[Music]
so when I was in high school all I
wanted was to be happy I went to Mass my
mom grown up but I was into my faith at
all
it just didn't make sense to me I
thought my life made sense without God I
had an incredible girlfriend who I
thought I was in love with had a best
friend like I talked about anything but
over the course of one summer she broke
up with me my best friend moved away and
I remember feeling empty and alone and I
was I was embarrassed and so I started
to try to fill that emptiness like
partying more with hanging out more with
with with dating more girls
I gave me a lot more since thinking that
they would satisfy me but nothing worked
I realized I was just empty inside
nothing satisfied that aching my heart
[Music]
during my college years I I wanted
reasons for my faith and so I went to
school just to learn more about my faith
but when I got there it would seem like
the answers that I received were things
that just made me question even more
like there was no reason for what we
really believed and so I ended up having
this like this hatred in my heart you
know I was still Catholic but I really
hated the church
[Music]
I even became a missionary after college
a full-time missionary in Central
America the mission I went to was super
Catholic and I got down there and I just
was so angry at the church
that I would go to Mass and I would
openly make fun of the priest during his
homily during the entire mass but I had
no idea how arrogant I was and how
drastically my life was about to change
[Music]
a friend of mine started to see how
unhappy I'd become
and so she invited me to go on a retreat
with her but I didn't want to go I did
not want to go on a retreat because I
wanted nothing to do with the church I
didn't think that the church could tell
me anything I didn't think that the
church had anything to offer me but I
went and I remember telling God
you better make something happen on this
retreat or else I'll leave the church
forever on the second night of the
retreat I felt like I heard God speak to
me I heard him say I love you and it
pierced my heart because I always
thought growing up that I had to do
something to earn someone's love but
here guy was looking at me and my
brokenness and my mess with all the junk
I had done over the past few years all
the sin I committed and he told me I
love you I asked them what is your will
for me
[Music]
while I was at that mission I got really
sick so sick that they thought I was
gonna die so someone called the priest
and as I was lying there in that bed in
walked the man that I had made fun of
for weeks now at every single Mass and
without hesitating he rushed to my
bedside and he gave me the anointing of
the sick and he gave me Holy Communion
and I remember lying there thinking
maybe I was wrong maybe this man really
does know who Jesus is maybe this is all
true
[Music]
that began this process of asking
questions in a really deep way and
finding the answers for the first time
and as I found those answers something
in my heart and in my mind changed and I
realized that I was not only falling in
love with God I was falling in love with
his church that he gave us
[Music]
for the last number of years I had
thought that I was so right and that the
church was so wrong but the priest had
answers to questions that I had never
heard and for the first time in my life
I experienced the joy of being wrong I
remember being in front of the Eucharist
one day praying and I was getting ready
to get married to an amazing woman but
in my prayer I said God I will do
whatever you want me to do and in my
prayer I realized God was saying I will
love you no matter what you choose but I
am calling you to a different path
[Music]
after the retreat I started going back
to church more and the more I spent time
praying to Jesus in adoration the more I
made sense to me what he was calling me
to do
[Music]
in that Chapel I heard God's voice and
it was crystal clear
I said to him Lord I hear you calling me
and I will follow
[Music]
I will be your priest
[Music]
I will be your priest
[Music]
it's never boring it's never the same
thing it's never just kind of normal it
is the most important thing that I could
do with my life
[Music]
pour into the seminary I thought that
all priests were perfect then I got the
seminary and I quickly realized I'm
broken I'm so broken
[Music]
then the midst of my brokenness the
Laura loves me
[Music]
as a father as a priest I get to heal
God's children as a father and priests
get to heave God's children in fact all
of the sacraments that are given to us
by priests they're the role of the
father of a giving life and of healing
and of of feeding
[Music]
the priesthood is the greatest gift I
have could have ever received
[Music]
I am unworthy to be a priest every time
I'm at the altar and every time I say
the mass the universe is changed the
world is different because of what God
has done and continues to do through the
mass
[Applause]
you
[Music]