LIFE IN THE SEMINARY
The thirtheenth in a series of articles by Leo Coshan, describing his experiences testing his vocation in the Societas Verbi Divini (S.V.D. Society of the Divine Word)

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Greetings in God! May grace and peace be yours in full measure through your knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. This is from the second letter of Peter and makes a fitting beginning for this communication to you, my friends.


The academic year ended on June 15th. We celebratedthe closing Mass the previous Friday and until the third week in September most of the students have dispersed. Two of our SVD confreres have now compieted hospital chaplaincy courses similar to the one I did last year. Another Is doing  research in the Natural History Museum.  He  is a biologist and can tell you everythig about insects etc. Another,. a brother who promotes the magazine THE WORD, is now working for a few weeks at a parish in Staffordshire.  After spending 8 weeks doing some necessary household chores in the community I spent three weeks at our parish of  St. Joseph's in  Burslem, one of the famous five town of Arnold Bennett. In reality there were six towns now incorporated into the city of Stoke-on-Trent: Stoke, Burslem, Hanley, Longton, Newcastle-under-Lyrne and Tunstall. 


The parish at st. Joseph' s is fairlly small - some 600 families. My stay there
consisted of visiting some of the families and helping out at the church. I think I must have managed to see about sixty families. Many people were away in the first two weeks of my.stay on what is known as the 'Potters Fortnight'. For most of them it was a very wet and cold hbliday. For.me it was the coldest mi.dsummer I've known. The fire was constantly on in my room and I almost felt like wearing gloves. But the people  of that area were just lovely, warm, f:riendly and hospitable. A lot of them are interrelated and, although this tends to make a somewhat closed community they still seemed to extend a welcome to strangers.


Besides engaging in pastoral visiting I also entered into the prayer-group
life, sitting in on the core-group and sharing the social life that seems to be a natural flowering of people who come together to pray and express their
worship of the Lord in this free and open way. While I was there the parish
priest returned from the charismaic conference in Dublin lthe big internat-
ional one in mid June - and shared his experiences with us both at parish and at prayer group levels. Tne last meeting I attended was a house Mass; alway a joyful and beautiful occasion and very fritful.


During my stay at Burslem I was asked to give a talk at all the Masses one Sunday on my vocation and what studying for the priesthood involved. This was quite an experience for me. I had to limit my talk to ten minutes (five at the ten o'clock Mass). ,All seemed to find it interesting and the subject fitted in well with the readings fo that day (from Isiah 55, Romans 8, Matthew 13).
After that happy and memorable sharing in the life of a small parish I moved on to Hopwoocl Hall in Middleton, just outside Manchester where I spentt five das at a charismatic conf'erence , The theme was 'Do not be afraid' from Isaiah 43 v.1 - 4. This is from what is called Deutero Isaiah (or second Isiah) and a poem of consolation addressed to the Israelites the chosen people of
God, in exile in Babylon, It was written around the sixth century BC (first Isaiah was composed the previous century) and is a song of preparation
 the projcted return to their homeland from the long exile. Recalling the Great Exodus event and the journey n the wilderness God promises his
beloved people 'Do not he afraid - I will save you, I have called you by
your name - you are mine. When you pass through deep waters I will be with you, your troubles will not overwhelm you. When you pass  through fire you will not be burnt; the hard trials that come will not hurt you. For I am the Lord your God, the holy God of  Israel, who saves you. I will give up Egypt to set you free; I will give up Sudan and Seba. I will give up whole nations to save your life, becauae you are prrecious to me  nd because I love you and give you honour. Do not he afraid -  I am with you!'  Isn't that just too wonderful? What reassurance for all of us-- called by name by bythe Lord. And so, the theme was preached 1 and practised throughout the 
conference. It was a shattering experience for sorne, especially those wno met the charismatic renewal for the first time. But for some the exper i enoe of the reality of God's love was just overwhelming beautiful. There were many heaIings, some of physical complaints but many more of inner problems and difficulties. If I began to make a list of those whom I personally met who told me of being healed this article would run to several pages. Having just returned it , is stil  too soonfor my my personal reaction to be spelled out. I need more time for reflection. But I can assure youthat this morning while at prayer in the presence of our Lord in the Blessed
Sacrament I was filled with the thrill of his real presence. Praise God!


Next week I am off to Donarnon in County Roscommon, Ireland, f'or an Ignatian retreat. I'm Looking forward very much to this. It is the final exercise in my preparation for perpetual vows. If all goes well these will be made next Easter. More about that next time.

 
Let me end this time with a few more words fromSt Peter: You were chosen according to the purpose of God the Father and were made a holy people by his Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be purified by his blood...eot us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! 'Because of his great mercy he gave us new life by raising Jesus Christ from death. This
fills us with a living hope, and so we look forward to possessing the rich
blessings that God keeps for his people.' (i Peter 1, 24). It is well worth
reading both these letters of our first Pope. To all of you I extend the wish that you 'greet one another with the kiss of Christian love' (1 Peter 5, 14)


Shalom!

LEO COSHAN, S.V.D.

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