“Am I Really Being Called?”
Pilgrims find vocational inspiration during
thirty-day Desert Formation Experience.
E
ach spring, seminarians finishing their first year of
graduate theology make a four-week spiritual pilgrimage
to the Holy Land and the holy sites of Europe. This “Desert
Formation Experience” (DFE for short) is a matchless
opportunity for seminarians to discern more deeply their
calling to the priesthood.
The faith-building experience is unique to
Sacred Heart among U.S. seminaries. The
DFE is another way the seminary is training “domestic missionaries” for a spirituallyneedy culture.
On April 29, eleven seminarians departed
Detroit to begin their pilgrimage of formation along with Sacred Heart priests Fr. Gerard Battersby and Msgr. Daniel Trapp. The
seminarians visited the holiest of Christian
holy sites: among them, the site of Jesus’
tomb and crucifixion; Bethlehem, the Shepherds Field, and the Grotto of the Nativity;
the Garden of Gethsemane at the foot of
the Mount of Olives; and the Last Supper
The Desert Formation Experience to the Holy Land
is as time of brotherly bonding as well as spiritual
reflection on the Christian mysteries.
Room. They ended their journey by visiting
the sacred sites of Rome and attending a
Wednesday audience with the Holy Father.
Each day, the pilgrims celebrated Mass
and prayed for the Desert Formation Experience benefactors. Each evening, Monsignor
Trapp and Father Battersby guided the men
in spiritual reflection centered on their experience at the holy site that day. During the
weeks of “walking in the footsteps of Jesus,”
the DFE seminarians looked inside and
asked, “Am I really being called to choose a
life of charity? Am I really being called to be
a ‘man for others’”?
Nick Manica is a 2015 DFE pilgrim. Dur-
ing the dinner at September’s Desert Classic Golf Outing (which helps to fund the
pilgrimage), Nick shared insights about his
journey with the golfers.
He spoke about the spiritual intensity of
spending the night in prayer in the Holy Sepulcher, the tomb in which Jesus rose, which
is close by the hill of the crucifixion. Nick
called this a “moving and amazing experience,” but even more moving was attending
Mass in the sepulcher in the morning.
“At the words of consecration, I became
powerfully aware of the Lord’s presence on
the altar. It simply enveloped me,” Nick
described to the Desert Classic benefactors.
“After consuming the Eucharist at Mass, I
meditated that this wonderful gift of Jesus’
body and blood in the Eucharist was being
given to me just paces from where Christ sacrificed himself for all on the cross.
“In my prayer, I frequently go back to
that moment in Jerusalem where the Lord
showed me how much he desires to love me
and be with me.”
After a short break to visit family and take
care of personal business, the eleven DFE
pilgrims embarked on spiritual excursion of
a different kind—a thirty-day Ignatian silent
retreat to the Broom Tree Retreat Center in
South Dakota. Summer time is no time for
slacking for Sacred Heart seminarians.
Three Ways to Help
Could you help your seminarians
to fund this pilgrimage of faith?
• Organize a team of golfers for
the next Desert Classic Golf
Outing (September 12, 2016).
• Host a Desert Meals
fundraiser at your home.
• Make a donation at shms.edu.
Call Sacred Heart’s Office of
Development to inquire,
313-883-8508.
shms.edu
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