Auditions

Today: Reading the novitiate manual. Writing a reflection on novitiate for the Province of St. Mary vocation office. Interview with the formators in the afternoon. Simple sharing of biographical information and vocation story. This will help the novice directors select a spiritual director for me.

This evening: choral auditions. We need cantors for daily and special liturgies. We are also forming a schola, or choir for occasional services, such as feast days and solemnities. I discovered my voice at St. Martin Parish in Baltimore with the Cap Corps in 2002. I was the drummer in the gospel choir, and one day the director asked me to take a solo, and he didn't mean drum solo. Who knew a drummer could sing? God knew my voice, and God bid me to share it beyond the confines of the bathroom shower. I honed it with the Seminary Singers at Boston University School of Theology. Now my heart cannot keep from singing. I look forward to leading song and raising my tenor in the schola.

Continuing kitchen duties. Today, I am refectorian, which means wiping the table tops, bench tops, and chairs, and mopping the floors, then helping the other kitchen crewmates clean remaining dishes and crockery.

Another birthday: today, we celebrate one of our novice directors. Blessings of hope and good health to him!

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Internet time is tight, as you know. Blogging time is precious. Accordingly, I will introduce mini-features to give you glimpses of novitiate life in its emotional, intellectual, ministerial, and spiritual dimensions. Here is the first, which I will call "Lectio Divina." I will share with you a Scripture verse, or a phrase or sentence from a spiritual reading I am meditating on that day.


Lectio Divina

Blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear.

Matthew 16:13