Stand firm on the rock

As a FOCUS missionary with my wife and children here in Germany, witnessing the confusion in the church and the intensifying attack on faith and morals, I have found strength and steadiness in the fundamental truth that I learned as a young man growing up in the Arlington diocese. I have learned to rest my faith on Christ, the Rock; Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Word; he never changes; he sustains. If we rest our Catholic faith on persons, whether they be laymen, priests, bishops or popes, or on the good feelings evoked by certain liturgies, homilies, or styles of music, then our faith is, as Jesus said, built on sand. 

In my many experiences in our diocese — as an altar server, a participant and leader in youth groups, a member of various parishes, time discerning the priesthood, and teaching in a diocesan school — I came in continual contact with faithful priests and bishops who inspired me with their wisdom and example. I met families who survived tragedy and remained strong in their faith, and communities that fostered a desire to live in virtue and fidelity to the truth. So much chaos in the world and in the church occurred during my years growing up in the diocese; these troubling events and changes challenged my faith, not only in humanity, but also in God. But what I encountered, was not despair or loss of faith, but courageous resistance to destructive forces and fortified insistence on the truth as vested in the Catholic Church. Bishops built new schools and founded new parishes to serve our growing Catholic community, priests began youth groups, family services and multiple organizations to serve the needs and reinforce the faith of the parishioners, families who experienced the tragic loss of children or parents and trusted in God’s love and mercy; laymen and women who founded new schools to expand the access to Catholic education; many friends who converted to the church and many who became priests. All that I witnessed and experienced confirmed in me the conviction that if we put our trust in Jesus, the Rock, our path will be clear and steady but not necessarily easy.

Being blessed by the example and friendship of many good priests, I discerned that I might be called to the priesthood. After initial discernment and the wisdom of the vocations director, I discovered my love of teaching and spent the next four years teaching in a diocesan school and helping with youth groups too. Soon afterward, I taught two more years in Maryland, and after six years total of financially supporting two FOCUS missionaries and witnessing their fruitful work, I felt a persistent call from Jesus to leave what I loved, teaching and coaching, and take a leap of faith to become a missionary in the setting of the university campus. While daunting for me to leave teaching, a wise and faithful boss explained to me that if Jesus was calling me elsewhere, he wasn’t going to stand in the way and encouraged me, nonetheless.