When I was a wet-behind-the-ears seminarian, I was sent for an immersion with the poor. For one month, I lived in a home for adults with developmental disabilities. It was a challenge for me because the residents had significant communication issues. A 30-year-old man there named Robin was totally deaf and mute. He had Down’s Syndrome. He looked like a Viking, with a shock of red hair and a fine beard. But I felt awkward and disconnected from him. All my normal ways of interacting failed. I resigned myself to the fact that we’d never connect.

Every High Priest is appointed to serve God and offer Sacrifices for sins (Hebrews 1:1)

The journey to priesthood is long and intensive. The period of formation differs from one region to another. In Nigeria, for instance, seminarians spend no less than ten years in formation, from the propaedeutic, philosophical, to theological formation, unlike their counterparts who study law, medicine, and other careers in conventional universities. The long period of formation is to adequately prepare well-equipped candidates to lead the people of God to the knowledge of Christ.

This morning I received a text message that a member of my extended family will likely die of cancer within the next few hours. His name is Luke. He is a 45-yearold husband and father of six. Though I am not as close to him as my sister (she is his sister-in-law and knows him well), I wonder: how can we, including Luke himself, manage such a terribly awful and unfair situation?

One of the most touching YouTube videos I’ve ever seen is one in which a deaf woman receives new technology to heal her hearing. She hears her husband's voice for the first time — and her own, too — and bursts into tears of overwhelming joy. It must have been like an immovable wall between her and her loved ones came tumbling down.

Purity isn’t popular at the moment. Or is it? Look at a rack of health magazines or at popular podcasts. You’ll see an infinite ocean of regulations and rituals of diets, intermittent fasting, morning sun rituals, intense juice detox practices, lists of dangerous foods, mental practices, as well as long lists of dos and don’ts for the proper cleaning of clothes, dishes, cars, houses, pets, and children. Like it or not, we long to be pure, clean, and without blemish.