By Ian Vergel
Once upon a time there was a young man studying for the priesthood.
It was about his 3rd or 4th year in formation when he struggled and began to question his vocation.
After some time, the young man decided he had enough. He decided he wanted to leave. He decided that he would tell the rector of his decision. And so he did one afternoon.
As he began walking to the rector’s office and through the corridors he bumped into a priest. The priest just happened to be coming out of his office.
The priest saw him, greeted him and they talked briefly. Nothing was discussed about his decision to leave. They only had a simple conversation. After that conversation, the young seminarian decided that he would not enter the rector’s office that day.
In fact, he never went back to his office to tell of his decision to leave.
Instead, he was eventually ordained as an Oblate priest and would teach, serve and give spiritual direction to a number of parishioners, seminarians, priests and religious. This Oblate happened to be the late Fr Austin Cooper while he was in his house of formation.
I tell this story not to highlight Fr Austin but to highlight that priest he bumped into. That priest gave back to God what belongs to God.
What belongs to God? Let me offer a few of points of reflection:
The first thing is our time. Time belongs to God because he created it. Our time should be used to know, serve and love God. We cannot be inward looking when it comes to our time. That priest in the corridors was generous with his time to God. His time unknowingly saved a vocation. When we give our time to God, he uses us for greater things.
Along with time, the priest in the story also gave back to God his presence. The priest is another Christ. The priest is an instrument of Christ. The priest acts as a bridge between the people of God and Christ. The priest’s presence in the story was a bridge. He was an instrument of grace. Our presence can be like this. But our presence can also be barriers. It can be a barrier for others to receive Christ. Our presence can prevent Christ’s grace from being passed onto others. When our presence becomes a barrier, we do not give back to God what belongs to him. If we future priests become barriers to Christ, we will become like Pharisees in today’s Gospel. We must examine our presence to see how it can be a bridge rather than be a barrier.
The final point of reflection is work. St Paul in the second reading today writes about faith in action and working for love in Lord Jesus Christ (Thess 1:1-5). That priest put his faith into action and used his work for God. Our work is to be used for the Kingdom of God. As seminarians our major forms of work are prayer and study. But there is also another piece of important work, community. Our prayers and study must be translated into action and working for love in the community. Building community here at the seminary builds fraternity. If we begin this here in the seminary, then we will be able to build it in the wider community. Whether it is the seminary or the wider community, we will use our work to eventually build the kingdom of heaven. May I invite us all to ponder and act on ways to build our community and the kingdom of heaven.
Our time, presence and our work all belong to God. The priest in the corridors gave his time, presence and work to God. May we also give them to back God. May we give back our time, presence and work to God so it can be used for greater things, so we can be instruments of his grace and so that we can build the kingdom of heaven.
PHOTO: Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate Australia