“Anyone who takes his relationship with God seriously soon sees that prayer is not merely an expression of the inner life which will prevail on its own, but is also a service to be performed in faith and obedience.”
At Harmel, a man learns to practice the presence of God, the habit of seeing his work as a collaboration with Christ in the creation and redemption of the world. Taking a page from St. Joseph, the man learns that prayer—continual attention to Christ—is the very soul of work.
Harmel men join daily to say Lauds, Vespers, and Compline. On days when their work schedule prevents them from joining community prayer, they are asked to pray solo, or to join with those who share the same work schedule.
Mass is offered on campus once a week on Formation Wednesday in the evening. Our chaplain is also available for confession and spiritual direction.
Since parish life is a key part of being Catholic, Harmel men are encouraged to attend Sunday Mass at one of Grand Rapids’ many vibrant parishes, and to contribute actively to the life of that parish.
While Harmel Academy is unapologetically Catholic, non-Catholic students are welcome, and they too are encouraged to find an area church to call home while studying with us. A Christian alone is a Christian in danger. We aim to not be alone.
“I had a hunger for intellectual growth and spiritual growth and I needed to lock down some sort of a marketable trade. [Harmel] has helped me develop a method of thought… You have to really be working and acting to contemplate the concepts we’re talking about in class. If it doesn’t take form in a way of life, then it’s just talk.”
Harmel men live in households — small groups of different years and trades who share meals, leisure and the daily work of holding one another to holiness.
Ora et labora: men pray Lauds, Vespers and Compline together daily, learning from St. Joseph that prayer is not a break from work but the soul of it.
Work is good in itself — a share in God's own making of the world — so a man's trade here forms him as surely as it pays him.
Great books read in a monastic key rather than an academic one, where a welder reading Flannery O'Connor is not taking a break from welding.
