It is curious that the October 31st letter does not say anything directly about the 30 day retreat the boy just experienced. It does reflect continuing excitement of being at the novitiate and the joy in everything around him– the work, nature, future assignments. Only in the third and fourth paragraphs of the November 10th letter is there a reference to the long retreat. The catechism ministry seems the main interest.
Ignatius College
Guelph Ontario
October 31, 1961
Dear Mum, Dad,
I just got off of retreat yesterday I I thought I would begin a letter and so break the long period of silence. After works period yesterday we came down to the library and lo and behold! There was a table full of letters. You can imagine my joy as my hand began to become filled with letters (seven in all)…..
….You should have seen all the potatoes we picked this year down here! Truckloads and truckloads! but since there were about twenty-five of us picking up it didn’t take very long. Two brothers dug them out with a tractor and a machine that had a scoop-like nose that dug up all the earth on the row of potatoes The wheel made a chain turn, the dirt dropped through and the potatoes dropped on top of the ground behind….
The fall down here is simply spectacular. The leaves on the maple trees turned slowly from green to yellow to orange and then to red. Of course, each tree was at a different stage of the cycle so it produced all sorts of shades between the colour. The chestnuts on the chestnut tree started to fall mid-October. These nuts are covered with a green shell that has prickles on it and is about the size of Karen’s fist. There was a strong wind one day and these things came bombing down (you have to stand clear or you’ll get hit) and hit the ground with a thud. This fall usually breaks open the green shell and exposes the shiny brown nut.
There also are walnut trees. The walnuts I discovered are also covered with a smooth green shell about 1/4 of an inch thick. These break open when they get ripe too and leave the walnut exposed. These nuts provide our squirrels with plenty of nourishment for the winter months. Are the squirrels ever fun to watch. There are big black ones and little brown ones, all of them are as fat as ever now but they still are able to run as fast as ever.
Yesterday was a big feast day and so I was able to write then. Boy, I am going to be busy these coming winter months. There are works to do and Greek and Latin to study and I will be teaching catechism at a school not so far from here once a week. It will all keep me busy but I’ll enjoy every minute of it I think….
I have still very much to tell you about the retreat and everything else but I had better get this letter off so you will know I am still living.
Well, I will write sooner next time so God bless you all.
Love, Frank
P.S. Viv asked me what I could receive as a gift, I was kidding of course [when I said ‘nothing’] but if you insist, anything of a practical nature that is not too superfluous will do. (I am supposed to be practising poverty)
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Ignatius College
Guelph Ontario
November 10, 1961
Dear Mum, Dad,
The last letter I wrote wasn’t very long so I’ll try to make up for it.
At villa last week we played a game of soccer, and my poor desert boots groaned and collapsed in the middle of the game, so they didn’t last as long as I thought. Father Master, when I told him about it, gave me permission to ask you if you would send me another pair of boots. I found they are invaluable here!
The retreat last month was the greatest thing I’ve ever experienced. The days sped by and before I knew it, the last day had come. However there were times that it was difficult and I’m certain that I couldn’t have made it on my own steam. Thank you for all your prayers during tht month in particular. I wish that more people would have the opportunity to make a retreat like that for it is tremendous.
Did I ever tell you what the N.S.J. means? It means Novice of the Society of Jesus. In two years I will no longer be a novice and will be able to put S.J. [after my name]. You see there are two years of noviceship then you can take vows.
I had my hair cut the other day and now I look like Caesar. But short hair is easiest to keep healthy. Last week I got a test shot for T.B. at the hospital in Guelph. This was my first real glimpse of the city. Some of the streets reminded me a lot of Regina.
If it is necessary to speak outside of recreation [times] we must now speak in Latin. The last fifteen minutes of evening recreation must be used only in speaking French or Latin. In this way we will improve our knowledge of the language or pick up a knowledge of it….
On November seventh I had my first try at teaching catechism. We left the novitiate at about 1:15 on foot, and arrived at the small country school at about 2:15. We weren’t sure if it was the right school and we also were expecting a male teacher, so when we stepped into the porch we were thinking that we had the wrong school. Timidly we knocked on the door and were greeting by the teacher. One glance at the school room set us at ease for above the far sides of the blackboard were two large pictures, one of the Sacred Heart, the other of the Immaculate Heart. In the centre was a large crucifix with the flag below it and two small pictures of the queen and the duke on either side of that….
There were seventeen pupils in the class… and my group, all first communicants, numbered six…. They are the loveliest little children and they were all eager to learn and put up their hands to answer the questions (even if they didn’t know the answers) except one of the little boys, who was a bit shy…I will have to work hard to prepare interesting classes for them because with three different groups in one room there are a lot of distractions….
What are you doing these days? How is the weather in the west and how much snow have you on the ground? Don’t forget to give me those addresses okay? Say hi to everyone of the family won’t you?
May God bless you!
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Source for all photos: Frank Obrigewitsch, SJ
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