Have you ever seriously thought about becoming a priest? The notion might not have ever crossed the teenaged mind of many Jesuit students, but, different from them, Quang D. Tran SJ already discerned his vocation and hoped to guide our community toward our own destinations. On Friday March 4th, Jesuit College Preparatory celebrated its normal Friday mass before spring break and also educated the students on finding their own vocations.
“If you never bring it up, then they’ll never think about it!”
This old saying relates especially to joining the priesthood because many young men map out their life plan as such: go to school, get a great job, makes a lucrative living, meet a girl, start a family, and live happily ever after. A few holy men, however, change their preconceived plan and follow the path to priesthood and become a father through the church. That is why, every year, Jesuit has a vocation talk: to remind the students that the priesthood is really a viable option for their future.
Father Tran told the crowd of attentive Jesuit students that he “always wanted to become a priest for as long as [he] can remember,” discerning his future seemingly from birth. Many people, however, do not have the same surefootedness from birth like Tran did. Junior Evan Bausbacher illustrates the point of view of a person who has changed their mind on what to do in life many times saying,”When I was really little, I wanted to be an astronaut. Then, when I was seven, I decided that I wanted to be a fireman. And then all throughout elementary school, I wanted to become a race car driver. Now that I’m much older and much more realistic with my life, I still can’t decide between some things that I want to be in life, but after all of the Jesuit’s vocation talks that I’ve heard, I can surely say that I’ve seriously thought about becoming a priest.”
The priesthood is a noble career and certainly one that all students should consider, because maybe God is calling you to become his guide in teaching his people the word of the Lord.
