I am also happy to have read Fr. Chiola’s book, because, one, I want to support him, two, it is awesome that someone from our diocese wrote a good book, and lastly, it taught me things that I did not know. Fruit wise, the fruit is that because of reading that book, I feel more pride about our diocese and closer to a fellow priest. Finally, I am so glad that I read Lumen Gentium from Vatican II. What a great document especially for a retreat. T o reflect on what the Church is and our duties in it. I just feel that it was just a great thing to have done. Everything was great and went great. If one draw back, it is that I am disappointed in the book Catholicism and Fundamentalism. I brought it for personal reading not so much for the retreat, but it is not what I thought so far. Maybe my views will change, but reading about anti-Catholics isn’t the best idea to do in a retreat. Anyway, thanks for the retreat and thanks for making it fruitful.

Challenge: Continue conversations with you, Ask myself “What is God trying to teach me with this?” in all I do and hear. Be as careful with the Word of God at Mass as I am with the Eucharist.

* In place of all people, I used the name Mary or Joseph. This doesn’t always have to be the same person. This is to protect others and also use Mary and Joseph as an intercession for them. (AP) -answered prayers, (S) – spiritual, (R) – relationships, (M) – material (things that I am doing).

posted by: muniz at 20:59 | link | comments |
holy hour

Tuesday, 30 January 2007

MY JOURNAL FROM MY HOLY HOUR

1/11

(AP) Lord Jesus, how great was it to read Lumen Gentium on Eschatology and Mary, plus read the Lamb’s Supper on Mass and communion of Saints. This just shows me more that to think outside the box in ministry means more than just going side to side, but also deeper. There is so much here in the Catholic Church that is to offer. The difficult thing is teaching all of it. How do you try to reach the unchurched while still deepen the Catholic that you have already? I must remember that the deep also attracts the unchurched too. There is always something attractive about the mysterious; to know that there is more out there than what we see. Anyway I tried calling Mary, but no answer. She should be on the road now so Lord she is now in your hands. St. Christopher pray for her. Lastly, I imagine giving talks, but those are hard to turn to conversations with you. I will keep trying though. (S) What is it Lord that I still need to work on in my life especially as I approach ordination. I do know that I need to get smarter on Catholic things. I don’t want to be a Protestant catholic who has a personal relationship with Christ, knowledge of the Bible and the essentials of the Catholic faith. I want to share all the beauty that the Catholic Church has to offer. I want to offer depth. Help me learn. (M) It is funny to me how the whole week has been prayers on prioritizing my life. I guess that will always be as long as I am at the retreat and away from materials to help me set a schedule. Anyway, I still need to write my talk and proof my column. Give me the wisdom to say the words that you want me to say and the words that they need to hear. I pray also for the success of both of them.

Challenge: More conversations with you, listen to what you want to tell me in all that I do and promise to learn more Catholic stuff (schedule it)

posted by: muniz at 15:46 | link | comments |
holy hour

Monday, 29 January 2007

MY JOURNAL FROM MY HOLY HOUR

1/10

(AP) Well Lord, day 2 has gone well. I am reaching my goals with the books. Not only that but I have had zero conversations with myself and had attempts to talk to You more. Please Lord, help me to continue on this path. (S) On another note, Lord, help me not to over schedule the whole day, every hour. All the books are for personal interests but one is for my thesis, another is for the book club, another is my personal book of the month, and the last is me just wanting to read a priest’s book. The question is: Am I using my time wisely and appropriately? Am I growing closer to You in all of this? In some ways I am, but others I am not. I always feel that there is so much more I can do or get done. If I meditate on scriptural verses throughout the day, maybe I would be prayerfully grow stronger, but in my mind would be: What did I accomplish? I need a task and finishing books always makes me feel good. So at least there is that positive. Another positive I guess is that I have not taken time to think about things outside of this retreat for the most part. With the rest of this retreat use what I have set up to help me grow closer to You. (R) Lord, I pray for Joseph, too. Keep working on him in his life. God, it would be awesome if you called him to the priesthood, too. He has a good heart, but I guess we have to take it one step at a time. Lord, I want to help in any way to get him fired up for You. You name it Lord; I will do it for Him. On another note, help me be able to do that for anyone. Lord, touch his heart during this trip. I put him in Your hands Lord. You can do miraculous things in people’s lives. I pray that You reach Joseph.

Challenge: More conversations with You and call Joseph and listen to what You have to say to me while I read my books, so I can grow closer to You.

posted by: muniz at 11:32 | link | comments |
holy hour

Saturday, 27 January 2007

MY JOURNAL FROM MY HOLY HOUR

1/9

(AP) Lord, thank you for meeting my goals and keeping my schedule for the retreat. So far one day is done and good. (S) Why is it Lord that my mind wonders around during prayer? I think and imagine other conversations, but I am not talking to You. Those conversations would be better if I was talking to You instead. Help me talk to You more, ask You questions, share opinions with You. I want to do this throughout the day. I don’t like how my Holy Hour is the only time that I feel like I talk to You. Help me break this habit of imagining conversations with others and develop the habit of conversing with You. (M) Lord, help me with all the things that I want and need to do. Give me the ability to write my 2 columns, write my thesis, most of all do research for my thesis. I want to do great things with them. Help me get everything else put into place. Help me put proper priority on the things that I need to put priority on such as calling friends and family (staying in contact) and how much time to spend with seminarians and priests. (R) With ideas, regarding the book club or pro-life, I rather not have my name associated with the beginning stages because then it appears that I am conniving. I want not to be thought of as a man who pushes his ideas, but someone who works for the common good, works for success, works to do Your will. I am an idea guy and a worker, not a man who has an agenda separate from Your will, Lord. Help me to veer away from that.

Challenge: Replace imaginary conversations with others with conversations with God.

posted by: muniz at 17:51 | link | comments |
holy hour

Friday, 19 January 2007

MARCH FOR LIFE –

WASHINGTON D.C.

This weekend I will be heading off to Washington D.C. for the March For Life. I will be going with over 300 people/6 buses which are mostly youth from my Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. Pray for all of us going so that we may have a safe trip and a fruitful one too.

posted by: muniz at 11:58 | link | comments (3) |
general

MY JOURNAL FROM MY HOLY HOUR

1/8

(AP) Lord, thank you for the opportunity to be here at this retreat. I am in need of this so badly. There is so much to work on. (S) I want to get back in my normal routine, get back into shape, and a decent weight, plus most of all strengthen me spiritually. There is nothing glaring but that is more of a sign of a lack of a spiritual life than a sign of perfection. Help me see the areas where I need to grow. (R) Today, I have been thinking about Joseph and how we have not talked in so long. In so many ways, thank you for that. Either this is a sign of his selfishness or he needs to do this in order to take care of his situation. I hope it is the latter. I hope the best for him, but it still bothers me how he hurt me. I guess I am no saint either, but in a way I guess we all play the victim in the things that go wrong. Help him to love him more fully and let go of the hurt. Growth happens now. Resentment holds me back. I must allow myself to grow and heal. Jesus take the pain, resentment, and hate.

posted by: muniz at 11:44 | link | comments |
holy hour

Thursday, 18 January 2007

MY JOURNAL FROM MY HOLY HOUR

1/7

Lord, let this be a great retreat. Let me get on track with my life and be who I want to be spirituality. (AP) Thank you for the opportunity to be on this retreat. (S) I need it badly. Help me with my spiritual life. My Liturgy of the Hours is back to inconsistent if not at all, no rosary or Bible or book or exercise. (R) I hope that Mary had an inspiring weekend. I just hope that this catches her on fire for you, Lord. Also, I want to respect Mary. Help me not to always look at her with no respect, but see her great qualities. Help me also Lord to know to put priority on my friendships with seminarians. (M) I need to prioritize my life. The more hectic and busy it gets; the more I need to prioritize it all. Help me figure out everything with the blog, book club, and columns. Help me as I prioritize my life.

* In place all people, I used the name Mary. This doesn’t always have to be the same person. This is to protect others and also use Mary as an intercession for them. (AP) -answered prayers, (S) – spiritual, (R) – relationships, (M) – material (things that I am doing).

posted by: muniz at 10:30 | link | comments (2) |
holy hour

Wednesday, 17 January 2007

MY JOURNAL FROM MY HOLY HOUR

INTODUCTION

In my teaching of prayer, I have noticed the difficulty for people to know how to pray, to converse with God, and to know what one should pray. Secondly, I do believe in the transparency that my life should take in order to be an example to others and to help others in their own journey. As a result, I am going to attempt to write out my journal from my Holy Hour. This is my personal prayer to God. I will edit only what can be harmful to others and change the names of the people to Mary for women and Joseph for men. This is also my attempt to include their intercession for those people. Again this will show a true sense of who I am, who I want to be, and how I pray. I hope you find this beneficial and fruitful in your life. I will start from the journal entry from the beginning of my retreat on January 7^th.

posted by: muniz at 10:25 | link | comments (1) |
holy hour

Tuesday, 16 January 2007

MY COLUMN IN THE “CATHOLIC TIMES”

In the diocesan newspaper “Catholic Times” for the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, I write a column entitled “Heart of a Seminarian”. Here is my latest column with all of my previous columns.