3-year-old Padre-to-be?

Please pray for all GW Catholics who are discerning a religious vocation.  Currently, it's a few women and a handful of men.  For many of our women, the past year or two has been the first time they have seen or been exposed to religious sisters.  Two Servants of the Lord come to our Tuesday dinners every week and have a blast with us; we serve with the Missionaries of Charity once a month; and, some of our girls have taken an interest in checking out the Sisters of Life.  Most of our active women are freshmen and sophomores, so it is still early in their discernment.  But, they quickly laugh off the idea of becoming a nun when I propose it casually.  They all say they want to have children.  (they eventually get around to saying they want a husband...!).  Ladies, this is a beautiful desire, of course, but every religious sister has the same desire! Jesus has asked them to sacrifice that desire for the sake of the kingdom (Mt 19:12).  He might be asking the same of you, who knows.  Just, please be open to whatever His Will is for you.  You are sooo good and beautiful.

It has been an interesting experience working with our men in discernment this year.  Several of them have shown the signs of being called to priesthood and/or interest in being a priest.  They are seniors, grad students, and alumni who could enter seminary this fall if it was God's Will.  These are good men!  I have had friends, family, vocations, societies, cloistered nuns, and even Cardinal Wuerl praying for these men. While only one of them is seriously considering entering seminary in the near future, just about all of them have shown signs of growth in holiness and discerning their vocation.  I believe that more than one of them is called to be a priest, so hopefully those who are called will hear God's voice and respond....sooner than later.

Just recently, a few other male juniors and sophomores have shown serious signs that they are called to and/or are interested in the priesthood.  Right now, they are simply living out their Call to Holiness (which Vatican II said we all have!) which is extraordinary to witness.  We are having a men's discernment dinner this Thursday.  Two of last year's stars at the Newman Center and current seminarians, Andrew Buonopane and John Sollee, will be speaking to the guys about their journeys to the seminary as well as life in the seminary.  Please pray that it is a fruitful night for our men.

One thing that Andrew and John might say on Thursday, which is true of most seminarians and priests, is that they practiced saying Mass in their homes at some point growing up.  I know I did.  You might have heard about this before.  But, I imagine you have never seen a video of it, and certainly not of a 3 year old doing it! The video below is such a clip...and it is precious.  The future "Father Isaiah"??