2/11 – Lenten Reflection by Chris Davis

Self-knowledge leads to self-mastery; self-mastery enables self-giving; self-giving is living as Christ. This mantra for priestly formation expresses in so many words that the aim of a seminarian’s entire formation is to become like Jesus, a living self-gift of love poured out for others. This progression from self-knowledge to self-gift is far from being exclusive to seminarians. To “choose life,” as Moses puts it in Deuteronomy 31:6, implies that all of God’s people need to be open to and active in obedience to God’s will. And as Luke has it in the Gospel, Jesus makes his will very clear for us: we become fully alive through a generous out-pouring of our lives for Jesus’s sake. In order to do this, we need to know ourselves well enough to understand our weaknesses, because it is through our weaknesses that we find our need for God’s mercy. Only then can we hope to have the strength and discipline to give it all away and live a blessed life as Christ.

Chris Davis is a college seminarian for the Diocese of Salina in Kansas and is in his junior year of formation at Conception Seminary College. He currently serves as the president of the CSC Community Council. Chris is most deeply grateful to God for his family and for faith, and is looking forward to creating more space to listen to God’s voice this Lenten season.