God May Be Calling You to the Priesthood

How will you answer?

Discerning God's Call - The story of how prayer, the Eucharist, communication with a priest and the support of the entire Christian community, all helped guide a young man's path to the priesthood.

At 15 years old, I had my life all planned out. I was going to go to Notre Dame, become a lawyer, make a lot of money, marry a beautiful woman, have kids and live in a big house.

When I was 9 or 10 years old, a Religious sister came to our parish and offered guitar lessons for children. My parents bought me a guitar, and I began to learn how to play.

After two or three years of lessons and practice, I became good enough to begin playing at Mass.

People in the parish noticed my weekly presence playing and singing for Mass, and as I entered high school some began asking if I had ever thought about becoming a priest.

My response at the time was very negative. At 15 years old, I had my life all planned out. I was going to go to Notre Dame, become a lawyer, make a lot of money, marry a beautiful woman, have kids and live in a big house. Even at that young age, though, the first step toward the priesthood had already been taken.

Sometimes others see a vocation to the priesthood in a person before that person even realizes it himself. The Holy Spirit can work through the Christian community, especially priests, to call forth vocations.

All through high school, I resisted the thought of the priesthood. I still had life all planned out for myself. Then during my senior year, something happened at Christmas Midnight Mass. As the priest incensed the altar during the offertory, a very vivid thought entered my mind: "That might be something I'd like to do." I believe that in the small whisper of a thought God began to open my heart to a vocation to the priesthood. A seed had been planted, and by God's grace I began to be willing to give that seed a chance.

At that point, even though I began thinking about the possibility of the priesthood, I certainly was not ready to run off to the seminary. I went to college the next fall. As I began to deal with the normal difficulties of going to college, I found myself praying a lot more, especially turning to the Rosary. I also found myself going to daily Mass. It was in prayer and in the Eucharist that God gave me strength to deal with the struggle of leaving family and friends for the first time.

During this time of increased prayer and daily Mass, God was doing something else within me, too. He was nourishing the seed of a vocation that He had planted. My heart began to open more and more to the idea of the priesthood, and I could really begin to see myself as a priest. Prayer and the Sacraments, especially devotion to the Eucharist, are essential to discernment.

Through the transforming grace of the Eucharist and constant conversation with God in prayer, a vocation can begin to blossom.

Most often God seems to work through slow, steady growth to bring a vocation to bear. As I went through college, I continued to pray and attend Mass. I became active in the local parish in the college town and also became friends with its pastor. This friendship with a priest was an important part of discernment because it gave me a firsthand look at the life and work of the priest.

At the end of my college time, I felt strongly that God was calling me to the priesthood, and I felt ready to respond to that call. I then contacted the diocesan vocation office to begin the formal discernment with Bishop John D'Arcy. Bishop D'Arcy accepted me for the diocese and sent me to St. John's Seminary in Brighton, Mass., to begin studies for the priesthood.

Seminary is a time of study, prayer, spiritual direction with a priest and fellowship with others studying for the priesthood. However, going into the seminary does not mean that one is already bound to become a priest. Every seminarian continues the process of discernment while in the seminary. However, for most, this is a time when God continues the beautiful process of deepening a person's call to the priesthood.

The bishop's duty is to walk through this process with the seminarian, to help him deepen his vocation and ultimately to determine whether this person is truly being called by God to be a priest. During my time in the seminary, by the Lord's grace, Bishop D'Arcy saw in me God's call to the priesthood. The Bishop ordained me to the priesthood on November 30, 1996, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Fort Wayne.

I now continue to serve as a priest at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Fort Wayne and as chaplain and a teacher of religion at Bishop Dwenger High School.

God calls all of us to our vocations in different ways, and certainly every path to the priesthood is different. However, I believe that in most cases several things must be present in order for God's call to come to fruition. A person with a vocation to the priesthood needs to be in communication with a priest; he also needs to pray often and to receive the sacraments frequently, especially the Eucharist; and he needs his parents, his priest and the entire Christian community to support and encourage his call.

After being a priest for several years, I still cannot believe what a wonderful life God has chosen for me. There are days when the joy of being a priest almost overwhelms me. Of course, as with every vocation, there are difficult days, too. But whether God has called a person to be a priest, a Religious sister or a married person, He always gives the strength needed to remain faithful, as that person continues to open his or her heart to His grace.

I thank God every day for the gift of the priesthood, and I pray that He will give every young man in our diocese who is being called to be a priest the courage and trust to respond generously to that call.

By Father Mark Gurtner

Reprinted from pamphlet of Diocese of Norwich from Today's Catholic newspaper of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend.