“And yet,
when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Lk 18:8)
As a
seminary community, we are faced with different problems: the lack of
vocations, the decreasing number of seminarians proceeding to the Theology
department, the lack of effectivity and depth in our formation, among many
others. Most of us wonder why these things are happening, of why these results
are happening even in a formation program deemed okay and near-perfect. What we
have not looked further as a community is our own particular point-of-view, our
paradigms regarding our priestly formation in the Seminary.
Most of us
enter the Seminary with a not-so-clear motivation for becoming a priest; like “I want to serve God and his people”, “I want to celebrate the Eucharist and the
Sacraments”, among others. And when they enter the College Seminary, they find
themselves questioning their own (and often borrowed) motivations. Why? It is
because they have not focused themselves on discernment and they have begun
over-rationalizing themselves. For them, Philosophy (and getting the degree) is
an end in itself: leave the spiritual aspects to the theologians. They have now
seen rationality as an end-all of college formation. As a result, they wouldn’t
listen to God deeply and clearly, and then would establish themselves as the "main actor" of their vocation. “Why would
I ponder on my vocation when I can just simply weigh in/decide where I am to
go? Besides, it is better to be rationally practical these days!”
The adage is
true: bad formation produces bad fruits.
We wonder why we have difficulties in vocation promotion, no matter what
strategy we use. We wonder why ex-seminarians do not even practice their Faith
in their lives outside, or of some who become philosophy teachers who teach
hatred of God through atheistic philosophy. Above all, we wonder why those who
have passed through their formation successfully and have become ordained
priests are becoming “not-so-good” models of the Christian life, and are much
more visible in places of recreation rather than in church, leading the faithful
to prayer. All of these are results of a wrong paradigm: formation as being
solely about the self, and not about the Lord. Seminary life for them is simply a test
of personal endurance, and not of willingness to serve the Lord. They have not
developed an intimate and well-founded familiarity with God in their seminary formation.
Now that we
are conscious of the effects of a “self-oriented” formation, we then ask
ourselves of what formation should really be, or of what orientation we should
have as seminarians. This year’s theme should give us a clear picture of what
it must be: “For to me, living is Christ”
(Phil 1:21). Our formation as
seminarians should focus on the Lord, and not much on ourselves. Seminary life
is about following the Lord, the Master, wherever he goes, no matter where he
leads us. It is about imbibing and forming in ourselves the very image of
Christ.
In the
Gospels, we see that Christ invested the three years of his public ministry in
forming the apostles along with the Church he established. Why? This is so
because he wants the apostles, imperfect though they may be, to imbibe his very
life and message. (In modern parlance, an intensive “on-the-job training” with
Christ) The apostles are chosen not because they are perfect, smart, or skilled
enough, but they are chosen because of their capacity for closeness with Jesus:
they go wherever he goes, they do whatever he wills.
The seminary
formation should somehow be like that: it should focus itself on producing good
disciples of the Lord, good members of the Church, who will eventually become
good and holy priests in the vineyard of the Lord. It should have as its goal “familiaritas cum Deo”, an intimate
knowledge of God and His Will.
And with that
focus clear enough, we ask; what is the role of Philosophy for a seminarian?
For him, Philosophy should not become an end-in-itself, but it should trigger
him to deeper contemplation of himself in God’s light. Philosophy, as we have
been taught a lot of times, is a handmaid of theology. Reason is and must
become a tool for self-transformation, which should lead to openness to the
grace of the Spirit and the workings of God. With that in hand, the seminarian
can then enrich his union with God through theological studies: he knows more
and more the God whom he loves with his whole being. (As St. Augustine succinctly
puts it, “noverim Te, noverim me”,
that is, “knowing myself is knowing You
better”.) And after that, he can now be ready to be sent out to bring God’s
saving love as a priest.
Hence, a
college seminarian should equally take subjects of spiritual matter with the
same passion he has for his philosophical subjects. Catechesis will and should be
devoured by him as voraciously as he does with his Epistemology and Metaphysics
subjects. Spirituality classes will also become relevant to him as his
Contemporary Religious Questions class. His study time will also become as
equally necessary to him as his prayer time. (And, he does not rationalize
himself out of his religious/pastoral obligations as a seminarian in his breaks!)
Eventually,
whenever we are sent out on pastoral activities, or on vacations and short
breaks, people will not ask us how much we know about this-and-that
philosopher, or about the challenges of modern-day relativism, but they will
ask us a lot about God, Christ and the Church. When we will become priests
(hopefully), we will not teach primarily about the faults in Platonic, Marxist
and Sartrean philosophy, but we will preach to many of how we will combat the
lurking presence of evil in the world today. When some of us will be
(unfortunately) sent out of the Seminary, or (eventually) decides to do so,
people will still expect us to live as good Christians, models to our fellow
young people. These are enough reasons why we should take a God-oriented,
Christocentric formation very seriously.
Finally, it
is always made clear to us in formation that each one is called to live a
Christian life; each one is called to the sanctification of his daily
activities. And if we are but overtly and unhealthily focused on ourselves, and
not on God, it is but a stumbling block to the call of holiness. Seminary
formation teaches us about our true priority, which is God, and our true
mission, which is building up his Kingdom with our lives. And I do hope and
pray that when Christ comes (even to XACOSE); he will find us faithful and
trusting in His Will, ready to listen to his voice.
