Acts 20:29-32
I know that after my departure savage wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock.
And from your own group, men will come forward perverting the truth to draw the disciples away after them.
So be vigilant and remember that for three years, night and day, I unceasingly admonished each of you with tears.
And now I commend you to God and to that gracious word of his that can build you up and give you the inheritance among all who are consecrated.
I remember when I learned about the existence of calculators. What a wonderful day—all the math that I was learning to do on paper was done for me by a plastic thing. Yet I was told again and again to not use the calculator so that I could learn to do the math myself. My teachers didn't want my intelligence to be dependent on anything but what I had learned. Paul leaves the community today knowing that it will challenge them. He leaves them knowing that others will seek to destroy them. He leaves them so that they might be built up and receive the inheritance of the consecrated—that they might rise up! In our own lives of faith, may we learn to rejoice in the moments when we feel challenged—for those are the moments when our faith becomes our own and we too rise up.
Get to know our seminarians! Today's reflection was written by:
Fr. Chuck Dornquast
Director of Vocations
Pray with us for the men and women discerning the priesthood and religious life. To pray for our seminarians by name or to find out more about the Diocese of St. Petersburg vocations office, click here.
