Summer Training: Week 1

The other night Tyler and I were talking about our life (we love our life, by the way!) and since we've been married (almost two years, how crazy is that?!) we have lived in many states (Nebraska, Florida, Alabama, and Iowa) and have made our "home" in many different places.

Currently, our "home" is two dorm rooms connected by a bathroom. Even though I enjoy the simplicity of living without a ton of stuff for most of the summer, I can't tell you how nice it is to know we have a home in Dubuque that we will be returning to!

We are really excited to go back to Loras and to be second year missionaries here at New Staff Training. It is a world of difference from last year coming in and not knowing much about what it is to be a FOCUS missionary, especially in regards to fundraising our salary and being on a team with other missionaries!

We love the Newman Center here at the University of Champaign. Check out our blog post last year, Catholic Disney World, to see pics of the gorgeous chapel!

FOCUS hired 160 new missionaries this year, which means there are overal 300 missionaries here this summer. It's awesome to see us all walk from the classes in the Union back to the Newman Center.

Seeing this gives me chills. We are all here together, praying and preparing ourselves so we are eqiupped to go onto our campus in the Fall!

The classes are amazing. Unlike Tyler who went to Ave Maria and had plenty of classes in theology and philosophy, the stuff we are learning here is mostly new to me.

For example, we learned the difference between "magnanimity" and "pusillanimity" in a character formation class. I had heard the first word before, but wouldn't have been able to define it.

Magnanimity is greatness of soul and aspires us to nobility; urging us on to our final goal of Heaven.

Pusillanimnity is smallness of soul and aiming too low; we might recognize the greatness in something but since it's hard, we fall short and settle for ease and comfort.

My favorite class this past week was taught by a Jesuit Priest, Fr. Brian Dunkle. We received 9 hours of information about Ignatian Prayer and Discernment of Spirits. You should check out the book, Discernment of Spirits, by Fr. Gallagher. The classes explained lots of information that I had previously read in this book.

Fr. Dunkle outlined five parts to Ignatian Prayer:
1. Enter into God's presence
2. The three "preludes"
a. Recall the subject matter (a part of Scripture or other work that you read earlier)
b. Composition of place (use the imagination to picture the scene and place yourself in it)
c. Desire (ask God for the grace for a specific thing related to scripture, such as if going to pray on the Passion, ask for sorrow, tears, and anguish with Christ in anguish)
3.Body of Prayer
a. Meditation (memory, understanding, and will)
b. Contemplation (see, listen, watch)
4. Colloguy (conversation with Christ)
5. Mission (object of Ignatian prayer is apostolic)

Those are just the basics so if you are interested in learning more about this check out the book Meditation and Contemplation: An Ignatian Guide to Praying with Scripture by Fr. Gallagher.

One last thought about the week: eating in the cafeteria is always an adventure!

There are so many choices, and Tyler and I have been trying to choose the healthy options (Tyler is doing a better job than I am) but my favorite thing is yogurt in the morning!

Look at all the choices of yogurt and fruit! So far it hasn't gotten old, but we are only on week one so we'll see how long my craving for it lasts!