Welcome

That day has finally arrived. It was a ten year journey, but in reality, longer. On Friday, February 1, 2013, I received my seventh sacrament – Ordination. I am now a member of the Ordained, a Permanent Deacon for the Diocese of Rapid City.

The 10 year journey starting in 2003. A number of individuals continued to catch me after Mass, at meetings, whenever they saw me, encouraging me to join the Diocese’s Lay Ministry program. I was finally worn down and mostly to get them to stop talking to me about it, I agreed to attend an “Information Meeting” on the program. I went to the meeting with a long mental list of reasons I wasn’t going to join the program. But God had other plans.

At the meeting, Fr. Tom Lawler, S.J., Assistant Director at the Sioux Spiritual Center and a member of Lay Ministry Formation Team, addressed every single item on my mental list. In the same order I had them in my head. By the end of the meeting, I had signed up to start the Lay Ministry program. God won that round.

Two years later, on October 29, 2005, attending Saturday evening Mass, there was something in Deacon John Osnes’ homily that hit me. What it was, I don’t know. Later, while doing Evening Prayer, I came upon Psalm 116, vs 14 & 18, which are identical:

At that moment, God showed me the next 30 years of my life. Part of that vision was me, standing in front of a church, giving a homily. This vision from God, seemed to last forever, but was really only an instant. It was almost as if time had stop while God was giving me a glimpse of what he wanted me to do. That encounter with God ended in a draw — I didn’t say yes, but I also didn’t say no.

Over the next several years I really discerned this call. I met often with my Spiritual Director. I spoke to several people about it, asking some of them to pray for me and my discernment. And finally, asking Nancy to join the Lay Ministry program. And yet I still struggled with it. I still was unsure this is what God really wanted of me.

On the morning of September 8, 2008, while struggling to do Morning Prayer, I had this sense of someone sitting next to me on the couch. I looked over, and sitting next to me was the Blessed Virgin Mary. She didn’t say a word, only pointing across the room. Looking to where she was pointing, standing there was Jesus. He didn’t say a word, but only motioned for me to follow him. It was at that moment, I finally said what God had been asking of me all these years. I said yes, I would follow and become a Deacon. God won, but in reality, I did too.

So the next phase of my journey has started. Where it will take me, I do not know. But God knows, and I committed to following his lead. And that is all that matters.