The first day of classes complete, students on the California High School Summer Program turned their attention to friendly competition between class sections. Gathered on the fairway on the lower campus, teams buzzed with excitement in the moments preceding the games, garnering spirit for the coming competition.
Everyone ready, head men’s prefect Dillon Raum (’21) led the teams through game after game on his megaphone. First teams circled up and worked to keep a volleyball up for as long as possible, passing it from one to the next. Then, the teams faced off mano a mano with finger jousting — a close-contact contest of agility and intensity — until one section reigned. Teams followed that feat with an egg-race relay, balancing eggs on a spoon held between one’s teeth, until — at Mr. Raum’s behest — they began to pelt those same eggs at chosen prefects, for points!
Anticipation built as prefects were tallying the points, when a group of other prefects struck with a water-balloon ambush! Chaos descended into the valley, and team bonds dissolved for a battle royale of hydrous projectiles. The results were lost to the confusion, but few concerned themselves with the question of victory as newfound friends chased each other with shrieks of laughter and water balloons. Students and prefects soon found themselves in the ponds, a short walk away, with everyone diving in to cool off, splash around, and play games of chicken. Spirits rose with sounds of laughter and excitement in the shaded water.
Once everyone cleaned up and dried off, attendees dug into a dinner of glazed pork chops in St. Joseph Commons, then went to gather their books to study in the St. Bernardine of Siena Library. Students and prefects alike pored over the tragedy of Antigone and fragments from various pre-Socratic philosophers, brows wrinkled and silence held.
Everyone took the time to contemplate the works before them while cultivating the habit of regular study — a key ingredient to intellectual success, as noted by Mr. Dragoo in his morning talk. But as with all good things, the study period concluded, and many went to Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel for the nightly Rosary….
The Rosary Priest, Father Patrick Peyton popularized the phrase “The family that prays together stays together” and A world at prayer is a world at Peace.”
Why not the liturgy of the hours instead of the rosary?
Is there something wrong with the rosary? At night when the students enter the chapel, the only liturgy of the hours that is appropriate is Compline (night prayer) before bed. That’s a thin meal without the other hours recited or sung, which traditionally is the responsibility of religious and diocesan priests
Maybe they’d learn something new. And compline is part of the Church’s official liturgical prayer. Vatican II encouraged the laity to pray the liturgy of the hours.
I am a retired teacher of (among many things) religion. There’s really not enough time in summer camp to learn Lauds and Vespers (the hinge prayers) and how to recite them properly. That’s best saved for the regular school or college years. As a layman, I’ve recited the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin for many years. It takes time to get into and an appreciation for Scripture youngsters won’t likely have. It’s best not rushed.
Our Lady encouraged the Rosary for a reason.
The Immaculate Heart Oratory in San Jose, CA., has sung vespers on the first Sunday of the month at 2:30 pm. Usually snacks are served outdoors before it starts — after the 11:15 pm Mass and before Vespers. Although that might seem an odd time for Vespers, it is a good place for adults and youngsters to follow along silently and learn to sing the Mass and familiarize themselves with the neumes (square notes) of Gregorian Chant. Always check their bulletin as times and areas do change.
Correction: the Immaculate Heart of Mary Oratory in San Jose
Chat GPT: write a short article that provides highlights from a day at Thomas Aquinas College’s summer camp for high school students.