In May of 2022, I graduated from Seton Hall University and completed my time at the College Seminary of the Immaculate Conception: St. Andrew’s Hall and began a transition into the next stage of my formation at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, New York. Making this transition into the major seminary, now called the “configuration” stage of formation, was not all that easy as there are many differences from living at St. Andrew’s to living at St. Joseph’s. Among these differences were new people, a new and very different building, a new schedule, a new level of academics, and many other things. However, one thing, one person that was not “new” or different was Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament. At St. Joseph’s we have an opportunity to go to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the evening on most days during the week, and these opportunities for me to stop in the chapel at the end of my day were my anchor in the transition from one seminary to another. No matter how many changes I needed to adapt to as I continued to settle into St. Joseph’s, I was always able to turn to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and be with the one constant that I have had since before I even entered the seminary.
When I began to truly discern entering the seminary during High School, adoration was the thing that really started that process. It was in adoration that I was able to develop a relationship with Jesus and to begin discovering how He is calling me to serve Him. Now, in my fifth year of formation, being with Christ in adoration is still that constant where I know I can go to be at peace, knowing that He is in control. During adoration in my first weeks at St. Joseph’s, I frequently meditated on how truly grateful I am for my time at the college seminary at Seton Hall and for all of the priests, professors, and brother seminarians who helped me during the last four years and how that time at St. Andrew’s was all part of God’s plan for me to continue to discern His will here and now at St. Joseph’s. During those times of adoration, Jesus anchored me through all the changes of that transition, being for me and for the whole Church our constant source of refuge and peace.
For anyone who wants to discern how and where God is calling you to serve Him, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is the place to be. In adoration, as we gaze on Christ truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament, we are able to enter into a foretaste of our end of the Beatific Vision, seeing God in all His glory. Discerning and the living out our individual vocations is how God guides us to our end of heaven, and there is no better place to discover that path than in adoration where we can look forward to where that path leads: Christ Jesus, our Lord. So, go to adoration and be with Jesus who is always there and is never changing in His readiness to guide us to Him. Let Him be your anchor through the challenges of change and discernment that come with living out His will, because no matter what changes in your life, He will always be there.
Nickolas Naticchione
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