News from the Novitiate

Turlough has sent us an account of the daily routine in the novitiate

Here now 5 weeks. The routine is settling nicely. I usually rise about 6.30 with morning prayer and Mass at 7.30. After breakfast and free time we have Quiet Time from 9.30 to 10.45 and then a class til noon.
Lunch followed by work and more free time takes us to 5.15 when we have evening prayer and dinner. The evening is taken up with more Quiet Time from 7 to 9 and then night prayer.

Realistically to get up at 6.30 you need to go to bed at 10/10.30. Although it sounds boring it is anything but. The time flows in a different way from normal living. It is not so much the hour that is important but the next appointment, whatever that may be.

The Quiet Time is filled with interesting assigned reading. So far we have read about Anthony the Great and The Way of the Pilgrim. Now we are doing papal documents on the Eucharist. The conversations in the class are very informative.

Carlos and I hold more to traditional Catholic teaching while the other two novices from USA are much more modern in their thinking. Of course Carlos and I are right!

The Novitiate is very interesting. The days are full but not pressured. Our minds are challenged, our faith enriched and most of all at the ICN (Inter Community Novitiate) on Tuesdays, where we meet novices from other communities, we see the universality of the Church. There are novices from India, Europe, Asia and South America as well as the US.

Am I enjoying it? Yes, but I miss Ireland. America is so different but it is also so fascinating. Will report more in a few weeks, D.V. Turlough