Spirituality
1. A crucial aspect of seminary formation lies in the area of the spiritual life of its candidates.
“The spiritual formation of a college seminarian aims to awaken and develop in him a sense of the sacred in life through spiritual exercises and spiritual direction, so that he can be a good Christian and be able to crystallize his decision to follow Christ in the ordained ministry.” UPPPF 207
a. For this reason, a Spiritual Director is appointed to personally supervise and facilitate this area of formation.
b. The Spiritual Director is assisted by other priest-spiritual directors who help in the giving of spiritual direction to students.
c. A regular time for prayer is to be observed all throughout the day.
2. Individual Personal Prayer
a. Daily meditation on the Word of God.
b. Private devotions (personal devotion to e.g. the Blessed Sacrament, the Blessed Mother and/or saint/s)
c. Moments of Silence as one of the means to cultivate the sense of the sacred (e.g. Magnum Silentium after Compline)
3. Sacramental and Communal Prayer
a. The Liturgy of the Hours (whole community, house or class prayer)
b. The Holy Mass
c. Community devotions to the Lord Jesus Christ [First Friday vigil, exposition during the Compline, Benediction during Vespers on Sundays, Stations of the cross on Fridays of Lent], the Blessed Mother [Legion of Mary every Wednesday, the Angelus thrice daily] and the class/house patron saint)
d. Household or class sharing of reflections on the Word of God (MaKaLiPang every Saturday evening).
4. The celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation is made available every week and as needed by individual penitents.
5. Spiritual direction is done as regularly as possible – at least once every month.
6. The Spiritual Director or his assistant is tasked to give regular spiritual talks to students during the Spiritual Director’s conference.
7. The students undergo monthly recollections (seminarians on regency are required to attend these in the last year of their regency period) and yearly retreats.
8. Senior students are recommended to take a five-day guided retreat.