The Bishop’s Appeal for Vocations to begin Oct. 5-6
Guest column By Fr. Alec Sasse
Vocations Director
Assistant pastor, St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Center in Lincoln
As a priest, I’m invited to hold many beautiful and precious things: the Sacraments, the Word of God, the hopes, heartaches, and stories of the people of God, to name a few. A commonality among these things is that none of them belong to me, and I would be foolish to let myself fall into the trap of believing that they have goodness or worth because of me. No, as a priest I’m invited to hold them with great care and reverence, seeing them as the freely offered treasures from the Lord that they are.
Fortunately for me, I share this sentiment with St. Paul, who wrote to the church in Corinth: “Thus should one regard us: as servants of the Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor. 4:1). St. Paul takes great pains to explain to the people that he didn’t conjure up the doctrines of the Church, and he didn’t create the Sacraments he’s presenting to the people. He is, instead, the humble protector and caretaker – the steward – of what rightfully belongs to Christ.
Bishop Conley, too, spoke of this idea of stewarding holy things when he addressed the five men he was about to ordain in May of this year. This attitude and disposition of heart shouldn’t belong exclusively to priests, but should be one embraced by all Christians. All is gift and no holy thing in our lives belongs to us; we have merely been entrusted with them. Just as a steward is neither the king nor the possessor of a kingdom’s property, so the Christian is neither the originator nor the possessor of the rich treasures and mysteries of the Church.
I’m reminded of this theme and attitude of being a “steward” when I reflect upon our vocations to the priesthood this year, which have filled many with great hope for the Church. We were blessed to welcome five new priests to our diocese this year, and hopefully the people of Southern Nebraska have found the merciful face of Jesus in these young shepherds. These new priests are not the possession of the people – rather, they are given as a gift. Far from perfect, they are still precious treasures that the Father has entrusted to this diocese. They are gifts for which we should give praise and thanksgiving, especially in a time where many dioceses are strained for lack of priestly personnel.
Similarly, we welcomed 17 young men into seminary formation this August. This is an extraordinary number of men whom the Lord has called to discern the priesthood, and I, as vocations director, am blown away by the generosity of the Father! These young men come from all across the Diocese: from Nebraska City to McCook, and everywhere in between. Some have considered seminary for most of their lives; others just began thinking about it last year. Some have college degrees, others just graduated from high school.
But the men who have joined the seminary this year have two discernible things in common. First, they have a great love for Eucharistic adoration and discovered their call to the seminary before our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
Second, they each possess a desire to “detox” from the world and to discover the Heart of Jesus in a more radical way. For young people (as, perhaps, for all of us), the world is increasingly noisy, chaotic, and sinful. These young men have heard a whispering invite from Jesus to retreat into the care of His Heart, that He may prepare them for what is to come. It’s hard for me to not be reminded of St. Benedict or St. Gregory the Great, who themselves retreated from sinful Rome to seek something greater.
Our seminarians and the culture of vocations that we enjoy here in the Diocese of Lincoln are rich gifts from the Father. Yes, there are initiatives, efforts, and sacrifices that have contributed to them, but the truth is that sheer grace has warranted such a harvest here. We should not boast or fall into the trap of believing that our “righteousness” has won for us these seminarians. It has not. Jesus, interceding for us at the Father’s right hand, has won for us these vocations. We should adopt the attitude of St. Paul: we are stewards of this great gift freely offered to us.
I would like to propose two ways we can be faithful stewards of the vocations to the priesthood here in this Diocese. Firstly, prayer. Each day we should pray for our seminarians: for their discernment, for their perseverance, and for their holiness. I remember hearing Timothy Cardinal Dolan mention that when a man put a collar on (when he joins the seminary), the Enemy places a red bullseye upon his chest. Our seminarians need the spiritual support of their people!
Secondly, the Bishop’s Appeal for Vocations. This annual appeal, beginning the weekend of Oct. 5-6, enables us to educate, train, and support our future priests. The average cost of educating a seminarian is more than $40,000 per year, and the happy consequence of our many seminarians is higher costs. I’d invite you to contribute to this year’s appeal and step into the role of a steward of our vocations in this way.
Ultimately, we’re invited to be stewards of our priestly vocations in whatever way we can. For me, this means having a mindset of reverence towards these men. I think of St. Philip Neri, who lived in Rome near the English seminarians preparing to meet their deaths when they returned as priests to a late 16th century England, which was violently hostile to the Catholic faith. Upon seeing the seminarians around Rome, Philip had a habit of kneeling, kissing the ground, and giving thanks to God for these brave men. Philip wasn’t canonizing or glorifying these seminarians – he was reverencing the reflection of Jesus that he saw within them. May we do the same as we seek to steward well that which the Lord has generously given to us.
