Jun 26 2009
About
My vocation story is probably not the most common one. My call to ministry started out when I was protestant, the church of my childhood. While I thought of the possibility I was not serious in its pursuit. My senior year in High School found me cast in the role of a priest in the fall play. This led me to attend my first mass and with that first mass led me to investigate the Catholic faith. This led me to enroll in RCIA and to be accepted into the faith on the Easter Vigil in 2003. Throughout this time, the thought of ministry continued sporadically though I dismissed it since that would mean becoming a Priest, which of course couldn’t be the case since I was new to the faith. About a year later, I was struggling to discern what God wanted me to do with my life, not even thinking of the priesthood as I had been dating a girl for about seven months at the time. One day her and I were driving along when she turned to me and out of the blue said, “you know what? You’d make a great priest.” Needless to say that got my attention. From that point on, I seriously discerned the possibility of the priesthood. From that point on, God began to shed light on the next step, as long as I was willing to trust in him with my life. He never gave me more than I could handle at whatever step of the discernment process I was on.
Entering into my third year of theological studies, the truth that has most clearly manifested itself to me is the movement of God’s grace throughout this whole process. It is absolutely true that without this blessing from God, I would not be where I am now. You begin to see God moving in your day to day life, both in your times of triumph and most especially in your times of trial. I have come to rely ever more on the act of prayer. Simply put, my day falls apart if my prayer isn’t there.
I am currently in my parish assignment at Blessed Sacrament with Father John Bradley. It has been a great experience to be back in the parish. Last summer I completed my training to become a Chaplain in the United States Army for when I get ordained (God-willing). It does not matter where I go, the people of God are always grateful to meet someone going into the priesthood. It has been a source of great humility as well as motivation to rededicate myself daily to the process of formation. This is an incredibly blessed calling and I am looking forward to diaconate ordination next year, May 29th, 2010.
