The students are to be made clearly aware of the burdens they will be undertaking, and no problem of the priestly life is to be concealed from them. This is to be done, however, not that they should be almost solely concerned with the notion of danger in their future labors, but rather that they might be more readily conformed to a spiritual life that more than in any other way is actually strengthened by the very pastoral work they do (Optatam Totius # 9).
After I graduated from high school, I decided to enter the seminary. My Father would jokingly remind me that the twelve years I would spend in the seminary would be the same amount of time I could have spent in college taking up medicine with a specialization. I would just smile and say to him, “Pops, you are already taking care of the body, let me take care of the soul.”
I certainly consider seminary life as some of the best years of my life. As I was going through seminary formation, our formators taught us to find joy in being formed. If one desires to follow in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ, the High Priest, then one must learn how to find joy and appreciate the process of formation regardless of the difficulties and struggles one encounters.
Now, as a formator myself, this is the same lesson I try to teach our 26 seminarians. Teaching our seminarians to find joy in the formation process regardless of its difficulty and struggle is a way of making them aware of the demands and responsibilities a priest and religious has to undergo in his life. They need to understand and appreciate the kind of life they plan to commit themselves to not only with regards to their ministry but especially by the kind of life they have to embrace as an Adorno Father or Brother, a life of holiness set by our holy Founders, Saint Francis Caracciolo, Venerable Augustine Adorno and Father Fabrizio Caracciolo.
Forming these young men to be good holy religious priests and brothers is not an easy task. That is the reason why I constantly ask you our readers, friends and relatives to constantly pray for us as we faithfully engage ourselves in this wonderful ministry. I would say that the greatest joy of a formator is to see his formandi (those being formed) eventually profess their vows and become official members of our religious family.
I have come to accept the Gospel Truth that many are called, but few are chosen. Let’s hope and pray that these young men who are called to be in the seminary will eventually be chosen to be a great asset to the Order and of course to our Mother Church. May they be called to be faithful witnesses of Christ’s love, compassion and forgiveness and may all be done for the Greater Glory of the Risen Christ!