Laboure Society
“My name is Bobby Willover. I am discerning a call to serve Christ and His Church as a Benedictine monk with Marmion Abbey.”
Meet the rest of my class
My name is Bobby Willover. I am discerning a call to serve Christ and His Church as a Benedictine monk with Marmion Abbey. This is my story.
Growing up in Fort Myers, Florida, I attended Mass with my mother, who taught at the local public elementary school. In the summer, I would help her set up her classroom. During my teen years, I walked away from the Church, as I’d basically just been going through the motions. Yet before major life moments, I would still quietly say a Hail Mary or an Our Father – realizing that I could not do it alone. Over time, I began the journey back to the Faith.
Just before being confirmed as an adult, I attended confession for the first time in nearly 20 years. Afterwards, I wept with joy and relief. That day, for the first time, I thought that a vocation might be possible. With a new zeal for the Faith, I became involved in various parish ministries. After several parishioners told me that I would make a good priest, I began praying about and discerning a religious vocation in earnest. The day a youth group student approached me and quietly asked me to pray for his family after losing a relative, I immediately sensed a confirmation of God’s call. I was drawn to the Benedictine monks of Marmion Abbey. With deep prayer as the engine that fuels all else, some of the monks there serve as teachers in the abbey’s high school. I am a high school English teacher; serving there would mean bringing the stillness and depth of monastic life directly into the classroom, where I believe teachers shape lives far more than we often realize.
As I follow God’s calling to the religious life, I seek others to accompany me on this journey. May we meet so that I can share more? Until then, please keep me and my classmates in prayer, and feel free to reach out to me at Bobby.Willover@rescuevocations.org
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