Last
week we heard God’s calling of Jeremiah. This week we hear God calling Isaiah,
as well as Jesus’ calling of Peter. They both admit their own sinfulness and
their unworthiness to the call at hand, but the Lord, who knows them better than they do, is not swayed
from His choice. They are to be His messengers.
I
thought it could be helpful to share some of my own story of how God called me
to be a priest. But for me, it is hard to locate one singular event that
shifted the direction of my life. My story was more gradual. Unlike Saint Paul
or Peter, or St. Francis of Assisi or Ignatius of Loyola, the Lord didn’t have
to hit me with a tidal wave of grace. He rather used a slower method of drawing
me closer one bit at a time. I will try to look at some of the highlights in my
life.
Before
I tell that story, I want you to think about the importance of testimony in
sharing the faith. The reality is that we are fostered in the faith by the witness
of others. The life of Christians is meant to attract and build up new members of
the faith. A joyful witness, sincerely given, can’t be easily dismissed, and
when coupled with a life that bears the fruits of the Holy Spirit, it is
irrefutable. So we must learn how to give testimony or witness – this is ultimately
a story of how your life of faith in God allowed Him to transform your life in
some way, and it can be thought of in three simple parts: before an event or
process, what was different after an event or process, and what happened in the
middle.
So
you can simply ask yourself: where, when, how was my life transformed? It might
be good to think about what instruments the Lord used for that transformation,
because that can help you describe the event/process itself.
I
will give four examples in my own life of important steps of transformation that
led to priesthood.
1.
The event was a summer retreat for youth
group leaders at Notre Dame.
Before: sincere but not super deep
life of faith.
After: deeper life of prayer. Daily
Mass 3x/wk.
2.
Starting to do Holy Hours in college.
A different way of praying.
Before: More of a distant or shallow
friendship
After: Very intimate friendship. Feeling
close, heard, loved, and summoned.
3.
Deciding to apply for seminary with our
diocese.
Before: Questions, concerns about future.
After: Peace, and slowly growing joy even
as I had to do something difficult – saying goodbye to college friends and
potential of more years together.
4.
Deciding to stay in seminary and be a
priest forever.
Before: Questions about whether this was
from God or not.
After: Peace after placing faith in how
God was working through the Church (and me).
At some point it comes down to this: Jesus
proposes, we respond. God calls, we answer.
“Because Jesus asked me to.” In a long, slow way, the
Lord drew me to give my life in this way, which is a vocation that fits how He
enabled me to love. I could have loved in the vocation of marriage as well, as
Bishop D’Arcy used to say, “all priests should be chosen from men who could be
good husbands and good fathers.” But God also gave me the grace to love in this
way, as a spiritual husband, a spiritual father.
And
he asked me to do so. Much like a man gets down on one knee with a ring before
a lady who in her freedom is invited into something, but never forced. So too,
I had to say yes to the offer to give myself to the Lord and to His bride the Church,
to be a fisher of men like Peter. And I said, with Isaiah, “here I am, send me.”
