I Am Soldier For Christ

One common theme between good and bad priests is that the vocation they were called to never seems to completely leave them. This is a common theme in Silence, by Shusaku Endo. In the beginning of the novel, the reader discovers that Ferreiera apostatized, giving up not only his roles as a priest but his faith in God as well. Although Ferreira abandoned the priesthood and gave up shepherding the few Catholics of Japan, he still continues “to be useful to others, [which] was the one wish and the only dream of one who had dedicated himself to the priesthood” . However, once he is reunited with Sebastian, “there flashed into his eyes a servile smile and momentary shame”. Here Ferreiera feels as though he has failed Sebastian because if he had not apostatized, Sebastian, acting as a good priest, would never have gone to Japan to save him.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams’ book A Ray of Darkness, has been influential on my own journey with call and vocation. Prior church experiences taught me that introspection and self-exploration were too prideful and that it is the Christian’s duty to continually pursue difficult things, in spite of aptitude. The rationale was: if it is difficult, then it must be holy. It was this very mindset that for many years, kept me from pursuing my calling.

I struggled with that choice for the longest of times. It all started when I was about three years old when I first started to think about the priesthood. I have to give a lot of credit to my parents, because when

The sacrament of Confirmation is the single most important sacrament a young adult Catholic can receive. It is the sacrament where you fully affirm your beliefs and initiate yourself into the Catholic church. It is necessary to have a role model that will help guide you throughout your spiritual life and that person for me is Saint Francis of Assisi. I am inspired by his incredible connection to animals and hope to one day become a veterinarian. I chose him as my Confirmation saint because of who he was before and after God became present in his life.

In recent days I had the opportunity to go back to North Carolina for a few short days. There, with a heavy heart from a loss in the family, I had nothing else to look towards. I’ve always heard of individuals finding peace, faith, blessings, and love of Christ from attending church. I’ve never been a person who put their faith into a higher power. As I was growing up my parents never wanted to force me into any religion without me knowing everything about it and choosing which route to take on my own. As the years treaded on, I never bothered myself to learn about the many different religions and what each stands for. So I used this opportunity as mine to attend church for the very first time. I attended the Roman Catholic services held

Also, my step-mom helped me by driving me to mass every single Sunday that I was with her. Another conflict I faced during my journey was the schoolwork involved with my confirmation. I had a lot of extra homework to do in order to pass seventh grade religion and be confirmed. As a class, the seventh grade students of St. Cecilia School had special assignments in order to be confirmed and in order to graduate. I had to do seven days of volunteer work if I were to move on to the eighth grade and if I were to be able to be confirmed. As graduation neared I had to choose a confirmation name. I decided on Genesius. I decided that I needed to make sure that my sacrifices were worth it. I started facing temptations to sneak my phone in my confirmation meetings and watch the football games, and I very much didn’t want to do the religion homework associated with the class. I started to get behind and stopped remembering why I was getting confirmed in the first place. I had begun to think that I wasn’t ready to make such a big decision.

The lessons I’ve received from transitioning through the church as a child, youth, and adult member have taught me a number of lessons; patience, reverence, and empathy are all traits I’ve strengthened, and they have undoubtably helped me through my high school career. Taught how to ask thoughtful questions, I’m unashamed of my curiosity. Our faith is not always one of direct answers— even our most devoted

Tested in Every Way: the Catholic Priesthood in Today’s Church, written by Christopher Ruddy, is a report and at the same time a reflection on the Seventh Annual Cardinal Bernardin Conference which was held in the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, TX in 2003 . Ruddy reports the voices of academic and pastoral expertise sharing about the challenges and the identity of being a priest. Besides of giving a report, the book opens up and finishes with the Ruddy’s insightful reflections.

My journey on to my Christian faith began when I was born so I basically didn’t feel. I had a choice not to be a Christian but I never asked why am I a Christian because I felt as though being a child of god was the right way to go I felt as though that god would always be here for not just me but with everyone that needed him. My journey to Christ probably would have to be in the miracles that he have brought me through and I have seen. A long time ago my uncle basically overdosed and the doctors said that he was brain dead and that we should just cut the cord. I will never forget the hospital room filled with the people from my church praying out loud. As I was sitting in there I could feel the spiritual energy. It felt like my skin was crawling with adrenaline. The doctors took us back there to see him and when I saw him I was honestly scared I didn’t think he was going make it but he made it my mother told me when she went back there she saw a angel over him and she said that his wings filled the room. After that day my uncle began to get better when he got home he didn’t have any memory of any sort he had to start completely over we had to help him step by step. And now today my

When I was a sophmore, I went through a period of time where i stopped going to church as much as i had before. After a while i found myself questioning where i stood in my faith. I would always become angry quickly and shut everyone out, soon i realized that i needed to go back to where i started. That same night i fell to my knees in prayer asking the

The Protestant Reformation indicated that a human can “connect to God and can do so without the aid of a priest.” The ecclesiology behind this is basically what aids me in my ministry. Peterson, in his book Essential Church, explains “the primary affirmation is not that each person is his or her own priest but that each Christian can be a priest, advocate, intercessor, and evangelist to others.” William Willimon, Pastor: the Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry, highlights a variety of ways in which a pastor functions. In this paper, I am going to explain the ways in which my current ministry setting connects with the concept of priest as pastor in relation to worship and the connect and context of pastoral care while teaching others that they are able to accomplish the same task.

My mom once told me when I was young and ignorant, “Faith is the foundation of a beautiful friendship with the one person who will always remain by your side”. These words were expressed even more profoundly every Sunday in the echoing corridors of a small church by a priest I had yet to know or even care about. Preaching with his perplexing words in which I could only muster barely a fourth of my full attention span listening to. Thus, the term faith did not exactly resonate with me until many years later. My early years were filled with the teachings of the bible in Sunday school and later on as well in middle school during Friday night sessions. Unfortunately, my mom was an extremely strong enforcer of our faith for she was also raised Catholic from birth, but my dad on the other hand has a more scientific approach to how the world came to be. The years I spent in Sunday school blurred into an everlasting line of bleak nothingness just a ticking clock waiting till an end. Even today I do not remember anything that occurred within those taxing sixty minuets of constant bible studies it’s as though I lost the key to the inner workings of my childhood. Nonetheless, there have always been unbelievably great role models in my faith such as my mom, youth ministers, and friends who encourage me to be open to my faith. However, it’s always been my own restrictions that prevent me from furthering my relationship with God. So when my sister suffered her first severe

My personal experience of God is based on my life experiences and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I have experienced God’s presence in my life and I have felt the Holy Spirit guiding me. I first felt God’s call as a teenager and prayed that one day I would become a pastor. But my new Christian faith was not strong enough and I soon succumbed to the desires of this world. I refused to recognize God’s call and it took decades for God’s prevenient grace to bring me back into fellowship with God’s Son. More than a decade ago I felt God’s call again but this time in a completely different way. This time my faith was strong and I had that personal relationship with God’s Son. During my Emmaus Pilgrim Walk in 2007 my teenage prayers came back to me. Calmness overcame me like none I had ever experienced and for the first time in my life I knew that God had set me aside for this purpose. I felt God’s call in a way I had never felt before and I knew that the Spirit had been preparing me all these years to become a pastor. I realize now that God saw me as I could be, not what I was at that time! God never gave up on me and I now believe that God answered my prayers so that everyone else would know that only God could have changed my heart and the direction of my life.

As religious men, we should avoid the peril of becoming so engrossed in our theological studies that we neglect our personal devotion. Warfield’s caveat to us is Christian service or work alone cannot replace the depth of Christian affection to God. Work does not equal prayer it is the combination of work and prayer that will develop as ministers. By maintaining a strong devotion to God we are setting an example of holding fast to the confession of our hope. We must frequently examine ourselves against God’s Word to verify our hearts. It is as Warfield says, we should have our hearts on fire brightly so that in our innermost being we are men of God. The greatness of our calling as ministers should flow from the depth of our understanding of the unsurpassed greatness of God. This understanding should motivate, empower, equip and direct us in our

In the silence, I found myself contemplating the concept of vocation. Since my day of silence began roughly around the same time that Examined Life would have been starting, the topic was already on my mind. Specifically, my vocation, which is becoming more nebulous the longer I stay away from my home and delve into who I am to be as a single unit, opposed to how I fit into my families paradigm. Prior to coming to college it was my belief that I was going to become a professor, that I was called to teach, and that may very well be. However, as I progress in my work through Mission Waco, and explore the calling to ministry in my life, I wonder if I am brave enough to listen to that still small voice. Then, I wonder, why not both?