All of the seminarians here at St. John Vianney College Seminary began the new academic year this morning with Daily Mass. In his homily, Fr. Joseph told a story about a man who came across a butterfly struggling to emerge from its cocoon. In order to help the tiny creature, the man cut the cocoon, allowing the butterfly to emerge with ease. However, what the man did not realize was that the butterfly needed to struggle to fit its lethargic body through the tiny hole at the bottom of the cocoon. This would have allowed the excess fluid in the body to spread to the wings, causing them to open wide, permitting the butterfly to fly away. Instead, the butterfly’s lethargic body retained the moisture and its wings did not open. The tiny creature spent the rest of its days crawling upon the earth, never having the ability to lift its heavy body off the ground and fly.

What does this have to do with seminary? Fr. Joseph tied this story in with the upcoming year. He told the seminarians there will be tremendous struggles and challenges that will occur this year. In formation, the struggles are necessary to achieve growth. If we have someone come along and ease the burden of the challenge, we will never experience the growth we need. The Lord never gives us a challenge that we are too weak to overcome. If we persevere and have faith, we can overcome any obstacle that is put in our path. Fr. Joseph told us not to be afraid to accept the responsibilities that we are given this year because they are only meant to help us grow. If we look for the easy way out and have someone take the challenge away from us, there is no possibility for growth and we will never learn how to fly.