The Guardian

Newsletter of St. Joseph Minor Seminary

March Calendar
Lent in the Seminary
The Annual Seminary Ski Trip
Great Saint Joseph
Typing Away
Third Place
“Pray the Lord of the Harvest”

The month of March is a most important one here at the seminary. Not only is March the month of our great and holy patron, it also forms part of the very important season of Lent. Furthermore, it is during this month that we have our annual retreat. We ask for your prayers for the success of our seminary retreat.

Over the past few weeks a nasty virus has been making the rounds of the seminary. The telltale sign of this particular virus is a persistent cough. Each of the seminarians has missed at least one day of classes due to illness, and even our cook has not escaped the general contagion. It does make one wonder why our first parents thought that apple looked so tempting.

Our basketball season recently concluded on a very positive note. Our team really came together towards the end of the season, as we won 6 of our last 9 games. The final game was a resounding 81-72 victory against an excellent team that we had never previously beaten. That point total is the most we have ever scored in a regular single game. All in all, it has been a great season.

This past month also witnessed our annual ski trip-this year to Mount Spokane. Although snow has been scarce this winter at the seminary, there is certainly adequate snow on the mountains. Most of the seminarians prefer snowboarding to skiing, and for some, this was their first-ever opportunity. We all had a great time.

As we enter the season of Lent we will remember you, our friends and family members, in our sacrifices and prayers during this important season. May we all come closer to Jesus crucified and develop a greater hatred of sin.

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March Calendar

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Lent at the Seminary

Lent is a time for us to mortify ourselves through penance, extra prayer, and meditation on the Passion of Our Lord. This helps to bring us closer to Our Lord and also strengthens us spiritually. All of this is part of the regular Lenten routine at the seminary.

During Lent we all make out a prayer and penance schedule that we follow daily. This helps us maintain the spirit of Lent and allows us to make it a holy and penitential season. Along with our individual practices we have common sacrifices (such as no afternoon snack) and a daily sacrifice we pick at random from the “sacrifice bowl.”

We also have our annual retreat during this time. The retreat consists of a series of spiritual conferences, all-night exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, spiritual reading and similar activities on the first weekend of Lent. This is a great benefit, especially since it occurs during the Lenten season. Other practices include the Stations of the Cross every Friday, Sunday Vespers, and, of course, the services of Holy Week.

These various practices and activities really provide a spiritual boost for us at the seminary and help provide a good Lenten spirit throughout the season.

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The Annual Seminary Ski Trip

The annual seminary ski trip came on February 12, and I don’t think that Father could have planned it for a better day. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, and the slopes had just been groomed. It was a fairly warm day, so the snow started to melt in some places and later re-froze when the sun went down.

This was my first snowboard experience, since there are no mountains in Ohio. I kept falling down at first, until I became accustomed to moving and stopping with a snowboard. Almost everyone else was good at snowboarding or skiing. I stayed on the easy slopes all day long, because I knew that I wasn't good enough for the other slopes. I was especially deficient in keeping my balance when going fast. Almost everyone, including me, was sore by the time we left. Father, who is pretty good on the skis, probably wasn’t that sore except for some sunburn due to the sunny sky and thinner air.

We stayed for about seven hours, leaving at 4:30 p.m. Some didn’t want to leave, but I’m glad we left when we did, since I had three hours of homework that night. We got a good night’s sleep and went to school the next day. (It’s a good thing we didn’t have a basketball game after school the next day because we wouldn’t have played very well.) We all enjoyed the day so much that Father decided we would have one more ski day in a couple of weeks.

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Great Saint Joseph

St. Joseph was the foster-father of Jesus. St. Joseph, a carpenter by trade, was a saint as well as a great husband and a great father. Before the birth of Christ St. Joseph had a dream, in which was revealed to him the mystery of the Incarnation. After that Joseph knew that he was supposed to be the protector of Mary’s honor and the father of the Child that was to be born. Later, Jesus was born in the stable, and three wise men came from the East to adore Him because they had followed a bright star.

Forty days after his birth Jesus was taken to the temple in Jerusalem. There was a man in the temple and his name was Simeon. To Simeon it had been revealed that he would not die until he should see Christ. One day while he was in the temple, he knew that the promised Messias was present. The priest blessed Joseph and Mary and spoke about the blessings that had come to them. Finally, an angel appeared to Joseph again and told him to flee into Egypt and stay there until Herod would die. After Herod died they went back to Nazareth and Joseph carried on his trade. He taught Jesus the carpenter’s trade as He grew older.

Every year when the Passover came, the Holy Family made the journey to Jerusalem. When Jesus was 12 years old he was separated from his mother and father and they suffered great anxiety. Although they thought He was lost, Jesus was actually debating with the priests in the temple.

St. Joseph is an indication of the sanctity of family life. St. Joseph is also a patron of carpenters and of a happy death. He died just before Jesus began His public ministry. St. Joseph’s symbols are the flowering rod and carpenters’ tools.

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Typing Away

At the beginning of the second semester, we started computer classes in place of geography and will continue to do so for the rest of the year. All but one are taking the  class which we have in the afternoon.

We are all fairly new at keyboarding but are getting along with it just the same. At times it can be frustrating learning where to place your fingers and what finger is assigned to which key.

The program is straightforward, and the nice thing is, if you aren’t sure you’ve accomplished a lesson, you can retake it. Usually, it takes two or three times for some of us before it begins to sink in. If we score below eighty percent accuracy on a given lesson, we must repeat it until we improve. After each lesson we record our words per minute, our percentage and our adjusted words per minute. This record is then initialed by Mrs. Salgado, our teacher, and we then go on to the next lesson.

Computer classes are quite a difference from geography. I can’t say which I like more, but we are all improving and will soon be typing all our book reports, articles and essays, once we have learned it well.

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Third Place

Again this year our basketball team played in the annual basketball tournament in Kellogg, Idaho. Last year our team placed 4th in the tournament, so this year we were determined to do better, if not even win it.  

Our first game was at 4:00 p.m. on January 31. We played a team named Northwest Academy, and, although we struggled a little bit, we ended up winning by 15 points. Our next game was scheduled for 9:00 p.m.  In that game it was the same old story of losing it in the second half. The final scored was a little lopsided, as we lost by about 25 points.

So we went to the hotel room we had rented to get to bed and get rested for the next day’s competition. Our game was scheduled for 2:30 p.m. against Rocky Mountain Academy, who had beaten us early in the season. As we had a lot of extra time on our hands until the game, we took a drive around the area and explored some old mining towns. When game time rolled around, though, we were ready to play.

Our team started with tremendous intensity. At the end of the 1st quarter we led 20-3, and at half time the score was 33-18. In the second half we slackened our intensity, which almost caused us to lose. The game eventually went into overtime with the score locked at 53 each. We were in the bonus, so obviously we got the ball to our best free-throw shooters. Phil was fouled twice and made 3 of 4 free throws, and also Jared went 3 for 4 at the charity stripe. With some big-time defense we won the game.

Thinking we were going to the championship game we were informed that some  team from Canada had beaten us out in the point differential process, so we ended up taking 3rd. We were a little disappointed at third place but satisfied that we had played a good tournament.

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“Pray the Lord of the Harvest”

The advent of the month of March reminds us that time is quickly passing, with only a few months remaining of the school year. This month brings us the first buds of spring as we perform our Lenten penance and look forward to celebrating the Resurrection. But above all, for us at the seminary, March is the month of our great patron Saint Joseph and the month of vocations.

During March we contact interested prospects as we look towards the next academic term. At times we receive a request for a young man to come and stay with us for a few days to check out seminary life. We ask your prayers, especially this month, for new vocations. For vocations are a tremendous gift of God. They are critically needed by the Church today, but they are obtained only at a great price-the price of many prayers and sacrifices.

You, our benefactors, have an important share in this work. Only in eternity will we learn how many vocations we have obtained from God by our prayers and sacrifices, and to whom those vocations were given. This is the modus operandi of the Mystical Body of Christ-each member helping the others by his prayers, sacrifices, fulfillment of daily duty and, in general, by his example. Thus, we each do our part for the benefit of the body as a whole. Are you doing your part, especially to pray for vocations? Let us always remember the injunction of Our Divine Master: “The harvest is great but the laborers are few, pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that he send laborers into the harvest.”

May God bless and reward you for your support, and may He grant to each of you a blessed and grace-filled Lent.

— Fr. Benedict Hughes, CMRI

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The Guardian is published monthly for the enjoyment of our benefactors and for the family members of our seminarians. This newsletter is free upon request.

Do You Have a Vocation?

If you are a young man of high school age who has a vocation, then Saint Joseph Seminary may be the place for you. Our four-year course of studies offers the regular high school curriculum, with an emphasis on Theology, Latin and foreign language. A well-rounded program of daily Mass, prayer and sports complements our academic schedule. For more information, write to the rector of Saint Joseph Seminary at the address below.

Seminary Support Club:

If you are not yet a member of the Seminary Support Club and would like to become a member, you may write to the seminary at the address below. Members pledge to pray for the success of the seminary and, if able, to send a regular financial contribution for its support.

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