Formed for Christ | 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

This year, we are happy to welcome 17 new seminarians to Saint John’s Seminary. These men come from all different backgrounds, with different experiences and different gifts that are all coming with them here to the seminary. In this house, all of these men, with their unique circumstances, are all placed in the hands of Jesus Christ to allow Him to form them to be His priests, according to His heart. Each one of them will be sanctified, including all of what they bring to the seminary and to the Lord.

In recognizing the changing landscape of our world and the Church, we see that the circumstances these men find themselves in can be drastically different that one or two generations ago. By and large, the men entering seminary now are growing up in a cultural environment that is opposed to the Catholic faith, and in some cases, harshly antagonistic towards the Church. Long are the days when you could count on the world around you to reinforce and witness the beauty of the faith. What we find in the new men is a common theme of conversion or reversion in their lives. Many of them fell in love with Christ and the Church later in their life and have intentionally chosen to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ as an adult, leading to some very mature discernment.

Similarly, because of many cultural and societal factors, we see that the men who are applying are indeed sincere, but might need some more initial assistance in formation, particularly in the dimension of human formation. Whether it be issues of mental health, unhealthy attachments to technology or social media, the men who are applying to seminary now are in some ways a product of their world. We, of course, want to provide whatever we can to help them to grow and give themselves over to Christ and His Church.

Lastly, we can say that the men who are entering seminary now have a true desire to be there. They truly want to be disciples of Jesus Christ, to grow in maturity, and to be formed. They want to be counter-cultural, they want to grow in excellence, and they want to be saints. We see such a prominent trend of men who want to lay down their lives for something bigger than themselves, and very intentionally do so for Christ and His Church.

While more vocations are certainly needed, we can see that the men who are responding to God’s call are men of great character and quality. During their time of formation, we get to see how God is able to use their unique backgrounds and circumstances to help sanctify them as well as those around them. I am looking forward to this year of formation and to see what God will be doing in their lives. Please pray for these men beginning their seminary journey, as well as all our seminarians.