At the opening of the Academic and Formation Year at St Francis Xavier Seminary, the Auxiliary Bishop of Cape Town Archdiocese encouraged seminarians to understand their formation not simply as preparation for ministry, but as a deeply spiritual journey of conversion, receptivity, and communion.

Bishop Sylvester David OMI described the moment as a “significant threshold” in the lives of the seminarians. He spoke of the beginning of the formation year as “the official opening of a prophetic springtime,” where Lent’s desert spirituality meets the inner work of human and spiritual formation.

Drawing on the day’s readings from Isaiah and the Gospel of Matthew, he framed the Orientation Year not as a time of productivity, but as “the year of the soil.” Using the biblical image of rain falling on the earth, he explained that God’s Word is not information to be processed, but grace to be received — something that penetrates the heart and transforms the person from within.

In a Southern African context marked by drought and water scarcity, Bishop David said the image carried particular meaning: God’s Word, like rain, only bears fruit where the soil is open. The task of the seminarian, therefore, is not to be a “producer,” but to become receptive soil, allowing God’s grace to soften areas of pride, fear, self-reliance, and hidden anxieties.

As Vice Chairperson of the SACBC Department for Formation, Life and Ministry of the Clergy, Bishop David situated seminary formation within the wider ecclesial vision of synodality in Southern Africa. It was in this context that he told the seminarians: “Your orientation year is a microcosm of the synodal journey.”

In his Tuesday, 24 February homily, Bishop David explained that formation is not aimed at producing functionaries or administrators, but servants formed for life among the People of God. The Orientation Year, he said, must shape men who can listen, walk with others, forgive, discern, and serve in communion.

At the heart of his message was a spirituality of “holy emptying.” Through the image of an “empty cup,” Bishop David called on the 23 new seminarians to let go of self-sufficiency, personal ambition, and fixed plans for the future, so that God may truly fill them with grace. Formation, he said, is not about adding titles or achievements, but about interior transformation.

Reflecting on the Lord’s Prayer, he warned against the temptation to “perform holiness” in seminary life, reminding them that authentic formation is rooted in relationship, not religious display. Prayer, community life, forgiveness, and daily fidelity, he said, are the true foundations of priestly identity.

Quoting the Responsorial Psalm — “The Lord is close to the broken-hearted” — Bishop David stressed that future priests must first be men who know their own need for mercy, before becoming ministers of mercy to others.

Concluding his homily, he expressed confidence that the Word proclaimed at the opening of the formation year would not return to God empty, but would bear fruit in shaping holy, humble, and courageous shepherds for the Church in Southern Africa.