I love our novice group. They’re all such great guys, and we share so many laughs — even when we’re in silence.
Welcome to Part 15 of a weekly series on the formation journey of Josh, a first-year novice at the Marian House of Studies in Washington, D.C. Watch for a new entry every Friday.
It was our monthly Day of Recollection, so the whole community was in silence. It was breakfast time.
I walked through the refectory and went straight to our walk-in refrigerator. I looked around to see if any of the egg-and-veggie breakfast I had made the day before was available as leftovers, but no, it was all eaten on Day 1. I didn’t want to make anything new, and I was in the mood for something flavorful, so I grabbed some breaded fish, rice with soy sauce, and veggie rolls — leftovers from last night’s supper. Yummy breakfast time!
When Fr. Jim or I make a smoothie, we usually make enough for the other. This morning, when I walked past him in the kitchen, he offered me a glass, and I accepted it.
I got my coffee and noticed a bag of gingerbread men and other candies. I took a couple of gingerbread men.
My fellow novice David and I sat down at a table and started to eat breakfast. He didn’t raise an eyebrow at my fish and soy sauce. He acted like everything was normal.
Another novice-brother, Joseph, was about to walk by our table when he stopped abruptly. With wide eyes and a big smile, he pointed at my gingerbread men and then rushed to the treats table.
David and I couldn’t help laughing to ourselves.
Mind you, since we were on a Day of Recollection, all of this was happening in silence!
Cereal and sugar
Joseph returned with a gingerbread star coated with white frosting and then he prepared a large bowl of a nutritious cold cereal and added milk.
David gave him a thumbs-up of approval for the healthy cereal choice.
However, Joseph wanted to sweeten his cereal a little. He grabbed the sugar jar but didn’t have a spoon and, apparently, didn’t want to take the time to go get one. Instead, he brought the jar right up to the edge of his cereal bowl, trying to shake just a little sugar over the side.
Oops.
Huge clumps of sugar cascaded into his bowl. The top of his cereal was now covered in a thick white coating along with several huge clumps of the super-sweet substance.
There was a collective, sharp intake of breath as David, Joseph, and I all winced together, painfully.
It crossed my mind that there was still some hope. Joseph could carefully skim off much of the excess sugar using the edge of his spoon.
Boom. Before I could make my suggestion, he pressed the flat of his spoon down on top of the mountain of sugar and squashed it all down into the milk.
David and I all winced again in a fresh wave of pain, shaking our heads.
There was nothing to be done now except to throw the horrific bowl of cereal away, obviously. It was utterly ruined. Some people would vomit if they tried to eat that.
Breaking the silence
Joseph, however, not to be dissuaded, made an audible sigh (which, hopefully, didn’t count as breaking the silence), sat down in front of his bowl, dug his spoon, and took a bite.
His lip curled in distaste. But, to our surprise, he kept eating.
“This is disgusting,” he murmured.
That definitely broke the silence.
He kept at it, spoonful after spoonful, a worse sugar-encounter than I could possibly imagine. He prays a lot, so I think he was very likely offering up the sacrifice for the souls in Purgatory.
Joseph and I can both be extreme at times. For example, once while I was tending a vegetable garden, I found a locust. I wanted to get a better idea of what John the Baptist’s life might have been like, so I ate it live and wriggling. It didn’t taste very good.
I repeatedly burst out laughing as Joseph continued crunching his way through all that sugar. I kept the sound of my laughter as muffled and quiet as I could, but was not perfectly successful. It was just too funny.
Joseph looked up at me sternly and raised his finger to his lips, shushing me because we were supposed to be silence. Then, he returned solemnly to his cereal.
I love our novice group. They’re all such great guys, and we share so many laughs — even when we’re in silence.
Next entry: "Inside the Pentagon."
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