During college, I attended a Catholic charismatic conference. Before leaving for the conference, I asked my sister to pray for me. While there, God called me to a life empowered by the Holy Spirit, serving His people. Then came the moment:  after Mass, the priest said he received a prophetic word that six young men in the room were being called to the priesthood. My stomach dropped as it had before: “Oh no, not this again!” I thought. Yet over the days that followed, it became clear that Jesus wanted more for me. Then, in a phone conversation with my sister, I said, “I think God is calling me to be a priest.” She began to cry and responded, “Every time I prayed for you, I had an overwhelming sense that God was going to call you to be a priest.”

That sealed the deal. I went on a Dominican “Come and See,” and heard that everything the Dominicans do is for the goal of preaching the Gospel for the salvation of souls. This resonated with me deeply and I thought, “I could give my life to that.” I entered the Dominicans a few months after graduating from college.

The four pillars of Dominican Life are Prayer, Study, Community, and Preaching. We seek to bring people into a deeper communion with Jesus through talks and sermons, pastoral counseling, casual conversations, and public prayer with the Liturgy of the Hours. Prayer suffuses everything we do, as contemplation is the fuel for our preaching.

In campus ministry, I have seen Jesus work amazing things through my vocation as a Dominican friar. Being a brother to the students has been a beautiful experience.

As I think ahead to priestly ordination in a few years, I look forward to the joy of offering absolution through the radical mercy of Jesus and blessing people in persona Christi. I desire to feed Jesus’ lambs with the Eucharist and share Christ’s love and mercy through the sacraments. Most of all, I look forward to being a preacher, so that I can introduce others to my friend Jesus.