Over the last couple of days, I have continued reflecting on this year in seminary formation and have been given the opportunity to recall many graces that I have received. The Lord has been extremely generous to me! In reflection of the first part of the formational year, I got up to the celebration of the 50th Anniversary weekend that the seminary community experienced back in November. I would like to continue from there.

The weekend after the alumni reunion, the seminary again opened its doors to a large group of people for our fall Vocations Awareness Weekend. The VAW that took place from November 13-15th was rather difficult. There were a lot of young men attending that were seriously considering what God was calling them to do with their lives. However, there were others who were here simply because their parents wanted them to come and who had no intention of looking at the priesthood as something God was calling them to do with their lives. However, the Lord worked through all of it. He used each and every one of the seminarians and priests who were here to show the attendees that God loves them and that He is seeking them to serve the Church and the people of God in some capacity. It was rather humbling to see, in the midst of the sometimes chaotic weekend, that the Lord was using me to reach someone I had never met. It goes to show you that the Lord works with what you have to offer, however limited that offering may be. All we can do is surrender it all to Him because we cannot necessarily see how the Lord is working in others.

This year has been quite a year for me in seminary formation. The 2009-2010 year started way back during the second week of August as the new seminarians arrived at St. John Vianney College Seminary for New Student Experience. When the returning seminarians arrived back for the year on August 20th, we met a LARGE group of new men who had already bonded and congealed. The first few months were a bit difficult adjusting to the large number of seminarians, the largest sized house in some 35 years. However, once the returning men and the new men came together, walking on the same journey of discovering the Lord’s love for each one of us, we were able to bond as a house of brothers. It was going to be an interesting, grace-filled 50th Anniversary Year for the seminary community!!

On Thursday, September 17, 2009, the seminary community welcomed Christopher West, who came to share a bit about John Paul II‘s Theology of the Body. At the time of his visit, Mr. West had been receiving criticism of many people stating that his commentary on the JPII’s work had been misrepresented by the Theology of the Body Institute. However, the seminarians here can attest to the powerful ministry of Christopher West and the institute he founded. The day after his visit, Justin Cardinal Rigali (Archbishop of Philadelphia) and the Most Rev. Kevin Rhoades (then Bishop of Harrisburg) issued a joint statement in support of Christopher West. They wanted to “express strong support for the important work of the Theology of the Body Institute and, in particular, that of Christopher West.” They continued by saying: