Each one of you belongs to Christ and Christ belongs to you. Christ and the Church need your special talents. Use well the gifts the Lord has given you. Your training will never be finished; Christians are always in training. You are ready for what Christ wants of you now. He wants you - all of you - to be light to the world, as only young people can be light! It is time to let your light shine! I urge you to let his word enter your hearts, and then from the bottom of your hearts to tell him: "Here I am Lord, here I am; I have come to do your will!"
-John Paul II to the youth in St. Louis
The history of every priestly vocation, as indeed of every Christian vocation, is the history of an inexpressible dialogue between God and human beings, between the love of God who calls and the freedom of individuals who respond lovingly to him.
"At that saying his countenance fell, and he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions" (Mk. 10:22). The rich young man in the Gospel who did not follow Jesus' call reminds us of the obstacles preventing or eliminating one's free response: Material goods are not the only things that can shut the human heart to the values of the Spirit and the radical demands of the kingdom of God, certain social and cultural conditions of our day can also present many threats and can impose distorted and false visions about the true nature of vocation, making it difficult, if not impossible, to embrace or even to understand. Many people have such a general and confused idea of God that their religiosity becomes a religiosity without God, where God's will is seen as an immutable and unavoidable fate to which one has to bend and resign oneself in a totally passive manner. But this is not the face of God which Jesus Christ came to reveal to us: God is truly a Father who with an eternal and prevenient love calls human beings and opens up with them a marvelous and permanent dialogue, inviting them, as his children, to share his own divine life. It is true that if human beings have an erroneous vision of God they cannot even recognize the truth about themselves, and thus they will be unable to perceive or live their vocation in its genuine value: Vocation will be felt only as a crushing burden imposed upon them.
Certain distorted ideas regarding human nature, sometimes backed up by specious philosophical or "scientific" theories, also sometimes lead people to consider their own existence and freedom as totally determined and conditioned by external factors of an educational, psychological, cultural or environmental type. In other cases, freedom is understood in terms of total autonomy, the sole and indisputable basis for personal choices, and effectively as self-affirmation at any cost. But these ways of thinking make it impossible to understand and live one's vocation as a free dialogue of love, which arises from the communication of God to the human person and ends in sincere self-giving.
John Paul II. Pastores Dabo Vobis
(I Will Give You Shepherds).
In this regard, the Jubilee will certainly spur you to rediscover the deep meaning of life as self-giving. A young man training for the priesthood must adopt a lifestyle of self-sacrificing love which is expressed in his basic goals and concrete decisions to make himself available to God and his brethren. But where can he find the strength for this constant offering of himself other than in a close, intense relationship with God, the inexhaustible source of love for neighbor?
John Paul II. Adopt a Lifestyle of Self-Sacrificing Love. L'Osservatore Romano; N. 5 (1628) 2 February 2000.
Clearly, then, the fundamental problem of youth is profoundly personal. In life, youth is when we come to know ourselves. It is also a time of communion. Young people, whether boys or girls, know they must live for and with others, they know that their life has meaning to the extent that it becomes a free gift for others. Here is the origin of all vocations - whether to priesthood or religious life, or to marriage and family.
John Paul II. Crossing the Threshold of Hope. Alfred A. Knopf. New York, 1995. Page 122.
When you have abandoned all things that hamper the human heart, and no human hope allures you, and you have forgotten yourself; when you have sought him alone and have been together with Christ from morning till night; when you have had him alone as guide for your heart - wherever it pleased him to lead you - looking ever upwards, and when in everything you are is in him and for him, then you can tell yourself: I am a priest.
- St. Jakob Gopp
To the father guardian of the Capuchins in Canobbio, who begged him to lessen a little some of his austerities and work, St. Charles Borromeo replied: "The candle that gives light to others must itself be consumed. Thus we also have to act. We ourselves are consumed to give a good example to others." Through word and example you should constantly remind them that the priesthood is a special vocation which consists in being uniquely configured to Christ the High Priest, the teacher, sanctifier and shepherd of his people, through the imposition of hands and the invocation of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Holy Orders. It is not a career, nor does it mean belonging to a clerical caste. For this reason "the priest must be conscious that his life is a mystery totally grafted on to the mystery of Christ and of the Church in a new and specific way and this engages him totally in pastoral activity" (Directory on the Ministry and Life of Priests, no. 6). Thus the priest's whole life is a transformed and efficacious sign of God's loving and saving presence. He should live the priesthood as a total gift of himself to the Lord. And if this gift is to be authentic, his thoughts, attitudes, activity and relations with others must all show that he has truly put on the "mind of Christ" (cf. I Cor. 2:16)."
-John Paul II to Cardinal Maida and the Bishops of the United States from Michigan and Ohio, May 21, 1998
1579 "All the ordained ministers of the Latin Church, with the exception of permanent deacons, are normally chosen from among men of faith who live a celibate life and who intend to remain celibate 'for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.'[Mt 19:12] Called to consecrate themselves with undivided heart to the Lord and to 'the affairs of the Lord,' [1 Cor 7:32 .] they give themselves entirely to God and to men. Celibacy is a sign of this new life to the service of which the Church's minister is consecrated; accepted with a joyous heart celibacy radiantly proclaims the Reign of God. [Cf. PO 16.]"
- Catechism of the Catholic Church
1589 "Before the grandeur of the priestly grace and office, the holy doctors felt an urgent call to conversion in order to conform their whole lives to him whose sacrament had made them ministers. Thus St. Gregory of Nazianzus, as a very young priest, exclaimed:
"We must begin by purifying ourselves before purifying others; we must be instructed to be able to instruct, become light to illuminate, draw close to God to bring him close to others, be sanctified to sanctify, lead by the hand and counsel prudently. I know whose ministers we are, where we find ourselves and to where we strive. I know God's greatness and man's weakness, but also his potential. [Who then is the priest? He is] the defender of truth, who stands with angels, gives glory with archangels, causes sacrifices to rise to the altar on high, shares Christ's priesthood, refashions creation, restores it in God's image, recreates it for the world on high and, even greater, is divinized and divinizes."
St. Gregory of Nazianzus,
Oratio 2, 71, 74, 73: PG 35, 480-481.
And the holy Cure of Ars: 'The priest continues the work of redemption on earth.... If we really understood the priest on earth, we would die not of fright but of love.... The Priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus.'
St. John Vianney,
quoted in B. Nodet, Jean-Marie Vianney,
Cure' d' Ars, 100." Catechism of the Catholic Church
Keep them, I pray Thee, dearest Lord, keep them, for they are Thine –
Thy priests whose lives burn out before Thy consecrated shrine.
Keep them for they are in the world, though from the world apart.
When earthly pleasures tempt, allure, shelter them in Thy heart.
Keep them, and comfort them in hours of loneliness and pain.
When all their life of sacrifice for souls seems but in vain.
Keep them, and Oh, remember, Lord they have no one but Thee;
Yet they have only human hearts, with human frailty.
Keep them as spotless as the Host that daily the caress.
Their every thought and word and deed,
Deign, dearest Lord, to bless.
Amen.
John J. Cardinal Carberry
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. There will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
- Thomas Merton
God has created me to do him some definitive service; he has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have my mission - I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for nothing. I shall do good. I shall do his work. Therefore, I will trust him, whatever I am. I cannot be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what he is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me - still he knows what he is about.
- John Henry Cardinal Newman
Lord Jesus, we your people pray to you for our priests. You have given them to us for OUR needs. We pray for them in THEIR needs.
We know that you have made them priests in the likeness of your own priesthood. You have consecrated them, set them aside, anointed them, filled them with the Holy Spirit, appointed them to teach, to minister, to console, to forgive, and to feed us with your Body and Blood.
Yet we know, too, that they are one with us and share our human weaknesses. We know too that they are tempted to sin and discouragement as are we, needing to be ministered to, as do we, to be consoled and forgiven, as do we. Indeed, we thank you for choosing them from among us, so that they understand us as we understand them, suffer with us and rejoice with us, worry with us and trust with us, share our beings, our lives, our faith.
We ask that you give them this day the gift you gave your chosen ones on the way to Emmaus: your presence in their hearts, your holiness in their souls, your joy in their spirits. And let them see you face to face in the breaking of the Eucharistic bread.
We pray to you, O Lord, through Mary the mother of all priests, for your priests and for ours. Amen.
-John Cardinal O'Connor
Recently, my college roommate became a priest. Even though he was the only Catholic among us, and we live scattered in Vancouver, Montreal and New York, all of his senior-year roommates attended the ordination at the Cathedral of Mary our Queen in Baltimore.
Justin was shocked to see us. But, the scientist among us reasoned, "this is Justin's marriage."
None of us went home disappointed - the ordination was awe-inspiring. Bells pealed as the processional began with two bishops, seven candidates, and nearly 100 priests - all dressed in white… Justin wore his alb, a white garment, covered with white deacon's robes.
While in our college days, Justin had been clad in crimson, a Greek god seeking glory of Harvard and football, now, as a Jesuit, he was going to apply his discipline and intelligence seeking glory for God - and salvation for humanity. As his friends blazed career paths, he embarked on what the presiding bishop called " a faith journey." As we worked on securing professorships and partnerships, he was trying to save souls. Our vocabulary was one of promotions and raises, of successes and failures; his was a language of love, of holiness, of mysteries. After the ceremony, when the lawyer among us asked Justin to reveal the mysteries - and show us the Jesuit's secret decoder ring - he replied: "You know that mysteries are to be contemplated, not solved."
Despite Justin's circumspection, it was striking how graphic, how literal, was all the talk about God. While this should not be surprising for a ceremony that was, essentially, deputizing seven mortals to serve as God's emissaries, it was still jarring. These raw expressions of faith underscored how much most of us have banished God-talk from the public sphere - even in many churches and synagogues.
In the rites, the transcendent melded with the traditional, rooting these novices in the church's history. After the bishop instructed the candidates on their ministry, after the candidates vowed obedience, the seven candidates spread out along the main aisle of the cathedral. They then prostrated themselves as the choir sang the "Litany of the Saints," reinforcing the chain of transmission linking these newly reborn leaders with their predecessors. The bishop then laid his hands on each candidate and prayed, whereupon each of the hundred priests laid hands on each candidate.
Watching the clerics welcome new colleagues into this venerable fraternity of spiritual leadership, I felt ashamed by our crass culture, a culture so self-indulgent that we mock the priest's self-discipline, a culture so negative that it demonizes all priests because of the sins of the few, a culture so cynical that many of us seem relieved to find that God's supposed emissaries have feet of clay.
After the ceremony, newly ordained Father Justin said that the fellowship he felt from everyone by the altar was "what I have felt since I entered the order, and will sustain me for the rest of my life."
It is easy to get swept up by the majesty of the ceremony, and to make Justin into something that he is not. He is still a man, though a man of God. Still, choosing to be a priest today is exceptional - and the ceremony reflected it. Even many of the older Catholics there had never attended an ordination. All of us, old and young, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim and Jew, could not help but be inspired by the ceremony, uplifted by our association with our gridiron great turned pastor.
Before the candidates were elected, the bishop asked their spiritual mentor, "Are they worthy?" As the supervising provincial described 10 years of training throughout the world, we felt proud of Justin and his six comrades. Justin, characteristically, deflected the compliments. The next day, before offering his first Mass at his home parish, Justin thanked his friends, family and teachers.
These days it is fashionable to harp on all the cultural toxins in the modern world. But if our society still leaves room for a journey like Justin's, maybe, just maybe, there is hope for us all. Mr. Gil Troy teaches history at McGill University in Montreal. Reprinted with permission from the Wall Street Journal. (June 6, 2000)
Sirach 2:1-6
"My Son, if you come forward to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for temptation. Set your heart right and be steadfast, and do not be hasty in time of calamity. Cleave to him and do not depart, that you may be honored at the end of your life. Accept whatever is brought upon you, and in changes that humble you, be patient. For gold is tested in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation. Trust in him, and he will help you; make your ways straight, and hope in him."
Each man, called by God and his church to service in the priesthood, is compelled to make of himself a gift. As Pope Paul VI wrote, the candidate must have a "clear and determined desire to dedicate himself completely to the service of the Lord" (Summi Dei Verbum, USCC, P. 10). Once this has been properly discerned, the Vocation Director will work closely with the candidate to ensure his gift is given in the spirit of integrity, selflessness and with a healthy sense of detachment and preparedness. The candidate is invited to fully embrace all the seminary as well as the diocese offers in order to perfect the gift of himself he desires to give to God and his people. Ultimately, his formation to the priesthood is his own responsibility. Nobody knows the candidate better than himself. With a mature attitude and with a vision to the future, the candidate must work hard to prepare himself to receive Holy Orders. In this light, the details of each candidate's formation will vary from man to man. Information regarding the admissions process, seminaries, academic requirements and programs for priestly formation are available upon request.
The shortage of sacred ministers can be avoided only by "praying to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest" (Mt. 9:38), giving the primacy to God and caring for the identity and holiness of the priests we have. This is simply the logic of faith! Every Christian community that lives its total dedication to Christ and remains open to his grace will obtain from him precisely those vocations which serve to represent him as the shepherd of his people.
Where there is a shortage of these vocations, the essential problem is not to search for alternatives - and God forbid that they should be sought by distorting his wise plan - but to focus all the efforts of the Christian people on making the voice of Christ, who never stops calling, heard again in families, parishes, Catholic schools and communities.
Do the Laity Share in The Priest's Pastoral Ministry? by John Paul II.
Ah, what is lacking is not numbers. We would not venture to say this openly, but we will whisper it in the ears of our brothers: There are too many priests, because there are many of them who, without dishonoring their calling and character, take low views of the dignity of their mission. What then is lacking? SANCTITY, SANCTITY.
What does the life of a priest look like?
The quality of a priest’s life really depends on the individual man. The more deeply and consistently he gives of himself, the more rewarding, beautiful and fruitful his life becomes. A priest must pray, study, and live every moment of his life in imitation of Jesus Christ; otherwise, he and his ministry will lack authenticity and credibility. In the end, the priest will become like Jesus Christ in all things, or he will cease his relationship with him altogether. There is no middle ground.
Like everyone today, the priest can live a very hectic life (thus the need to be rooted in prayer). A priest accompanies his people during the major moments of life: birth, growth, marriage, suffering, success, and death. There is no aspect of a parishioner’s life which is a secret to a priest. He accompanies the person from the arms of his or her mother to the day his or her body is laid to rest. The priest should see in this a grave and great responsibility. He must be willing to put others first. He must be generous, kind, understanding and merciful at all times. He must not be anxious about his own needs - other than his own eternal salvation. Because of this, he must be sentient and guard himself, as he knows he will be violently and constantly attacked by the Evil One.
What is looked for in a seminarian?
There are many qualities and characteristics which a seminary or a bishop will consider when evaluating the qualities of a prospective seminarian. But, in the end, the one requirement is a joyful and eager ability (and wiliness) to make a gift of himself for others. If a man discerns that God is calling him to make this self gift in the context of the priesthood, he accepts this vocation and begins formation – at least until (or if) God tells him otherwise. The most important prerequisite, then, is self-mastery. Alas, if one does not have mastery over himself, he is unable to make an authentic gift of himself. Self-mastery is characterized by spiritual and emotional maturity, focus, determination, self-awareness and confidence. Believe it or not, it also helps to have suffered; as suffering makes us more human.
When is it time to enter the seminary?
One may hear that a vocation is like fruit: if the fruit is picked too early, it is still green and it is not good for eating. Likewise, if fruit is picked too late, it becomes rotten and, again, it is not good for eating. Nobody should be forced or overly encouraged to enter seminary. Keep your discernment personal and tell no one. The only people who should know you are discerning is your spiritual director, your pastor, one or two very close and trustworthy friends, and your parents. Be assured, if you ask 100 people their advice, you will receive 100 (often times) conflicting offers of advice. Admittedly, because of the difficulties which exist in the Church today, many will even discourage you from considering the priesthood. Evaluate all that is said, but listen to God’s voice above all.
What is the process of entering the seminary?
The process can be a bit intimidating, but you are not alone during the process! Applications are required for both the seminary and the diocese. Letters of recommendation, academic transcripts, work/school history, family history, sacramental records and an autobiography are necessary. A doctor’s physical examination is required. Most importantly, the Church requires psychological examinations as well. This examination is quite lengthy and very comprehensive. Obviously, the Church relies on the expertise of professionals to assist her in determining the suitability of a candidate. But, in addition, the experience will also help the candidate grow in self-knowledge which is important for maturity and spiritual growth.
What is the Seminary like?
Seminary life is quite similar to college life; both follow the same academic schedule, both require discipline and focus, and both are great opportunities for growth, personal development and, quite frankly, both are very enjoyable. But the seminary also offers great opportunities for silence and reflection, for prayer and meditation, for contemplation of theology and philosophy. The seminary provides spiritual directors, formation directors, academic direction, conferences and retreats. Most importantly, the seminary offers a man the privilege of daily Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, and the Liturgy of the Hours. Finally, the friendships which are made in seminary will carry a man throughout his priesthood as well as his life. Seminary can be difficult, but it is a challenge worth accepting.
When is the decision final?
The decision is not final until the Bishop lays his hands upon your head at your ordination. That can be eight years (if you start seminary without previously acquiring a degree) or six years (if you have already completed undergrad work). A man must also consider his responsibility he has toward the good people of God who are supporting him with prayers, hope and financial contributions. If he does not believe God is calling him to the priesthood, he should abandon the seminary and move on with his life. Otherwise, there is plenty of time for formation and maturation. Transparency and openness with ones spiritual director, vocation director, rector and bishop, will ensure your decision is authentic and of God.
