An infinity of little chores

Please, not Pots and Pans! That is what every seminarian thinks when he looks at the House Job schedule every Saturday.

Household chores, like setting tables, washing dishes, waiting tables, and sweeping stairs are performed by all seminarians on a weekly rotation.  The long hours of scrubbing dishes and mopping floors teach seminarians a spirit of sacrifice and humility as nothing else can.

The wisdom and practicality of the jobs schedule is seen mostly at meals, when the various crews of seminarians work to accomplish their tasks adequately. The meals are structured so that a dinner for more than a hundred people is prepared, served, and cleaned up by less than a quarter of that number, in a timely and orderly manner.

One of the biggest challenges for new seminarians is learning the House Jobs.  New arrivals are often assigned with an older seminarian at each job until they have learned the basics. Although all seminarians often find House Jobs very tedious and monotonous, they help them to learn the value of a simple task done for Our Lord.