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St. Therese of Lisieux's favorite Psalm was #89 |
- Forever I will sing the mercies of the Lord -
Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo
Psalm 89:2
My friends and I help each other each year by using New Year's Resolutions. For the last five years we have written down our goals and shared them with each other on January 1. My friends and I have shared serious goals, including proposing to girlfriends, drinking more responsibly, and setting aside time to call mom.
The seminary has a similar process for helping seminarians grow in important areas. I was blown away when I found out that seminarians set goals, meet with mentors, and even offer each other peer evaluations. In her wisdom, the Church asks seminarians to grow in four dimensions of life: human, intellectual, spiritual, and pastoral. Under the direction of our faculty at St John Paul II Seminary, with reliance on God’s constant mercies, my brothers and I have made tremendous strides toward the maturity that God desires for us.
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St. John Paul II instituted Divine Mercy Sunday on the Sunday after Easter |
This year one of my goals in the dimension of human formation was to receive musical training. The extent of my previous musical experience was middle school band and theater. Without knowing what wonderful new experiences I was getting myself into, I joined the seminary “Schola,” which is another name for a choir. At our first practice I didn’t know which voice part to sing. Other men could name all the notes on a scale, hear the difference between major and minor chords, and sing like stars. When the choir director told us that someone was singing out of key, I didn’t even know it was me.
I wanted to sing better, so I stuck with it. One of our brothers in the house is a trained opera singer, and he generously offered me private lessons. It was humbled to hear my own weak voice when I sang all by myself. Starting from the basics, he taught me breathing, posture, and pronunciation.
Meanwhile, the Schola was heating up with performances. The St John Paul II Seminary Schola performed for tens of thousands of people this year. The Youth Rally at the Capital One Arena, before the March for Life, was one of our big gigs. We had a lot of fun exploring the restricted areas of this arena where Carrie Underwood, Queen, and Andrea Bocelli have performed, and where the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards play. An even bigger gig for us was the Easter TV Mass! This Mass is recorded at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception during Lent and then broadcasted around the country on Easter. It was fun to sing Alleluia! during Lent. I felt like a kid with permission to eat a snack before dinner.
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St. Faustina is called the "Apostle of Divine Mercy" |
My favorite gig of the year was our Friends & Family Recital on Divine Mercy Sunday. We sang for just 50 people, but the numbers weren’t my focus. I sang with an appreciation of the beautiful moment that I was experiencing. Before this year in the seminary, I would have thought: Why would I give up my time to sing when I could work on things I have to do, or relax on my own? Now I have a new perspective because my experience of singing this year was so good. My experience of music this year was so good that I wanted to share it with others in our recital. It was worth it. I wasn’t just singing for me. I was singing praise for God’s constant mercies, which helped me all year in the seminary to grow into a more mature man.
As I’ve grown this year, I’ve realized that singing is not just about making myself better, it’s more about appreciating the good things in life. Music is beautiful. Music is more than just coordinated vibrations in the air. There is something else real in music that beautifully calls on the heart. I think that’s why I love to sing, and why so many people love to sing.
For my next year at JP2 I set a new goal: to cantor at Mass in the seminary. I’m already excited for the growth that our Lord wants to give me next year, and beyond. With St. Therese of Lisieux, St. John Paul II, St. Faustina, and all the saints, I pray that “forever I will sing the mercies of the Lord.”
Image Credit:
St. Therese the Little Flower
St. John Paul II
St. Faustina