The Musical Priest

Whew! It's hard to believe that it's already Thursday. Fortunately for me and, certainly, the students at U of D Jesuit, today is the last day of classes this week. In keeping with tradition, tomorrow morning our entire school will gather to celebrate the Mass of the Holy Spirit where we pray that God's Spirit be with us this year. This has been, arguably, one of the more exciting weeks in my life. I have woken up every morning excited and I've gone to bed each night exhausted. From explaining to freshmen what it means to "Fight and Not to Heed the Wounds" (from the Prayer for Generosity ) to discussing with seniors just what it is that Simone Weil means by the word attention , I feel like I've been running full-speed throughout the week. I went to bed last night with an awful sore throat...a reminder, perhaps, that I had talked too much over the course of three days! Upon awakening this morning, however, I was glad to discover that the soreness had abate...

As many of you know, I have taken a strong interest in physical fitness over the past few years. It began by going to the local YMCA with fellow novices. Then, as I moved into studies at Fordham, I became a regular gym goer. Just three months ago, my training culminated in the running of the 2009 Cleveland marathon. One of my worries, given my teaching schedule, has been how I'd find the time to exercise. Part of the difficulty is that I've never had to work out by myself: I've always had other Jesuits to go to the gym with. So I was intrigued when I saw ads this summer for the Insanity workout program by fitness guru Shaun T. You can go to the website if you want to get the gist of the program. Let me say only this: I did the first full workout this morning: the Plyometric Cardio Circuit and now, two hours later, I'm really feeling it. I have never, in all my life, sweated like I did this morning. Considering that this is Day 2 of 60 and that this is only the first of...

In just a few minutes, I will leave Villa Marquette here in Omena, Michigan. My three weeks of villa concluded, I head southward to Detroit where I will attend a prayer vigil tonight and then go to Windsor to play a feis tomorrow. I'll leave the feis a bit early, cross the bridge (please God), and attend the First Vows ceremony for three of the novices. Following the reception, I'll drive to Lansing where I'll play another feis and then, on Sunday night, I'll return to my new home in Detroit. This next week will, I suspect, be pretty busy. I need to do some serious planning for my courses. You know, little things: reading the texts, thinking about assignments, perhaps making a syllabus or three. I'm most grateful to have had these weeks to rest and relax. I was fairly intentional about not blogging while here...I really wanted to have time to myself without feeling pressured to write about my experiences. I've long looked at this blog as a public journal, a way...