A Call

I sat at the table in a kind of stunned silence.  It is one of those moments when the world seems to freeze.  My mind raced.  What did she say?  “I just know that you are going to become a priest.” She was my friend’s mom, what did she know?

“She must be kidding,” I thought to myself.  I had never even considered it.  As I tried to shake myself free of this random idea, it wouldn’t come loose.  Not knowing why, deep down inside I had the feeling that she was right.

This problem was, I was starving. I had different things that I tried stuffing my heart with, but nothing seemed to work. Studies weren’t that difficult.  Grades weren’t a problem.  Sports went pretty well.  I had friends.  Even a girlfriend didn’t do much to relieve the situation.  I wanted something more, yet I knew that only something totally different would satisfy me.

I was tired of playing the game of life, I wanted to live.  Studies were to get good grades.  Sports to have extra-curricular achievements. Social activities to have lots of friends.  All of this to be admitted into a good university.  A college diploma to be hired for a good job, etc, etc.  Was my life going to be dedicated to great achievements culminating in retirement?  Is this what I wanted – to be sixty years old with a lot of money and “free” to do what I wanted or rather was still able to do with the leftovers of my life? No.

I wanted something more – no, rather God wanted something more. God had a special plan for my life as he does for all of us.

And I was not the only one.  Through the Regnum Christi movement, I met up with other young men who wanted the same. By prayer and conversation with a priest who helped to guide me, I little by little made the decision to take the step and join the seminary of the Legionaries of Christ. 

I served the Mass for Benedict XVI
and received communion.

That was 1999, and I have since studied in Germany, the United States, and now Rome. I am currently in my last year of theology, and in December 2012, with the grace of God, I will be ordained a priest.