One Saturday Mourning Bursting through the door in tears, our retreat leader ascended the stage, grabbed the microphone, and delivered the news: "Our beloved Pope John Paul II has passed." March 2012: Praying at then-Blessed John Paul II's Tomb in the Chapel of St. Sebastian inside of St. Peter's Basilica Her grief felt foreign to me, even extreme. I was in eighth grade, completely uninspired by my Catholic faith, and simply going through the motions of the Confirmation retreat I was...

Tornado Season "Lord, are you calling me to be a priest?" Little did I know, I was asking the wrong question — or at least in the wrong order. June 2014: Helping pick up tornado debris in Nebraska cornfields. As I mentioned back in Pt. I, Ch. 1, the summer of 2014 proved to be a pivotal moment in my journey of vocational discernment and my entire life. Slated to spend two and a half months in Omaha, Nebraska, participating in a renowned spiritual formation program for diocesan seminarians...

Travel Companions Lone Wolf, Maverick, Self-Made Man. The list of labels goes on and on for a man going it alone. However, despite some of the positive aspects associated with them (e.g., a certain degree of independence, determination, or grit), masculinity meets maturity when one sees such monikers for what they are: masks. Truth is, in order to successfully arrive at our ultimate destination, we men need other men with whom to journey. A man needs men who have gone before him and...