Seminarian Reflection | Mr. Paul Born

The final stretch of my vocational discernment began while I was on a weekend retreat, praying about the restlessness of soul which I had been experiencing. I had known that God was trying to communicate something to me about the next step in my Christian life - I was just struggling to understand what it was. The turning point began on that retreat as I took in a fiery conference on mercy from a powerful preacher. I had heard this priest preach twice before, and both homilies had stuck with me in ways that other sermons had not. As I sat in that chapel, I wondered why this preaching so moved my heart, simultaneously stirring and quieting that restlessness which I had been experiencing. It occurred to me, like getting hit over the head, that God was calling me to a life primarily ordered toward spreading His Gospel!

For me personally, I realized that the general Christian vocation to evangelize would not be realized in a lay vocation. I was meant for something else. Each Christian must discern his vocation as a response to God's call, a response to hearing God's Word spoke to me personally. For seminarians, installation as a Lector is a step toward that priestly office of proclaiming the Word to the nations. Just as the proclamation of the Gospel had changed my life, had begun my salvation, so are all Christians called to give this same amazing gift to all of the unevangelized. It is a privilege and a responsibility to be commissioned by the Church to do this publicly - that all in my archdiocese and beyond may know the saving power of the Word.

Reflection by: Mr. Paul Born│ Theology II