Life With God

To whom does a priest belong to? Some call him a “Priest of Joe-shmo” or a “Priest of the DMV” or any variety of a “Priest of me, myself and I.” However, they are rightly called “Priests of Jesus Christ in the Order of Melchizedek.” Simply put, a priest is not his own. He is the Lord’s. Those who discern the Lord’s call and have answered are not their own, but part of the one who calls and sends. This past semester, I have been reading Blessed Archbishop Fulton Sheen's book, The Priest Is Not His Own, which emphasizes that a priest belongs completely to God and the Church. As I prayed with his words, it all struck me that our life as seminarians is truly preparing us to be Jesus’ priests. We are studying and living the life of the priest and so all that applies to them applies to us seminarians. I realize that we cannot do this alone, nor should we. It is not my vocation, but ultimately God’s!

While being in such a phenomenal seminary, we can fall into the mindset with either school or formation that it is all “mine” but to be frank none of it is ours! Rather all that we have, do, and can do is the Lord’s! He works in and through us to do all things. When we get these good grades, we can fall into this pelagian mindset and think “Man I must have studied really hard.” And sure, you probably did, but we forget to thank God in those moments of success. Similarly, in a time of failure, we can shift the blame to God. He brought me into this mess, this project, and these people whom I have to live with. However, those are the moments when we must run to Him and see it all as a gift from the Lord! How often do we sincerely thank God for every gift he gives and that the greatest gift is Him living in and through me. 

Dalton Newsome is a College III Seminarian for the Archdiocese of Washington.