More and more today the idea of Priesthood is changing... changing radically. Not always can we say that it is for the better! Often it is for the worse. Priesthood is seen by quite a few youngsters as some shortcut to fame and comfort.
We had an interesting passage during the spiritual reading from the Memoirs of the Oratory, written by Don Bosco himself. He is narrating his childhood and he describes his first encounter with Fr Colosso. The latter asks little Johny, if he wants to study. To which Johny enthusiastically replies in the affirmative. Asked why does he want to study, he replies, that he wants to become a Priest. Colosso does not stop there and rejoice that he has found a candidate for priesthood. He continues, "Why do you want to become a Priest?"
I wonder how many of us, especially vocation promoters, ask that question to the young people who approach us for becoming Salesians. Very many come with very different and subliminal motives. Rather than help them understand and grow up to see the right and best motives, we only gloss over the peripheral. The youngster's motive only gets endorsed either by the silence of the formators or the counter-witness of the religious. Does he really have the opportunity of discerning, purifying and strengthening the motives behind his choice to become a priest?
We had an interesting passage during the spiritual reading from the Memoirs of the Oratory, written by Don Bosco himself. He is narrating his childhood and he describes his first encounter with Fr Colosso. The latter asks little Johny, if he wants to study. To which Johny enthusiastically replies in the affirmative. Asked why does he want to study, he replies, that he wants to become a Priest. Colosso does not stop there and rejoice that he has found a candidate for priesthood. He continues, "Why do you want to become a Priest?"
I wonder how many of us, especially vocation promoters, ask that question to the young people who approach us for becoming Salesians. Very many come with very different and subliminal motives. Rather than help them understand and grow up to see the right and best motives, we only gloss over the peripheral. The youngster's motive only gets endorsed either by the silence of the formators or the counter-witness of the religious. Does he really have the opportunity of discerning, purifying and strengthening the motives behind his choice to become a priest?
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