In daily and Sunday Masses we never cease to hear these words after reciting or singing the Lord's Prayer on the Communion Rite. This mere part of our Catholic ritual gives us the sense of comfort and assurance that the Lord will deliver us from any tribulation, temptation and suffering we face in our earthly journey. That the Lord in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass would heal our wounds and turn us into His good sons and daughters working together to get to the Kingdom of Heaven.
My dear readers, I know this might shock you, for some of you might have thought that these seminarians are like angels, acting in a reserved way and dressed impeccably in their clerical shirt, slacks and in their polished leather shoes. You thought that the seminary is simply a holy place where you can meditate the greatness of the Lord in silence and in harmony with the creatures. Well you are wrong. Definitely wrong.
For some seminarians, the Seminary is literally 'hell on earth'. Seminarians coming from different backgrounds come together and boast to each other of who they are and what they have, and the aloof and weak ones are always being tripped, humiliated and bullied. They tease, annoy and even insult a seminarian just for fun. They even do some physical acts of bullying their companion: for example, there was a time when a group of seminarians threw urine at their companions' desks out of rage while the rest were gathered for night prayer.
There is this advice given to us by those who were ahead of us in the formation that 'a seminarian must blend with the crowd in their interests and the like.' If you show anything that makes you aloof within the community, you really need to pray a lot for they will make you an object of their entertainment. You will suffer much humiliation and undergo a sort of 'crisis' in which you clearly doubt your vocation over a community that made your stay in the halls of the seminary like a load of crap.
Now what were the reasons why do some seminarians tend to make fun of their companion's defects and aloofness? First is boredom. For those who weren't used to discipline and silence, they try to find things that can entertain them and that includes calling them names or making unnecessary noises when their companion is given a chance to speak. Some are quite sensitive or even paranoid when they were called names. Another thing is their inability to express their inner thoughts and feelings on their formation. They sometimes get physical just in order to send a message to their companions that this seminarian needs your help. Another is that they are trying to fill the empty space as a person, by their insecurity they wanted to make others suffer and feel insecure too through their actions.
Now this does not mean that those who were being bullied are vindicated. They are not also free from suspicion. Maybe this bullied seminarian was a know-it-all asshole who annoyed their companions of his antics and even drove them crazy. Or maybe this seminarian is too hesitant to express his feelings and or reluctant to share things about his life, and that leads into misunderstanding. Another thing is that maybe the seminarian has personal issues that might affect his dealings with his community and might affect the formation process he has undergone into.
In the seminary, there is no such thing as 'be yourself.' You are trained to become a priest. You are trained to preach, mingle and talk to the faithful of different groups and backgrounds and to become a leader, taking responsibility as a pastor and shepherd of the multitude. You are not there to become more narcissistic. You are not there to become more of an introvert. You are not there to do your own way. You are there to be trained a priest, a person who was transcended by the grace of God to bring the people back to Him, whether you like it or not.
Creating safe-spaces for those who were victims of bullying are not applicable in the seminary formation. We do not train sissies; we train God's warriors who are not supposed to be cowards when preaching the Truth that guarantees eternal life to those who listen and keep it into their hearts and minds. If we train sissies then the Church would simply cease to exist. Rather, these victims should assert themselves; either use their rational capabilities or simply use force. That should help realize the bullies that they are wrong in all sorts and force them to recognize that the world they live in is not merely entertainment. It is also a struggle of suffering and pain due to their emptiness inside. In that way, in the emptiness of their hearts and minds they can help each other solve their own problems, address their personal issues and help each other become good and holy priests.
I think this picture sums everything that I've said here.
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