I began to keep God at “arm’s length,” and year by year, my academic achievements and honors grew as my personal faith life weakened. My spiritual life received a huge blow when the coronavirus pandemic began to spread throughout the U.S. and the Archdiocese gave a dispensation that lifted the obligation to attend Mass.

One night, while in my third year of medical school, I was trying to fall asleep when suddenly the thought came that maybe I should really think about being a priest. I almost laughed aloud. It had been nearly six years since I had defiantly plugged my ears to God’s voice. The Holy Spirit led me to make a good confession, and I decided to renew my relationship with God.

A few months later, I was praying in Adoration and asked the Lord for a nudge to let me know that I was on the right path. Just then, a young family walked into the chapel to pray, and the Lord spoke to my heart in a powerful and piercing way: “Be my priest and a minister of the sacraments for that family and for others.”

I reflected on the comparison of being a doctor of the body and a doctor of the soul. Even in helping hundreds of people with their physical health, the years impacted are finite. In leading even one soul to God, the results are eternal. Through the Sacraments, in particular Confession and Last Rites, the soul gets prepared for eternity. I responded to this invitation by placing everything I had into God’s hands.

I am blessed to say that God has led me to discern the priesthood in the Archdiocese of Denver. The Archdiocese is my home, and the priests there inspire me to emulate them in administering the sacraments. I look forward to my vocation, and to seeing the lives God will touch though it.