I started praying a holy hour and going to Mass every day. The graces that flowed from daily Mass, regular confession, and regular adoration completely changed my life. Jesus became the center of my life, with the desire to have all of my thoughts, prayers, desires, words, and actions be in conformity with the will of God and His Catholic Church.

A little over a month before the end of graduate school, I went on a mission trip to Guyana with the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS). That mission trip served as a springboard into my total surrender to God, and planted the seed for my discerning the priesthood. While in Guyana, the mother superior of the order of religious sisters with whom we were working sat down with me at dinner one night and told me that I should consider the priesthood. This conversation stuck with me. While, intellectually, I was not interested in the priesthood, this genuine invitation from Mother Superior took root in my heart.

Four weeks later, with this conversation still lingering in my heart, I went to Holy Thursday Mass. A year and a half later, I can still recall the burning sensation in my heart during the consecration that night; the pew I was sitting in; the angle I was looking at the altar. I wanted to be at that altar. I wanted to be that priest who, despite his meager hands and meager sacrifice, was consecrated by God to bring us into the sacrifice at Calvary, to bring Jesus to the people. In that moment, the seeds planted in Guyana began to sprout. This marked the beginning of my active consideration of the priesthood.

My discernment journey has continued to strengthen my call to the priesthood. The flame that began in my heart during that Holy Thursday Mass, when God granted me a glimpse of the veil between Heaven and Earth being lifted, remains burning within me.

Bringing Christ into the life of a parish community excites me. As a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, I would enter into all of life’s moments, big and small:  the birth of a child into the family of God; a parent’s concern for their child moving to college; the suffering of illness; the passing of a loved one; the daily choice of pursuing the Lord in everyday life. This is the mission I seek to serve:  ministering to God’s people in their day-to-day lives as a priest within a parish community.