It’s strange that we can be tempted to flirt with emptiness. Normally it’s not our first option. While working in a construction company I became aware that at the end of the day, everyone tries to shed off the dust caught in order to return back home in one’s true colours. We value dignity.

And yet we can be tempted to flirt with emptiness:

Empty words and empty promises;

Focusing on image at the expense of substance;

Seeking to impress rather than to contribute;

Without roots connected to depth of values and character and without branches expanding creatively, we end up being persons branded in emptiness.

During this year of Seminary formation we are exploring a different direction: “Being rooted and established in Christ” (Cf. Eph. 3 17). When faced with the responsibility of our own lives and the formation of future priests we cannot risk emptiness. Knowing Christ profoundly and living his choices, his lifestyle, his values, ensures true dignity. As Florentino Ulibarri, SJ invited us:

“Become seekers of truth, not masters of certainty. Become poets, not pragmatists. Become rooted people, not spectators: BECOME BROTHERS.