A lot of you have been asking me what my schedule is like here, so I thought I would let you all know!
Here is what a typical Monday looks like!
7 -8 AM- Lauds and Mass
8 - 9 AM- Breakfast
9 - 10 AM- Spanish Class
10-11 AM- Religious Life Class
12 - 12:15PM- Noon Prayer
12:30 PM- Lunch
1-4 PM- Work Period
5 PM - Vespers (evening prayer)
6PM - Dinner
7 PM - Workout (by choice)
9 PM - Compline (night prayer)
10 PM- Bed
On Tuesday we meet with other novices for seminars on religious life, and the other days are not usually as full.
Pax!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Update
Hey all,
I apologize for not writing for such a long time. We have been fairly busy here at the Holy Spirit House of Studies, but that will soon change! I promise to write more in the future!
I thought I would give you a little bit of an update.
On some what of a goofy note, a razor has not touched my face for about 5 weeks now, so I have a pretty nice beard. I also buzzed my hair, so I have a new look. I am starting to look a bit like a fransiscan, but that was not my intent. haha. By having a buzzed head and a beard, I go through fewer razors and shampoo lasts a long time (which means less money out of my pocket). I may not have the beard for much longer, but we will see.
Sadly, a week ago from last Friday a Hungarian Norbertine that has stayed at St. Norbert Abbey for a long time passed away. We went up to St. Norbert Abbey for his wake and funeral. It was great to see so many men in white all in the same place at the same time for the event. We even had a Norbertine prior from Hungary come to participate in the event. It really made me feel part of the Norbertine family and 900 year tradition.
On a brighter note, we went back to Racine last Tuesday for another Inter-Community Novitiate retreat. We stayed with the Racine Dominican sisters at their massive convent and had a great time meeting with other novices from other communities. We are making great friends with our "younger cousins" the Augustinian Friars (they follow the same rule as us, the Rule of Augustine- but were founded 150 years after us) which is really great. We were also the pioneers of a rosary group among the novices, and it was very successful! It was really one of my first times leading a prayer group as a Norbertine.
On Thursday we left Racine and went back to the Abbey for the Feast of all Norbertine Saints (which is also the Feast for all Canons Regular). Thursday night we got to spend time with the Norbertines that live on the St. Norbert Campus (Old St. Joes Priory), which is where I hope to stay in the future as a professed Norbertine. It was great to see the college and the guys at the priory.
After a couple of relaxing days at the Abbey, we came back to the campus and had Mass with the students on Sunday, and then left for Chicago shortly after.
So now you are all filled in!
You are all in my prayers!
Pax,
MD
I apologize for not writing for such a long time. We have been fairly busy here at the Holy Spirit House of Studies, but that will soon change! I promise to write more in the future!
I thought I would give you a little bit of an update.
On some what of a goofy note, a razor has not touched my face for about 5 weeks now, so I have a pretty nice beard. I also buzzed my hair, so I have a new look. I am starting to look a bit like a fransiscan, but that was not my intent. haha. By having a buzzed head and a beard, I go through fewer razors and shampoo lasts a long time (which means less money out of my pocket). I may not have the beard for much longer, but we will see.
Sadly, a week ago from last Friday a Hungarian Norbertine that has stayed at St. Norbert Abbey for a long time passed away. We went up to St. Norbert Abbey for his wake and funeral. It was great to see so many men in white all in the same place at the same time for the event. We even had a Norbertine prior from Hungary come to participate in the event. It really made me feel part of the Norbertine family and 900 year tradition.
On a brighter note, we went back to Racine last Tuesday for another Inter-Community Novitiate retreat. We stayed with the Racine Dominican sisters at their massive convent and had a great time meeting with other novices from other communities. We are making great friends with our "younger cousins" the Augustinian Friars (they follow the same rule as us, the Rule of Augustine- but were founded 150 years after us) which is really great. We were also the pioneers of a rosary group among the novices, and it was very successful! It was really one of my first times leading a prayer group as a Norbertine.
On Thursday we left Racine and went back to the Abbey for the Feast of all Norbertine Saints (which is also the Feast for all Canons Regular). Thursday night we got to spend time with the Norbertines that live on the St. Norbert Campus (Old St. Joes Priory), which is where I hope to stay in the future as a professed Norbertine. It was great to see the college and the guys at the priory.
After a couple of relaxing days at the Abbey, we came back to the campus and had Mass with the students on Sunday, and then left for Chicago shortly after.
So now you are all filled in!
You are all in my prayers!
Pax,
MD
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Goofy Video
Here are some Premonstratensians (Norbertines) from all over the world goofing off! It is a fun video made by some European Norbertines!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1AtotcWy4U
The Norbertines pictured are from all over the world, some of which are from St. Norbert Abbey!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1AtotcWy4U
The Norbertines pictured are from all over the world, some of which are from St. Norbert Abbey!
UPDATE
This has been another busy week here at the Holy Spirit House of Studies.
On Tuesday we left for Racine, Wisconsin with 15 other religious communities to go on retreat and learn about "family systems." We stayed with the Racine Dominican sisters in a huge convent that dwarfs St. Norbert Abbey (which I didn't even think was possible!) Anyways, it was a great retreat.
Most of the other religious communities are international missionary communities with novices from all over the world. This means that no matter where you are from, you are a minority. There are only two groups with more than 1 Novice (Norbertines and Augustinian Friars) that have all white American males. This created an interesting dynamic- especially since the rest of the folks are missionaries, while we are psuedo-monastic.
Anyway, this weekend I should find out where I will be for my second year of Novitiate. There is some debate as to whether I will stay in Chicago with the new novices, or if I will go back to St. Norbert Abbey.
I am very excited for this weekend, as we will be attending a Solemn High Tridentine Rite Mass with the Institute of Christ the King. I have a deep love for the Institute of Christ the King and for the traditional latin Mass. When I was at school at St. Norbert, I would often attend St. Joseph's Oratory in Green bay which was run by the Institute, which helped me to fall in love with the traditional Mass.
Thats all for now!
Slainte!
Matthew Dougherty, O.Praem
On Tuesday we left for Racine, Wisconsin with 15 other religious communities to go on retreat and learn about "family systems." We stayed with the Racine Dominican sisters in a huge convent that dwarfs St. Norbert Abbey (which I didn't even think was possible!) Anyways, it was a great retreat.
Most of the other religious communities are international missionary communities with novices from all over the world. This means that no matter where you are from, you are a minority. There are only two groups with more than 1 Novice (Norbertines and Augustinian Friars) that have all white American males. This created an interesting dynamic- especially since the rest of the folks are missionaries, while we are psuedo-monastic.
Anyway, this weekend I should find out where I will be for my second year of Novitiate. There is some debate as to whether I will stay in Chicago with the new novices, or if I will go back to St. Norbert Abbey.
I am very excited for this weekend, as we will be attending a Solemn High Tridentine Rite Mass with the Institute of Christ the King. I have a deep love for the Institute of Christ the King and for the traditional latin Mass. When I was at school at St. Norbert, I would often attend St. Joseph's Oratory in Green bay which was run by the Institute, which helped me to fall in love with the traditional Mass.
Thats all for now!
Slainte!
Matthew Dougherty, O.Praem
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Giving Away Rosaries
This week, we novices have been taking courses from Fr. Fran Dorff, an author and spiritual director who lives as a hermit with the Norbertine community in New Mexico. Today he spoke to us a little about unity among peoples of the world, and it got me thinking. What does spiritual unity mean?
Anyway...
I was sitting on the porch thinking about the issues that were raised during class, and I began to think about the rosary. The feast of the rosary was a couple of days ago, so I had been thinking about the rosary, what it means, etc., since the feast.
I started to think about the rosary beads themselves, including my own. My rosary was made by my Great Uncle John Smith and given to me at my confirmation when I was 17. It is a beautiful rosary made out of black onyx and sterling silver, and I have always kept it close to me since I first recieved it.
I still to this day do not know why I kept it so close to me during my final years of highschool. While it was beautiful, I don't think it was the physical beauty of it that attracted me. I think I realized that this was not just a bunch of beads, but something much, much more. I couldn't understand or explain it, but for some reason I was drawn to it. It focused my attention to something (or perhaps somebody?) outside myself.
As I am beggining my journey "into" God through religious life, I am starting to realize what this "feeling" is all about.
Starting my freshman year of College, I began to have a deeper understanding and appreciation for prayer. I realized that when the scriptures say, "prayer can move mountains" that the author wasn't speaking metaphorically. Prayer is power. It has, and will continue to change the course of history as long as people are willing to get on their knees and offer their joys, sorrows, hopes, and disapointments to God. (Just look online to see how the rosary has changed history - including wars and other major events!)
With this appreciation for prayer came an appreciation for sacramentals and devotions. The fact that blessed salts, oils, statues, and rosary beads are not blessed just for the heck of it, but to bring about a physical prayer astounded me. We are, after all, physical beings in a physical world. Why then, should we limit prayer to thoughts? The rosary is beautiful in that it combines physical prayer (the beads) with the mental prayer (the meditation). This is why I find it useful to carry a rosary around wherever I go. To put my hand in my pocket and touch this "physical prayer" reminds me of why I am on this earth, and gives me a sense of purpose in the world.
Now- back to the point...
While I was thinking about my own rosary today, I realized that every time I picked up and prayed those beads, I couldn't help but think of my Great Uncle John. In a way, the time I spent praying his rosary unified myself to him in a spiritual way. I can't say I was praying for him or anything like that, but I did think of him often while holding those beads. Because of these thoughts, I now believe that all of my prayers said on that rosary were raised up with his prayers and intentions as well.
We as Catholics believe in the "Communion of Saints" and the "Mystical Body of Christ." Both of these phrases refer to the fact that all those in a state of Grace are intertwined with one another and with the Trinity. Our prayers can and do effect other people, whether we realize this or not.
We are unified with both the living and the dead in this state of Grace, which makes our prayers more powerful than perhaps we even know!
So, here are some of my thoughts:
If you feel that you are in need of prayer, buy or make a bunch of rosaries. Pray each individual rosary for whoever will pray them in the future. Then pray that the prayers of the future owner will be united to your own prayers and intentions!
Then, give them away!
I firmly believe that the prayers said on those rosaries by future owners will be united to your own, and you will in a sense be praying for the future owners without even realizing you are doing it! The fact that you prayed on those beads offers that physical prayer to whoever touches or prays that rosary. Plus, who ever received that rosary from you will always remember who gave it to them, and it can never be a bad thing if someone remembers you during prayer!
This is spiritual unity. This is both a spiritual and physical expression of prayer that shows our unity. In my opinion, it is a way in which we can express the "spiritual beauty" that St. Augustine believes we should all be seeking!
Just a thought!
MD
Anyway...
I was sitting on the porch thinking about the issues that were raised during class, and I began to think about the rosary. The feast of the rosary was a couple of days ago, so I had been thinking about the rosary, what it means, etc., since the feast.
I started to think about the rosary beads themselves, including my own. My rosary was made by my Great Uncle John Smith and given to me at my confirmation when I was 17. It is a beautiful rosary made out of black onyx and sterling silver, and I have always kept it close to me since I first recieved it.
I still to this day do not know why I kept it so close to me during my final years of highschool. While it was beautiful, I don't think it was the physical beauty of it that attracted me. I think I realized that this was not just a bunch of beads, but something much, much more. I couldn't understand or explain it, but for some reason I was drawn to it. It focused my attention to something (or perhaps somebody?) outside myself.
As I am beggining my journey "into" God through religious life, I am starting to realize what this "feeling" is all about.
Starting my freshman year of College, I began to have a deeper understanding and appreciation for prayer. I realized that when the scriptures say, "prayer can move mountains" that the author wasn't speaking metaphorically. Prayer is power. It has, and will continue to change the course of history as long as people are willing to get on their knees and offer their joys, sorrows, hopes, and disapointments to God. (Just look online to see how the rosary has changed history - including wars and other major events!)
With this appreciation for prayer came an appreciation for sacramentals and devotions. The fact that blessed salts, oils, statues, and rosary beads are not blessed just for the heck of it, but to bring about a physical prayer astounded me. We are, after all, physical beings in a physical world. Why then, should we limit prayer to thoughts? The rosary is beautiful in that it combines physical prayer (the beads) with the mental prayer (the meditation). This is why I find it useful to carry a rosary around wherever I go. To put my hand in my pocket and touch this "physical prayer" reminds me of why I am on this earth, and gives me a sense of purpose in the world.
Now- back to the point...
While I was thinking about my own rosary today, I realized that every time I picked up and prayed those beads, I couldn't help but think of my Great Uncle John. In a way, the time I spent praying his rosary unified myself to him in a spiritual way. I can't say I was praying for him or anything like that, but I did think of him often while holding those beads. Because of these thoughts, I now believe that all of my prayers said on that rosary were raised up with his prayers and intentions as well.
We as Catholics believe in the "Communion of Saints" and the "Mystical Body of Christ." Both of these phrases refer to the fact that all those in a state of Grace are intertwined with one another and with the Trinity. Our prayers can and do effect other people, whether we realize this or not.
We are unified with both the living and the dead in this state of Grace, which makes our prayers more powerful than perhaps we even know!
So, here are some of my thoughts:
If you feel that you are in need of prayer, buy or make a bunch of rosaries. Pray each individual rosary for whoever will pray them in the future. Then pray that the prayers of the future owner will be united to your own prayers and intentions!
Then, give them away!
I firmly believe that the prayers said on those rosaries by future owners will be united to your own, and you will in a sense be praying for the future owners without even realizing you are doing it! The fact that you prayed on those beads offers that physical prayer to whoever touches or prays that rosary. Plus, who ever received that rosary from you will always remember who gave it to them, and it can never be a bad thing if someone remembers you during prayer!
This is spiritual unity. This is both a spiritual and physical expression of prayer that shows our unity. In my opinion, it is a way in which we can express the "spiritual beauty" that St. Augustine believes we should all be seeking!
Just a thought!
MD
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Christian Humility
While reading the book "Heretics" by G.K. Chesteron, I stumbled upon a chapter that dealt with humility. Chesterton put the concept of humility in a different way than I have ever heard it put before, so I thought that I would share the wealth of wisdom that I have learned from the pen of Mr. Chesterton on the subject.
Some will look at ambitious people who are lovers of beauty and nicities as prideful, and if these ambitious lovers of beauty preach the message of humility they are seen as "hypocrites." They will think that the drive to attain certain goals and the longing for exterior beauty comes from ego and not from an interior humility centered on Christ.
Chesterton disagrees. He believes that we only go after things that we know we do not deserve.
To drive home his point, he uses the example of a person in love. Chesterton believes that if you were to ask someone in love if they deserve the person that they will most likely say, "Never in a million years would I think I could deserve such a beautiful woman!" Yet, the lover will still yearn after the object of his affection with the zeal and passion of a lion.
It is this sense of awe in the ordinary, and especially in the extraordinary, that indicates humility. We do not are not in awe of things that we think we deserve. Our soul does not leap for joy when we have breakfast in the morning. We think that we deserve that breakfast because we worked to get money to buy it.
If we felt we didn't deserve our breakfast, we would probobly leap for joy in the fact that we received it! According to Chesterton, this is what humility is. When a truley humble person is asked what they deserve, they will most likely not say more than 6 inches of the earth. But when he is asked what he is in awe of, he will say all of creation.
To better understand the concept, it might be helpful to contrast Christian humility with modern humility (or false modesty). A falsley modest person will say they are uninterested in gold, in the beauty of a coastline, or in the joy of fellowship. They will prefer a wooden staff just as much as a gold one. This is not humility, but pride. They see themselves as greater than the beauty they witness.
A good example of this comes from some priests in the 80's who would claim themselves as "asexual" beings. They thought that they would supress the beauty of their own sexuality because they are somehow above it. They deserve better than to be plagued with this gift from God.
A person who is humble in the Christian sense would find their sexuality a gift and remain in awe of it. This does not mean that because we are in awe of our sexuality that it should be used in sexual ways whenever possible. If we love our sexuality, we will use it in ways that are lifegiving, whether that is in the procreative act for married couples or for loving their spiritual bride and children for priests.
A question that I initially asked when confronted with this concept was, "Well, then the humble person should be a hoarder, someone obsessed with the world and looking for riches and gold!"
Awe and greed (or desire) are two separate concepts. One can be in awe of a beautiful Irish coastline or a North Eastern Wisconsin lake front, but they will not want it for themselves, but to share it!
So, when some people attack the Church for being "regal" with rules about gold-lined chalices, abbots with nice crosiers, or the pope wearing expensive garments, we should remember that these are gifts to the whole Christian faithful. They are signs and symbols for us all to appreciate in our own humility. We are to humble ourselves and appreciate the beauty being brought to us as a symbol of Christ's kingship! To strip our churches of beauty for the sake of humility is not being humble at all, but being falsely modest.
I think a great thing to remember is that God is beauty - so when we see beauty on earth, we are capturing the essence of God. Why would we want to rid our churches of the essense of God - especially if it is for the purpose to make the statement about how humble we are?
I found this prayer given to the Catholic faithful by Pope Pius X. This is hard for almost anyone to pray, as it asks us to be truley humble in the Christian sense.
While reading this prayer, keep in mind the difference between desire (wanting) and awe ( appreciating). We should appreciate things, but perhaps not always want them.
http://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/humility.htm
I dunno, just a thought!
I hope everyone is well!
You are all in my prayers!
Matthew
Some will look at ambitious people who are lovers of beauty and nicities as prideful, and if these ambitious lovers of beauty preach the message of humility they are seen as "hypocrites." They will think that the drive to attain certain goals and the longing for exterior beauty comes from ego and not from an interior humility centered on Christ.
Chesterton disagrees. He believes that we only go after things that we know we do not deserve.
To drive home his point, he uses the example of a person in love. Chesterton believes that if you were to ask someone in love if they deserve the person that they will most likely say, "Never in a million years would I think I could deserve such a beautiful woman!" Yet, the lover will still yearn after the object of his affection with the zeal and passion of a lion.
It is this sense of awe in the ordinary, and especially in the extraordinary, that indicates humility. We do not are not in awe of things that we think we deserve. Our soul does not leap for joy when we have breakfast in the morning. We think that we deserve that breakfast because we worked to get money to buy it.
If we felt we didn't deserve our breakfast, we would probobly leap for joy in the fact that we received it! According to Chesterton, this is what humility is. When a truley humble person is asked what they deserve, they will most likely not say more than 6 inches of the earth. But when he is asked what he is in awe of, he will say all of creation.
To better understand the concept, it might be helpful to contrast Christian humility with modern humility (or false modesty). A falsley modest person will say they are uninterested in gold, in the beauty of a coastline, or in the joy of fellowship. They will prefer a wooden staff just as much as a gold one. This is not humility, but pride. They see themselves as greater than the beauty they witness.
A good example of this comes from some priests in the 80's who would claim themselves as "asexual" beings. They thought that they would supress the beauty of their own sexuality because they are somehow above it. They deserve better than to be plagued with this gift from God.
A person who is humble in the Christian sense would find their sexuality a gift and remain in awe of it. This does not mean that because we are in awe of our sexuality that it should be used in sexual ways whenever possible. If we love our sexuality, we will use it in ways that are lifegiving, whether that is in the procreative act for married couples or for loving their spiritual bride and children for priests.
A question that I initially asked when confronted with this concept was, "Well, then the humble person should be a hoarder, someone obsessed with the world and looking for riches and gold!"
Awe and greed (or desire) are two separate concepts. One can be in awe of a beautiful Irish coastline or a North Eastern Wisconsin lake front, but they will not want it for themselves, but to share it!
So, when some people attack the Church for being "regal" with rules about gold-lined chalices, abbots with nice crosiers, or the pope wearing expensive garments, we should remember that these are gifts to the whole Christian faithful. They are signs and symbols for us all to appreciate in our own humility. We are to humble ourselves and appreciate the beauty being brought to us as a symbol of Christ's kingship! To strip our churches of beauty for the sake of humility is not being humble at all, but being falsely modest.
I think a great thing to remember is that God is beauty - so when we see beauty on earth, we are capturing the essence of God. Why would we want to rid our churches of the essense of God - especially if it is for the purpose to make the statement about how humble we are?
I found this prayer given to the Catholic faithful by Pope Pius X. This is hard for almost anyone to pray, as it asks us to be truley humble in the Christian sense.
While reading this prayer, keep in mind the difference between desire (wanting) and awe ( appreciating). We should appreciate things, but perhaps not always want them.
http://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/humility.htm
I dunno, just a thought!
I hope everyone is well!
You are all in my prayers!
Matthew
Update
Hello all,
I know it has been a while since my last post. I will make sure to remedy that soon. It has been a busy week so I haven't had much time to write down my thoughts.
Last weekend we drove to De Pere to see all of the origional Norbertine Churches in Door and Brown counties. We stayed at the Abbey for the weekend which was a nice change of scenery! It was also very nice to talk more with the proffessed members and to just "hang out" around the Abbey, since one day it may be my permanent home! (God willing!)
Tuesday we attended a workshop that tells us our personality types, which is exciting.
According to the Meyers Briggs test, there are four categories that when combined, say something about one's personality. The types are:
Introverted vs. Extroverted, iNtuitive vs. Sensing, Thinking vs. Feeling, and Judging vs. Perceiving.
My type was "ENTJ." Here is what that supposedly means.
http://typelogic.com/entj.html
This may not be completely accurate, as I seem to have fallen under the ENFJ or ENTP depending on the circumstances.
If you are interested in finding your personality type, click here and take this test!
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp
Pax
I know it has been a while since my last post. I will make sure to remedy that soon. It has been a busy week so I haven't had much time to write down my thoughts.
Last weekend we drove to De Pere to see all of the origional Norbertine Churches in Door and Brown counties. We stayed at the Abbey for the weekend which was a nice change of scenery! It was also very nice to talk more with the proffessed members and to just "hang out" around the Abbey, since one day it may be my permanent home! (God willing!)
Tuesday we attended a workshop that tells us our personality types, which is exciting.
According to the Meyers Briggs test, there are four categories that when combined, say something about one's personality. The types are:
Introverted vs. Extroverted, iNtuitive vs. Sensing, Thinking vs. Feeling, and Judging vs. Perceiving.
My type was "ENTJ." Here is what that supposedly means.
http://typelogic.com/entj.html
This may not be completely accurate, as I seem to have fallen under the ENFJ or ENTP depending on the circumstances.
If you are interested in finding your personality type, click here and take this test!
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp
Pax
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