Most Brothers would tell you that there is no “average” day in their experience.
Each day seems to be a new adventure of meeting people, interacting with students and faculty, attending games or events, and the other hundreds of things that make up the daily experience of someone involved in education.
There are a number of things that form part of the structure of our day. They are slightly different, depending on the community and the specific ministry the Brothers are involved with.
Most Brothers wake up earlier in the morning and begin their day in the chapel for either morning prayer or Mass. After that, there’s a short time to grab something to eat and then it’s off to the school.
For most of the day, we’re involved in our particular ministry. In some communities, we all work in the same educational community running into one another here and there and perhaps stopping to chat or accomplish some task together. In others, we live in community together and go out to two or three different educational communities to perform our ministry.
In the evening, we again assemble for prayer or Mass (one or the other makes the morning and evening prayer times), followed by some social time together in the house, and dinner.
The evening time of prayer, social, and dinner is one of the key community moments of the day. It’s when we relax and relate with one another, with no set script or goal or task to accomplish other than simply being together as a religious community.
After dinner, each person either has his own thing to do— homework, reading, watching the news, meeting people at school, reading a magazine, attending some school events, or heading to their rooms for the evening.
Many communities will have special times on Fridays or the weekend when they do other activities together. One of the Brothers may cook the meal on Saturday or Sunday, or a group may decide to go out to dinner or to attend a local movie theater or sports event.
The focus for us is on three areas of life:
FAITH
Our faith and prayer life – both our personal prayer and spirituality and our shared experiences of communal prayer.
SERVICE
Our work or ministry or education – where we are called as teachers, coaches, counselors, professors, administrators, campus ministers, to meet young people where they are and walk with them in their life’s journey.
COMMUNITY
Our community and life together – supports, renews, and unites all that we do together.
Each year, every community retreats for a time at the beginning of the school year to plan out specifically how those areas will be specifically lived out in the particular circumstances and context of community life together.
And that structure becomes the basis for our “average day.”
