Well my name is Jeremy Dela Cruz. I'm 15, almost 16, and the short story is: I am listening to the call of the priesthood. Now, if you had told me a year ago, that I'd be considering becoming a priest, I would've called you crazy! But then again, this whole life of ours is just one crazy journey.
Up till last year, I've never been religious. In fact, I considered myself an ardent atheist who had already abandoned religion because I was too proud to believe in "myths and legends." I was baptized Roman Catholic as well, but as you can tell I wasn't practicing. I can owe my conversion back to Christ to a Simpsons cartoon oddly enough. It was an episode concerning the conflict between Catholics and Protestants. After watching it, I "realized" I was a Catholic and woah! Our faith was cool! Even stranger, I prayed Our Lady's rosary (I hadn't done that in a while...) that same night and there originated my journey to the Church. I began to research everything about Catholicism, even reading a pocket Bible I got from my dad. Soon, I entered into a Sacrament Preparation class and recieved my sacraments.
Now throughout that whole experience, I had never seriously considered becoming a priest. The notion one day just popped into my head. "I love my church so much. Why don't I just serve as a priest?" Soon, that seed began to grow and now my eyes are set on the priesthood. In my case, the call to the priesthood truly is a "call." Whenever I'm away from church, I feel a longing inside to attend Mass or be at least inside a church as soon as possible. It seems like I thirst for the church and I know that it somehow, completes me. That's an odd phrase to use, but it has truth. I simply just want to have a bigger part in the church and serve God in a special way.
Today, I can't believe how much I've changed. I've become a practicing Catholic! My friends and family actually (to my embarassment) call me "the priest" or "Father." On the West Coast Walk for Life, I met a Dominican religious who gave me some advice on discerning the call: "Keep your eyes on the prize." I took it to mean that if you feel like God is asking you to be a priest, don't just hear Him. Listen. By listening, you open yourself up to possibilities and it helps to nurture your vocation. Whether or not my priestly vocation gets fully realized, I'll always have my faith to lean back on. In any case, I hope everyone at least prays for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life. In the words of Fr. Bob Lombardo: "The Church doesn't need priests and nuns. It needs good priests and good nuns."
"At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest." Matthew 9:36-38
Jeremy Dela Cruz aged 15
Stockton, California
St. Luke's Catholic Church (Jeremy is Press & Publicity manager)
Hi I’m John and I am from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
I have always felt a call to the priesthood since 4th grade, but as
I grew older, I began to push this thought aside. I didn’t think that was for
me. I am from a very Catholic family and we attend daily mass everyday.
In 4th grade I became an
altar server. I wanted to become a part of the Holy Mass. I loved being able to
help out the priest and be close to the Blessed Sacrament. Many times before
mass, a server did not show up to serve. So since I was usually the only server
in the congregation, I was asked to serve. This became a reoccurring theme.
Slowly the priests at our church began to talk to me in the sacristy before Mass. I was so amazed by them! They always seemed so
happy to serve God and His people! Thoughts about the priesthood began entering my mind. I decided to write
a letter to our Archbishop who at the time was Archbishop Timothy Dolan. He in
return, gave my letter over to the vocations director at the local seminary.
I remember opening up the letter they had written back and finding a prayer card with a picture of
the Archbishop signed, “To John, with prayers for his vocation.” At that moment
in my life, I was on fire!
Slowly however, as I grew older the
thoughts quickly left my mind. I began thinking that discerning a call to the
priesthood was not “cool enough”. This went on for many years until 8th grade when I had an opportunity to go to a summer camp for vocations at the St.
Francis De Sales Seminary in Milwaukee,
which was right in the backyard of the high school I would be attending! I was
filled with joy! The 4 day long camp was an absolute blast! On the ride home
from the camp on the 4th day, I was once again, on fire with the
Holy Spirit! This fire has been burning brightly ever since!
Many times I feel discouraged. I
begin to ask myself, “How can God ask me to become a priest? I want to get
married! I like girls! I’m not so sure I want to do this! What if I will be
lonely?” And every time I have these doubts, I realize that God would not ask
me to do something that would be bad or hurtful! Just as a father knows what is
best for his children, so God knows what is best for us! I just have to put all
of my trust in God, and remember that I am in His hands, and everything will be
alright!
P.S- I also have a blog called http://writingsofaboydiscerninggodscall.blogspot.com/
Please feel free to visit me and leave comments! Please keep
me in your prayers!:)
John Age: 16
Interests: Mass, Singing, Music, Basketball, Praying,
Blogging, Watching Movies
John is General Editor as well as looking after the Prayer & Publicity pages
My name is Marcus Goulding and I live in Melbourne, Australia. From the age
of 11 I had started thinking about the priesthood. My parish priest was a
great man, however my vocation grew more as a result of my altar serving.
Close contact with the Mass taught me a deep appreciation for the Eucharist,
and thus to love God in the cross. Once I entered high-school (I went to a
government school) it was harder to nurture and protect my aspiration and
through some interesting friends I lost sight of things a bit. I always went
to Mass though, and this was, in the end, what pulled me through. I started
going to Adoration when I was 15 and this was certainly the turning point
for me. The Eucharist is the centre of my life. Now I can say, at 18, that I
have been accepted into our Diocescan Seminary, Corpus Christi College,
for 2010. The pressures on me as a result are immense. My mum thinks I
should wait a year, Dad hardly wants me to be a priest at all. Even I am
challenged by my own feelings, but through faith and trust I appreciate that
this is where God wants me to be. I have learnt so much from
this. Persevere. Just because people say you can't be a priest because
you're young is irrelevant. I am so grateful to our Archbishop, Denis Hart,
who showed courage in me even when other people believed I was too young.
In the words of John Paul II, such a great priest, *Be not afraid* and make
your motto *Totus Tuus*.
I'm Peter Gray and I realised I had a vocation from a young age. At
10 I looked up to my priest and wanted to get as involved as I could,
so I became altar server for my parish. I am still an altar server
there and I have been for 6 years and I still enjoy it and look up to
my priest and every priest.
I told my chaplain at school first and she said that it would be an
excellent thing for me to do. I told my priest and he is very proud
and supportive. Then I told my family who said that it's great! I told
my school friends next and they were a bit jokey about it first but my
real friends didn't mind and were happy for me. I always love going to
church and get a feeling of the numinous whenever I go, which I love.
I went to a big mass presided over by the archbishop and that numinous feeling was filling me up. I have a great friendship with God and talk to him throughout the day. Whenever I need help I ask him and he always gives me help.
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