LIFE IN THE SEMINARY
BY: ROLAND PACUDAN
Some of us were only thirteen
Growing up as teens
And lived in the four walls of the seminary.
Semen and arium meaning seed planted in a box
Forming to a priestly flock.
Everyday we wake up
With beautiful music in our ears
Heading directly to the restroom
To brush our teeth and wash our face.
By that time the high school students are dressed
In their black and white uniforms
While the college students in their white Cossacks.
We enter the chapel
For our morning prayers and meditation
Mass comes along
With all the beautiful spiritual songs
That lifts our hearts and souls
To God the heavenly goal.
After mass we go the refectory
To take our breakfast and coffee
Sharing jokes and stories
We got from friends of long ago.
After breakfast
We prepare for class
With the flag ceremony
To start and ends in noon.
At noon we pray the angelus
And heads for lunch
Exchanging plates of who got the big piece of meat.
The latecomer gets a small share
Not knowing what happen.
The thickness of the pig’s fats
Was huge enough
To create pimples in our face.
But the soy sauce helps to make it taste better.
From 1 to 2 we have our siesta
Listening to our snores like a fiesta
By 230 we wake for school again
Unti 430 in the afternoon.
Then by 5 we are at the court
Some playing basketball, others tennis,
Still others taking karate class
Oh that was a blast.
By 6pm we head to take shower
The bell rings later
for time to study and later and dinner.
After dinner we have a small break
Until it rings again for our night prayers.
After night prayers
We go bed
Reflecting what happened
And what is ahead.
On Sundays we go out to the city
Sometimes painting it read
Once a month we go home
For bonding and recreation.
That’s the seminary life
The place where we grew up
Hoping to become a priest
With God’s help and grace.
As we get older
We look back to the pass
And recall who went out
To choose another route.
But For us who made it
We don’t
forget it
The happy seminary life.
