Why would a young man want to become a priest? Listen to what Pope John Paul II once said: “… a man offers his humanity to Christ, so that Christ may use him as an instrument of salvation, making him, as it were, into another Christ. Unless we grasp the mystery of this ‘exchange,’ we will not understand how it can be that a young man, hearing the words ‘Follow me’ can give up everything for Christ, in the certainty that if he follows this path he will find complete personal fulfillment. In our world, is there any greater fulfillment of our humanity than to be able to re-present every day in ‘persona Christi’ [in the person of Christ] the redemptive sacrifice, the same sacrifice [that] Christ offered on the Cross?” (Gift and Mystery, 1999)

I am very excited about the increasing number of fine young men who are entering studies for the priesthood at our new seminary. Our young people need your prayers that they will be generous to God’s will when they ask Him what it is that He wants them to do with their lives. My prayer is that, in the near future, the entire Archdiocese of Denver will be filled with new priests whose vocations were nurtured and confirmed at Holy Trinity and our other communities of faith across our Archdiocese!