It sometimes happens in life that you will notice that a friend or a close acquaintance has a different ‘air’ or a deeper behavior about them. The person may hold themselves differently and more confidently. Or they may be more joyful and inviting. They do not seem to differ physically; they are not completely new people either. There is just something different about them. What has changed?
The seminary has had many changes over the past four years. We have had some large changes to the chapel, and we have gotten some new faculty members. There are also the usual yearly changes like the graduation and replacement of old and new men, the building or grounds undergo some small improvements, and the rule of life gets some modifications. However, there are sometimes other changes that are more subtle than these exterior changes. These changes happen most often over the nine months that we are here at the seminary. These happen in the hearts of the seminarians.
The men who come into the seminary come from different backgrounds and with different life experiences. Some come from right out of high school, some have done some amount of college, others have already gone to college and have had full-time jobs. What stays the same, however, is that each man comes searching to conform his life more closely to the Heart of Jesus. The seminary is the place where this happens.
I find it a great joy to see my brother seminarians in the chapel and to pray with them. This is where our Lord and our Lady form their hearts. Like any good parent, Jesus and Mary know with specificity what each of us needs before we even realize it. Because these men take their lives to their prayer and grow in their relationship with Christ, they have received so many graces at the seminary. When we are in relationship with Christ and in a posture of listening and receiving from Our Lord, we are changed by Him, and we encounter Him. This is the change that I see as I reflect on my years past. I see men who have met somebody, men who have a different life about them. In other words, I have seen men who have met Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God for the wonderful gift of my brother seminarians and Our Lord’s generous gift of creating them into men conformed to his Sacred Heart.
Joe Schon is a College IV seminarian for the Diocese of Bismark