Fishers of Men and my Vocation Story

My discernment of the priesthood began in my Junior year of high school. There was a youth conference I attended called “Abbey Youth Fest.”  That day a video started to attract my heart to the priesthood. This video is called “Fishers of Men” by grassroots films. The video took the passage from the Gospel of Matthew, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  The video called men to holiness, to follow Christ’s call to become holy and follow Christ as priests.  Through this video I began to see myself as a priest, I began to imagine what it would be like to be a priest and what that would mean for my life.  The next day at Mass Bishop Muench told me, “have you thought about being a priest?” Through this simple encouragement, the spirit deepened my call. Next, I talked to a few priests about my call and attended retreats on the priesthood. However, during my senior year in high school, I decided I wasn’t ready to enter the seminary. I continued to be involved in my faith and continued to think about priesthood in college. Then in 2011, I attended a retreat In honor of Pope John II’s motto “Totus Tuus” which means, “Mary, I am totally yours.”  I heard about the lives other priests were living, and through prayer, I decided to enter seminary that Fall. The decision to enter seminary took my prayer to the next step. I answered the question, “when should I enter seminary?” Now I began to ask, “is God truly calling me to be a priest?” I will speak of this in a later bulletin article. For any of you who may be considering a call to the priesthood or religious life do not be afraid. If God is calling you to this life, he will give you the grace to follow his call. I believe this quote speaks truth to our lives,  “God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called.”