By Father Rich Tomkosky
The Book of Exodus reminds us that God has rescued us by the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus. And God always promises us that He will be faithful and help us stay on the narrow path to salvation, but in the end, we have to say yes.
We are called to be a Kingdom of Priests, a holy nation. There are two types of priesthood in the Bible – first the priesthood of the Baptized which enables us to have a personal relationship with the Trinity and intercede for other people if we choose to do so in prayer. Do we do that especially when we see people, the lost sheep of the Catholic Church — the second biggest “denomination” in the United States (after active Catholics) — tens of millions of baptized Catholics not practicing the faith, far away from God and the Sacraments and just “doing their own thing.”
For those who are baptized it is not a laughing matter if one is not coming to Mass consistently or going to Confession regularly or getting married outside of the Catholic faith (cutting one of from the Sacraments until that union is blessed in the Church). Not practicing the Catholic faith is the ultimate tragedy in light of eternity, hopefully done in ignorance as souls are in danger of being lost forever, which far too many people today don’t see, but for those of us with an active faith life, we must both be aware of that reality, with our relatives and neighbors and co-workers, and then pray and offer penance for these stubborn, confused, ignorant, hurting, or just religiously indifferent souls, the latter of which are the vast majority in my pastoral experience. What an act of spiritual charity it is to have these drifting souls always in mind when we pray and offer reparation to Jesus and His wounded Sacred Heart for our sins and other people as we pray in the Divine Mercy Chaplet: Lord have mercy on us and the whole world.
Scripture reminds us that while we were still helpless sinners, Jesus offered His very life for our spiritual rescue and salvation. How grateful we should be in return to the Lord on a daily basis. That gratitude should lead to a spirit of generosity in serving God and our neighbor, which leads to the second type of priesthood – the ordained priesthood. This as we should know is a special calling. God gives to certain men to turn their life over to Him in love, in sacrifice, in concern for other souls to help God directly save human souls, always in company with our Blessed Mother Mary, the Mother and protector of all ordained priests. This is why I always ask you to pray for us priests and for more vocations to the ordained priesthood in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.
The devil hates all of us humans made in the image of the Blessed Trinity, but he hates ordained priests even more because our direct mission is to help Jesus save souls by our very life (see Romans 12: 1-2). This is also why the demons try to corrupt priests by watering down the faith in them, so then in their pastoral practice and preaching they will tickle human ears as Saint Paul says, or by getting immersed in the pleasures of the world and the flesh — ultimately to losing that spirit of faith and generosity that hopefully was the original motivation for entering the seminary; not going in the seminary to become a priest because your mom or someone is pushing you, or back in the day to avoid the Vietnam draft, or because one struggled with a same sex attraction. The ordained priesthood of Jesus Christ is not a place to “hide” from your problems, but instead is the place to offer your life to Him to help save souls.
One needs serious preparation to do so. Hence the Church is actually lifting the bar higher in seminary training now, despite the shortage in many areas including our own. I talk to guys who sometimes say they have thought about becoming a priest but don’t feel worthy (no one is worthy, by the way, but if God calls you can’t use that as an excuse) or are immersed in certain sins that hold them back, be they a general selfishness, not having a discipled life of prayer and/or giving into to various sins of impurity for the temporary pleasure that never satisfies the hole in the human heart which only God can fill.
This challenging modern secular dynamic is addressed by the Church in the new extra spiritual formation year that the Church is requiring guys discerning the ordained priesthood to do before starting formal seminary studies. I have heard guys say, who are on this propaedeutic year, which means an introductory phase in educational or training programs, particularly in seminary formation, focused on spiritual, human, and foundational growth, which became mandatory for all Catholic seminarians in the United States in the Fall of 2025, that at first they were put off by it, figuring it was going to be a “waste of a year;” but now having gone through it say it was “the best year of their life” as they learned to encounter God in the silence of prayer and sacred study, including studying in depth and going through the whole Catechism of the Catholic Church, that having strict limits placed on their cell phone and internet use detoxed them from various addictions depending on the guy which maybe they often didn’t fully acknowledge before: to video games, social media, pornography, etc.; and even for those not addicted to those spiritual disorders flowing from misuse of technology, just learning to spend one’s time in better ways like cultivating real friendships with others in person rather than wasting numerous hours daily texting and scrolling on their devices. And then learning from the spiritual masters how to pray deeper and do daily spiritual study program from the various saints: Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, John Vianney, John Paul II and our Lady of course.
This special preparation and discernment year also gives them a firm foundation to carry out the mission of bringing the Catholic faith to others with integrity. This applies even if some of the guys discern out of the seminary and go back into the lay state and hopefully create holy Catholic families. What a beautiful, noble, yet challenging endeavor the formation of future priests is. Pray daily for the sanctification and spiritual protection of all priests and seminarians and for young guys to say yes if God is calling them to the ordained priesthood, despite any personal challenges they are facing.
Remember God’s grace is greater than our sinfulness/weakness. If He wants us to accomplish a mission for Him, He will always give us the grace to live it out well; and if one becomes an ordained priest of the Church to nobly suffer for the sake of souls in our pastoral care (as a young woman in the process of making her Confirmation told me once, it never dawned on her that her priest suffered for her soul and all the many souls in his parish and how grateful she was, as that is so beautiful as there is nothing for him personally in that but just pure self-giving love like Jesus helping souls). Hopefully we priests are generous in that way, always in the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus in company with our Heavenly Protector, Mary Immaculate, rooted in daily Mass and Eucharistic Adoration, daily praying the Divine Office and the Rosary/Divine Mercy chaplet and the frequent reception of Confession, at least monthly, and surrendering to His Holy Will for the salvation of souls – the most important mission in this passing earthly life. Guys, pray for that discernment if God is calling you to this. God bless you.
Father Rich Tomkosky is the Pastor of Saint Thomas the Apostle Parish in Bedford and the Pastor of Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Beans Cove.
