Between Friday 12th and Saturday 13th of February 2021, a formation weekend was held at our Seminary. The theme was: “The Presbyteral Identity as a Process of Continuous Integration”, inspired from the verse from St Matthew’s Gospel: “But who do you say that I am?” (Mt 16, 15).
This seminar, conducted by Fr Bernard Falzon MSSP and Fr Alex Zammit MSSP, was divided in six sessions. During the first session, the members of the Seminary community had the opportunity to introduce themselves, express their views on current trends and tendencies within the Church, and voice their opinions and feeling about present challenges within the Catholic Church. Throughout this first session, Fr Bernard shared an analysis of the ever-changing contemporary society and of some of its characteristics, namely: consumerism, narcissism, a lost sense of time and history, and a tension between passion and commitment. This was done using Magisterial documents and several other texts. In the second session, Fr Alex shared some reflections about art as the expression of what humanity feels and lives during specific periods. The third session of the seminar, led by Fr Bernard, was the first one on Saturday. During this session, every seminarian was given the opportunity to express his views on priesthood by referring to a photograph chosen personally by him. The fourth session, introduced by Fr Alex and led by Fr Bernard, focused on the identity of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the importance of forming one’s personal identity as a Christian. During the fifth session, by making use of Gal 1, 13-17, the group reflected on the priestly identity that is lived through humanity. In the sixth and final session the group reflected on Biblical texts which portray Jesus as the Priest who different from common perception of priesthood. At the end of this session, the Seminary community had time for asking questions or for sharing some highlights of the seminar. This formation weekend helped the seminarians reflect about the priestly identity which is founded on humanity and the importance of living this priestly identity according to the needs the present society.
