God first gave me a strong desire for the priesthood while I was a senior in college. One day at Franciscan University in Steubenville, I walked into a gym and discovered a “vocations fair.” The gym was chock full of sisters and priests from various religious orders, eager to recruit, who were sitting at tables filled with literature. I stopped at a few tables, and some of the priests told me about the desperate need throughout the world for more priests. After a little while, I left the gym, full of excitement that perhaps this was God’s will for me. I told the Lord that I wanted to become a priest, and that if that was his will, then he would have to show me what to do next. I had always thought I was probably called to priesthood, but never had experienced a strong desire for it until that day.
This desire was a gift that Jesus had been preparing me for all of my life. He spoke to me through a variety of people: my mom, who once when I was quite young suggested in a non-pressuring way that I could become a priest, and my dad, who shared that he had once had a desire for priesthood. In high school, Fr. Richard Lobert, the chaplain, inspired me to consider this vocation and provided a strong example of joyful priesthood. At Christ the King, my home parish in Ann Arbor, Fr. Ed Fride’s encouragement and example has been highly influential as well. Getting involved in the pro-life movement increased my desire to become a priest, because the most powerful weapon God has given us to defeat the forces of evil behind abortion is the Mass. Also, the desire for priesthood was stirred up when I read a quote by St. John Vianney, who said as a young boy, “If I were to become a priest, I could lead many souls to God.” Through the daily Rosary, Mary has drawn me closer to Jesus and increased me desire to follow him.
Speaking of the saints, a friend in college helped me to discover Jesus hidden under the appearance of bread and wine in the Eucharist through the writings of saints and popes. Their excitement about the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist rubbed off onto me in a major way. For example, St. Therese of Lisieux says, “Do you realize that Jesus is there in the tabernacle expressly for you - for you alone? He burns with the desire to come into your heart...” (find more quotes by googling “quotes on the eucharist”). This discovery of the “hidden Jesus” led me to the practice of daily Mass and daily visits to the tabernacle, which have given me so much peace and joy and the desire to share this discovery.
Following college, I visited religious orders and did “discernment weekends” at the seminary to discover where God was calling me. Eventually, I met with Bishop Carlson and heard the Lord speak through him as he invited me to become a seminarian for the Saginaw Diocese. During the days following this meeting, the Holy Spirit convinced me in surprising ways through Scripture to accept this invitation.
I’ve been in the seminary five years, and have one year left. It has been a total adventure from the start, a journey of falling more deeply in love with the Father, with Jesus, and with the Holy Spirit. I have no regrets about choosing the Saginaw diocese even though I grew up in the Lansing diocese, because God has made it clear that this is his will for me. I have enjoyed meeting you, the parishioners of St. Michael’s, and I look forward to serving you as a deacon until next May. Please pray for me and know that you are in my prayers.
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