SEMINARIAN SPOTLIGHT
Recognizing Christ ’ s Presence in Order to Share It
Joseph Lennon
After a year and a half of community college , I found myself in a place where I realized I needed a serious and intimate relationship with the Lord . I had never lost my faith at any point in my life , but at the time I was not fully relying on the Lord and was looking to worldly things to find comfort . I was preparing to start Exodus 90 , a fantastic program for Catholic men to help them grow in their relationship with Jesus through prayer and asceticism . The weekend before I was to start Exodus 90 , I went on a silent retreat with a religious order called Miles Christi .
On one of the evenings we were having eucharistic adoration , and the priest gave a talk . During the talk , he asked two key questions .
The first was , “ What is something in your life that the Lord is calling you to give up for him ?” I knew exactly what the Lord was asking me to give up for him , a worldly comfort that had already been put on my heart to remove from my life . But I asked the Lord , “ How can I do this ; how can I give this up ?” I was weeping . I remember specifically telling the Lord , “ I will do this because you are asking it of me , but I really need your help because I cannot do this on my own .”
The second question proposed by the priest was , “ What is the Lord calling you to do ; what is your vocation ?” Immediately there was a burning in my heart and the Lord spoke to me in a moment of clarity , “ Be a priest for me !”
This was not the first time I had thought about being a priest . My first desire to be a priest came when I was four years old and my grandma made me vestments and bought me a chalice and paten to “ play Mass .” But now , on this silent retreat , I asked the Lord , “ How can I be a priest ? Look at how broken I am . . . look at what I have done in my life .” But despite my worries , there was peace in that encounter , and as with the first question , my reply to the Lord was , “ I will do this Lord , if it is your will , but you need to help me because I cannot do this on my own .”
After the retreat , my life radically changed . With the aid of the Exodus 90 program , I grew tremendously in my spiritual life . I began to pray a daily holy hour , go to daily Mass more regularly , and grow in my practice of asceticism . I went on to apply to seminary and was encouraged to wait a year in order to work on some things and to make sure this was a true calling from the Lord . After that additional year of discernment , I was accepted to the program of priestly formation at the seminary , studying for the Archdiocese of Detroit .
I am now in my third year of seminary , my last year of undergrad , and it is an exciting year ! The culmination of this year of discernment will be Candidacy in the fall at which time ( if admitted ) the Church recognizes my call , and I commit to a deeper , more intentional process of discernment as I begin theology studies . As I grow in my relationship with the Lord , three dimensions of seminary life appear as avenues by which I can take this next step with confidence .
The first is through daily , eucharistic holy hours . This is time to sit before the Lord , pour out my heart , and encounter Jesus . Without silent time for prayer every day , I would not be able to grow in my relationship with him , nor could I hear him call me to my vocation . Secondly , is spiritual direction . It can be easy to become discouraged while discerning and think that everyone else has everything figured out and that I have nothing figured out . Having a spiritual director helps show me the truth and recognize where Christ is present in my life . Lastly , is the pastoral work I have the opportunity to do in seminary . To receive the love of God and then be able to show that love to others is the most fulfilling thing we can do as human beings . This is what it means to be a person : to seek truth and pursue it , conform our lives to that truth , and then share it . This truth is Jesus Christ ! It would be an incredible gift and a blessing to be his priest , and I pray and ask for your prayers that if the Lord is truly calling me to be a priest , that I will be a good and holy priest for him . shms . edu 23