Priests, deacons and seminarians got an earful recently at a conference called “You Will Receive Power!,” focusing on how to grow in holiness.

Juding from this account, it touched not-so-subtly on the topic of preaching, too:

“I think that the Lord wants to give us many graces, because we have to preach,” said Father Francis Martin, who gave a week-long scripture study on the Kingdom of God at the Franciscan University of Steubenville Priests, Deacons and Seminarians Conference. “We have to preach. Preach the realities in a way that our people are impressed, touched, changed, and healed.”

The conference, held June 9-13, attracted about 200 priests, deacons, and seminarians from throughout the U.S., Canada, and Nicaragua. The theme, “You Will Receive Power!” focused on strengthening pastors to grow in holiness.

Father Martin, a professor of New Testament at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., led the conference attendees throughout the week. He continued his talk, “Preaching the Kingdom,” showing different aspects of a priest’s life, from the spiritual to the everyday.

“You’ve got the furnace to fix, the sick to visit, you’re running around, a lot,” he said. “That’s work, but it’s easy. What’s hard is to pray, fast, wait, and study until the reality really touches your heart, and you’ve got something to say.”

His talks wove both the practical and spiritual, highlighting Scripture passages and explaining the truth in each passage, enriching listeners in their knowledge of Scripture. He asked them to be careful to stay focused on God and their duties and to ignore the “false attractiveness” of the modern culture.

“We have let our minds be dragged into captivity,” Father Martin said. “There’s a reality beyond all these distractions and it is Jesus.”

Visit the link for more on what the attendees saw and heard. Great stuff. More of the clergy should hear it.