Spiritual Formation

2020-2021 Annual Report

Priest and seminarians from Minnesota walk the track of the Campo Sportivo praying the Rosary on an early-spring Sunday morning. From left: Rev. Clayton Forner '20 (St. Paul and Minneapolis), Ryan Glaser ’23 (St. Paul and Minneapolis), Daniel Hammer ’22 (Duluth), and Joseph Wappes ’24 (St. Paul and Minneapolis)

Spiritual Formation:

A Source of Peace

Matthew Schilmoeller ‘23, Diocese of Lincoln

A fruit of the spiritual dimension of seminary formation is an interior peace lived in relationship to God in his Church. This year brought much change and uncertainty that have challenged that peace. The COVID–19 pandemic has affected many lives around the world, and the members of this community are no exception. Travel restrictions both within Italy and even in Rome itself have kept us from the typical experiences of the Eternal City. Our classes have often met online, challenging our patience and mental energy to engage in a digital classroom. The normal order of how we enjoy our meals, how we relate with one another in social engagements—all of these things have changed in some fashion, large or small. Yet, amidst this chaos, we have been invited to place our confidence in the one who is the unchanging source of our peace.

St. Augustine defines peace as “tranquility in order.” The sources of peace in the spiritual life are many and varied, with God always at the helm. Over the course of this year, he has taken us on retreat and taught us through the words of guest preachers for days of recollection. The Lord has nourished us in our daily liturgical life, through Word and Sacrament in Holy Mass and in the communal recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours. God has shown himself to be a constant source of merciful love in days and nights of Eucharistic Adoration. In regular spiritual direction, he has guided us to greater freedom in prudent discernment of his priestly call. With the special announcement of the Year of St. Joseph, the Lord has placed before us an exemplary model of fatherhood and strength in the face of great adversity. Deacons have been ordained, lectors and acolytes instituted, and we all have developed our sense of ministry as his work and achievement. Truly, to God be the glory for being the protagonist of our year.

I am grateful for the many signs of growth with which God has blessed us over the past year. Despite the many changes, the Lord has proven that he is never outdone in generosity in providing us with many occasions to remain with him. The 2016 document, The Gift of the Priestly Vocation from the Congregation for the Clergy states, “By prayer, listening to the Word, devout participation in the sacraments, in the liturgy, and in community life, the seminarian fortifies his personal union with God after the example of Christ, who had, as his program of life, to do the will of the Father (cf. Jn 4:34).” This program of life after the example of Christ is our spirituality here at the College; it is how we continue to live our motto, Firmum est Cor Meum (“My Heart is Steadfast”), consistently in the peace only God can give.

Seminarians pray before the Blessed Sacrament on Holy Thursday after the Mass of the Lord's Supper. The altar of repose was set up in the Assumption Chapel.