“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear
fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you” (John 15:16)
For three years a seminarian will be praying in the chapel of the institution dedicated to equipping him for the life of the holy priesthood. He will read those words above that are written on the scroll that Christ holds on His icon to the right of the Royal Doors of the holy altar. At least twice a day he will remind himself of the reason he is there and what he is doing to prepare himself for the rest of his days. It takes a great effort for the Church to produce its clergy. Some parishes never have the honor of sending even one young person from their bosom to serve God throughout a lifetime. Our diocese is not alone in yearning for priests to fill the sanctuaries of at least a dozen vacant parishes in our territory. I’ve never known a bishop who had sufficient clergy for his pastoral needs. And the reasons are all too obvious. It’s not a life that many desire to embrace. We may have as many icons as there are on our walls; nevertheless it’s the priest who must be a living icon, if people are to find Christ among us. Another challenge is the reason why I find it difficult to inspire our congregation to absorb the tuition costs of our aspirant for the priesthood. In a word, the attitude: “Oh, that’s nice, but good luck to him. It’s not our concern. We have problems of our own that supercede care for others.” I recall the time I visited my dear grandmother to tell her that I had decided to leave for seminary and train for the priesthood. She sat in silence, and a tear trickled down her cheek. She said she had hoped for something better for me, a life less filled with trauma. In the best of circumstances it’s rarely if ever an easy life.
One British clergyman described the cause:
“People expect the clergy to have the grace of a swan, the friendliness of a sparrow, the strength of an eagle, and the night hours of an owl—and some people expect such a bird to live on the food of a canary” (Edward Jeffrey).
Our Lord appoints us to “bear fruit,” and He asked, “that your fruit should remain.” He means me, of course. But He means us all, also. Heaven forbid that we look lovely from the outside, like the fig tree on the road to Jerusalem filled with leaves, but without a single edible fruit—and remember what happened to that tree! (Matthew 21:19) We have a beautiful Church, but it’s not enough to be admired. Christ didn’t say, “Admire Me,” but “Follow Me!”
I’m proud of our young man who sets out on a three-year program of training for the holy priesthood. I’ll be praying for him each day, and I invite you to share my prayers that he will be able to overcome every trial that will come his way. There indeed will be challenges, because he just as we ourselves irritate the demons that prefer our society the way it is. They are delighted with the ambivalence over values, the challenges to Christ’s gospel teachings and the rejection of the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. They would rather our youth worship athletes and rock stars than Jesus Christ.
We can, however, do more than pray for him. Many parishes realize that the three-year seminary program follows four years of college or university preparation, which of course entails tuition costs. They do more than offer token scholarships; they absorb the total tuition costs for the future servant of God. The Lord has blessed us with so much over the life of our parish, and I yearn for proof that we not only bear fruit, but we water that fruit with our generosity. Another prayer I have is that our young man not be the last from our parish to give himself to the service of Jesus Christ.