By Fire

…but it’s a good burning.  We knew it was coming, and last Friday we final did it.  We went through the great tribulation, talked of only in whispers and through gritted teeth for months.  Yes that’s right, Fernando and I finally took our Italian proficiency test! 

Though this moment is by no means the end of our study of the language, there comes with it a feeling of completion (at least we hope).  According to European international law (Bologna Accord or something) if someone gets a degree studying in a language, one should actually know that language (bizarre huh), and so all the seminarians studying at the Gregorian University where they teach in Italian, which of course include Fernando and me, have to show their proficiency in Italian.  So this past Friday was a big moment for us; it was time for these two months of Italian studies to pay off.  The test was in two parts, a written that focus on grammar and comprehension (it had so audio questions as well), and an oral portion to see how well we can converse. 

It seems like a simple testing process, right?  Well, I think it would have been, if not for the huge number of seminarians lined up for the test.  As it worked out, some of us waited almost two hours (read two hours of worrying) between the two parts for one of the examiners to open up.  Either way, I think we both did well; though, we haven’t received any results yet.  I definitely have room for improvement (the oral part didn’t go quite the way I had anticipated) and even if I don’t past there is another chance later in the semester (which doesn’t prevent me from starting the classes anyway) which will just provide a challenge to get even better control over the language.

Ultimately, this marks the end our formal courses in Italian and indicates that we are drawing ever close to finally starting our theology courses. My class had more formation conferences this week, covering more on priestly identity and celibacy, while a couple of classes, including Fernando with the first year men, were on retreat. The other class that was on retreat are the forth year men.  In their last year of formation, these men are preparing to be ordained deacons.  In fact, that is what the entire next week is dedicated to, deacon ordinations.  This ordinations week is our last hurrah before classes begin the following Monday, culminating in the actual ordination Thursday morning in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Entering this final week before classes makes me realize that seminaries all over the U.S. have already started.  This, of course, includes our Phoenix seminarian brothers.  They have been studying hard and giving themselves over to the formation of their respective seminaries, St. John Vianney in Denver and the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, OH,  for over a month already.  One of the difficult elements of studying in Rome is being away from the fraternity of our diocesan brothers (db’s for short).  They are a lot of fun and holy men studying for the diocese of Phoenix and I am blessed to be a part of this group, who have been so supportive to Fernando and me during this transition with their prayers and who we make sure we pray for daily.  Plus, we are thrilled to have 9 new seminarians this year.  The diocese website has some an excellent page dedicated to the seminarians with short bios for each one.  Check it out and please pray for all of the men in their discernment and their studies.