Paradigm Shifting: Formation as Life in Christ

“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.