Prepared for Real life Ministry

A meteorologist, a journalist, or maybe even a teacher. If you would have asked me twenty years ago which career path I might take, these would be your answers. Never did I think I would have entered the seminary, and I certainly would have never guessed that I would one day be baptizing children and witnessing marriages!

But thankfully, God's ways are not our ways. Instead of choosing a career, I had to surrender my will and let God reveal my vocation.

As I begin ordained ministry as a transitional deacon, I reflect on what a great blessing Sacred Heart has been to me. There is something about surrounding myself day in and out with other men with hearts set ablaze to bring Christ to the world that brings joy to my heart and challenges me in my own exercise of Christian living.

Sacred Heart is about more than training men to be priests and deacons and other men and women to work in parish and school ministries. Sacred Heart prepares the entire person, heart and mind, for intentional discipleship. The goal is not simply to produce educated people to fill vacant positions, but rather to form laborers for the vineyard of Jesus Christ.

How has Sacred Heart changed me? Simply put, the formation program has brought me to a new level of relationship with Christ. Whether or not a man goes through the entire formation process and becomes a priest, it is considered a win even if spending only one year in the program he comes out knowing better Christ and his love. I can attest that this is the case and for this, I am truly grateful.

As I write this, I have been blessed with the grace of Holy Orders for almost one month. Although there is only one diaconate, there are two different classification—transitional and permanent. I am a transitional deacon and as the name implies, I will go on to be ordained a priest on May 23, 2015.

In the time since my ordination, I have celebrated the sacrament of baptism on several occasions, have preached at Mass, and will soon begin preparing couples for the sacrament of matrimony. Believe it or not, that is the easy part of my ministry. I have also had to walk with people to help them understand why the Church has certain expectations of us and why she teaches what she does. That partnot so easy, but thanks to my seminary education, I am equipped for the difficult demands of pastoral ministry. Our theological training as well as our supervised practical training prepares us for real life parish ministry.

From my brother seminarians studying for Detroit to those studying for dioceses in and around Michigan, to the seminarians from the religious communities of Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity and the Companions of the Cross, I know that God is richly providing for his Church. I am blessed to be counted among this group of dedicated men striving to bring the message of Christ to a world so desperately in need.

No matter where we call home, at Sacred Heart we are family. We are family because it is the love of Christ that unites us. A household built on this firm foundation will surely thrive.