Things are busy...but slowing down

All of the celebrations here have been great. St. Charles's Feast day, Forty Hours, Upperside/Lowerside Football game, Seminary Appeal (each seminarian went to a parish for the weekend to raise money for the Annual Seminary Appeal. I went to Mater Dolorosa Parish in North Philadelphia): all came and went, with great graces and adventures.

We are now in our last full week before Thanksgiving Break. After that, we have only a few weeks of class, finals, and then home again for a long Christmas Break. A friend of mine, who many of you know, will be taking me home for Thanksgiving after he returns from a retreat at a holy monastery in Massachusetts, which will be a great time.

We have a lecture tomorrow night titled, "Seven Habits of the Highly Effective Philosopher," given by Fr. Bransfield, one of the brilliant and insightful and inspiring priests on faculty at the seminary. Also, our Human Formation Conference for the Fall semester is this Friday. Our guest speaker is Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR. For those of you who know my whole story (sounds like a good idea for a link/post on the blog?), you will know why that is doubly exciting. I am still very fond of the CFR Order.

Philosophy is a great thing to study. What little I have studied, and what little I have understood, have already shed a great deal of light on life, civilization, God, etc. We are currently studying Aristotle (His ethics and metaphysics, in an introductory fashion) and also some of the Post-Aristotelian philosophers. I have a few very bright friends here who like to discuss the deep philosophical concepts (like substance and form, how it is in relation to God, what that says about the "what" and "how" of mankind, etc.), which is great for me. I am still amazed at the study of philosophy and wish I had more time to dive deeply into this subject.

Briefly, and as an amateur, metaphysics studies to matter of Being, what Being is and how it is, what it comprises, etc. Think of a human being, and how science tells us that we shed our entire skin over seven years (or something) and are, then, basically a different person, in a way, since all of the matter that makes up the human has changed. Well, the "form" of the human being would then be that "part" that endures and never changes, while the "matter," then skin and stuff, changes and passes. The form of the human being keeps the matter enduring in the fashion that a human being is, as we know humans to be physically. Interesting, isn't it?!!

Oh well. I have to go finish writing a story in Latin. Maybe I will post that one too!! I have to write a full page story in Latin, that's right, and the great part is that I can!!

I must depart. Until next time...
Pax Christi tecum.