Answering When God Calls Us
Is God Calling You?
Discerning the call to our personal vocation in life is a process that always includes suffering, due to the sacrifice that God asks of us. Whether we are called to a life of religious consecration, or to the Sacraments of Holy Orders or Matrimony, God’s greatest command is for us to love Him and our neighbors as ourselves. Such a love calls us to deny ourselves, to take up our cross, and to follow Him in love. The secular world tries to avoid or anaesthetize suffering, robbing us of the opportunity to identify more deeply with Jesus’ suffering and taking away a crucial space in time through which we may be sanctified more into conformity with God’s own image and likeness. The first characteristic of love is patience (1 Cor 13:4) – which means that it suffers (Latin, patior, pati = to suffer). To love truthfully implies that we must be willing to suffer death in the love for our own self-will, for the sake of the greater good of loving God and one another.
Below is a snopsis of why these men aswered yes when God called them to become Benedictine Monks at Mary Mother of the Church Abbey.
Prior Donald
I just naturally fell into the Benedictine Order. I grew up in the Belmont Abbey Nullius. I attended Belmont Abbey Prep School and Junior College and earned an Associate Degree. I made my profession July 7, 1949 and was ordained Priest June 17, 1955. I first came to Benedictine High School to teach in 1955 was back and forth to North Carolina before finally settling in Richmond in 1980. I have always tried to live my monastic life for others.
Fr. Adrian
Through Scouting, I learned the importance of helping others, thus the idea professional scouter or priesthood. I enlisted in the Navy in 1943 after high school and served 34 months. I entered seminary at St. Vincent College because I felt the Benedictines gave me what I wanted to do ..work with young people and live the liturgy. I was ordained at Belmont Abbey in 1955 and sent to Benedictine High School to teach. I served as Principal for 23 years and now as Chaplain. In 1991, I became Pastor of St. Joseph’s Parish.
Fr. Theophile
As a young man, I was an Altar Server and worked at my parish in Richmond throughout my teen age years. From time to time the priest and sisters at the parish would ask me if I had ever thought about the priesthood or religious life.
After completing high school studies and a business course, I worked for about four years before deciding on going to the seminary. It was the encouragement I had from others that helped me to decide on the priesthood and life as a Benedictine monk.
Abbot Benedict
From early in my life I knew that I wanted to serve God as a Priest. I was accepted to attend seminary at Belmont Abbey and became a Benedictine, something my Father had predicted. I made my first profession in 1960. It was a great day, the greatest day of my life. I was ordained a priest in June of 1961. I came to Benedictine to teach French and typing the next year. I was privileged to be elected Abbot in 1989.
Bro. David
Monastic life is an ongoing journey and one I embraced with some trepidation initially. However, having entered the monastery at an advanced age ..with all it’s challenges ..I can truly say I would do it again ..in a heartbeat.
Fr. James
Why would anyone want to join a monastery? I did not think I was quite strong enough to face the challenges of priestly living alone--having the camaraderie and support of a community of brothers committed to the same goal of serving Christ in all things was important to me. In a monastery, you always have a place to "hang your hat." This was important to me since my family is not Catholic. One last thing that attracted me to Mary Mother of the Church Abbey was the Eucharist. There is no place in Richmond that has a more Eucharistic devotion than the Abbey. This may have been the most powerful draw of all.
Fr. Joseph Mary
I am so grateful to my parents who gave me a strong Catholic foundation. The desire to become a priest came to me at the age of 10. After high school I joined the seminary and was ordained in 1981. The Lord called me to a deeper committed service and the Benedictine way of life in 2002. Praise God from whom all good things come.
Fr. Mark
If someone had come up to me in high school or even college and said, "You will be a monk and a priest!," I would have laughed hysterically. "No! Not me! Are you nuts?!," I had determined I was to be married, have a career, and pursue my hobbies of drumming and scuba diving. I heard God calling, deep within my soul. After much soul searching, conversion, and spiritual direction, I came to understand the Catholic Faith, and how true it is! "I want to do THAT full-time" I said to God; "I want to pray, and celebrate Mass, and have You forgive sins through me in Confession, if that is Your Will." God has done all of that in me, and He even has me playing drums in a Catholic rock band! I still scuba ..but I haven’t tried diving in my Monastic habit ..yet.
Bro. Paul
God’s call in our lives is so awesome! Thanks to God and Christ. I give thanks for my call to vocation in the hope that I may become closer to God and live in His service. I knew strongly, that God’s plan for my life was to reach out to all in need. Today it is important to spread God’s love and the Good News of Christ throughout. Being a monk is just that: it’s spreading God’s message of Christ’s salvation and continually seeking God through prayer. I became a monk to serve.
Fr. Gregory
My own greatest challenge in discerning my vocation to religious life and the priesthood was, in fact, “To what degree am I willing to suffer for God and others?” Once God gave me the grace to enter more deeply into His suffering of self-denying, self-dying love, I discovered not only greater personal fulfillment and significance, but a true sense of joy and peace.
I even have gained a clearer understanding of myself through opening myself more fully to God and others.
Bro. Vincent
I chose Mary Mother of the Church Abbey to discern my monastic call. The reason I chose the Order of St. Benedict is that I found a balance and structure that have enhanced my spirituality. My new adopted family has been discipling me to follow Christ for three years now by example and in accordance with the Rule of St.Benedict.
The thing that has most attracted me to community life is the prayer, work, and relationships that are a part of my every day life. Thanks be to God.
Bro. Robert
I thank God very much for bringing me to the Abbey in September of 1994. Bro. David was the Vocations Director and he helped me to become part of the community. I made my profession in 2001. I give thanks to God for my brothers, including those who are now in the cemetery. I love Abbot Patrick, Abbot Benedict, Prior Donald, Fr. Adrian, and Fr. Theophile very much. I also enjoy my work in the Tailor Shop where I make the habits for the monks. Two years ago I also began working in the Abbey gardens
Bro. John Mary
God is awesome; He has done amazing things in my life! Since I was a little boy I have desired to become a priest and as I grew older I became so much attracted to religious life. I had second thoughts about leaving law school back in Uganda to enter the monastery but now looking back seven years later, I think I made the right decision to follow my innermost desire – to seek, to love, and to serve God. Although the first years were not so easy, I feel so much joy and happiness knowing that I am available to pray and serve others following in the footsteps of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We are all called to do something everyday, however small, to make our world a better place for all.
A Prayer for Vocations
An excerpt
Lord Jesus, as You once called the first disciples to make them fishers of men, let your sweet invitation
continue to resound:
Come, follow Me!
Give young men and women the grace of responding quickly to
Your voice. Pope John Paul II
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