A great vocation story, about Father Timothy Reid, who became Catholic during his senior year of college and then, a few years later, found himself attending a parish mission in his hometown of Indianapolis:
At the end of the third night, the priest invited all young people who were considering religious discernment to come up and receive a blessing. Reid admitted that in his prayers he had felt called to the priesthood, but even as he felt a pain in his heart he did not feel inclined to join the group at the altar. That was when the priest stopped before his blessing and looked around, stating:
“Not everybody’s up here. The Holy Spirit is telling me there is a young man here tonight who has a call to the priesthood that he’s denying. You know who you are because you feel the pain in your heart.”
Fr. Reid expressed how this statement blew his mind, but he could not bring himself to rise from the pew; rather, he grabbed the pew in front of him and “white-knuckled” it, holding on for dear life. At this point, the young Reid was considering bolting for the door, but he remained in his seat while the priest blessed those assembled before him and began a procession around the church before the closing of Benediction.
It was when the priest passed by Reid that the monstrance he was holding suddenly turned to face the young man. As if with some effort, the priest pulled the monstrance back and pointed at Reid, noting, “You’re the one being called to the priesthood aren’t you?” To which all Reid could say in this pivotal moment of his life was, “Yes, Father, it’s me.”
The priest blessed Reid and finished the procession before ending the night, but afterward Reid knew he had to go and speak to the priest, who brought him to the sacristy, where he told Reid:
“I want to tell you something. I didn’t do that with the monstrance. Jesus pointed you out to me and showed me that you were the one with the vocation.”
Read it all. And check out the video interview at the link.
