Advice to New Seminarians | Fr. Steven Restrepo

On Saturday, May 21 Fr. Steven Restrepo was ordained with six others to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Boston.

Seminary formation is all about preparing a man to serve Christ and his Church. The goal for a seminarian is to become a holy priest who can lead and pastor Christ’s flock as a parish priest. Now that Fr. Restrepo has completed his studies and training at Saint John’s Seminary, we asked him: What is a piece of advice you would give to someone just beginning their formation at the seminary?

Fr. Restrepo writes:
I would encourage the new seminarian to pray diligently, and to be honest in their prayer life. I would motivate them to leave no stone unturned emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, and to be truthful with their spiritual director at all times. The man who enters the seminary to study to become a priest should be realistic in his expectations of what seminary life is like. The seminary is not parish life. It is important for the seminarian to be a self starter, to go out into the deep to different parishes and to minister to different groups of God’s people in order to get a fuller picture of the vocation to the priesthood. The man who enters seminary should not fall in love with the idea of the priesthood, but with the reality of what it means to be a priest.

Please keep Fr. Restrepo and all of the recently ordained in your prayers as they begin their priestly ministry.