Here is my Vocations Story that I shared with my home Parish of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church at all the Masses this past weekend! All my praise and thanks goes to you Oh Lord for all that you have done in my life! Brthers and Sisters, please pray with me for an increase of Vocations in our Catholic Church and for the perserverance of those who have answered the call! Please read and enjoy:
Good Morning! For those of you who do not know me, my name is Jared Cooke and I am a parishioner and seminarian from this parish of St. Vincent de Paul. I thank you for allowing me to be here today to speak to you for just a few minutes about my calling to the Priesthood and to present to you a vocations challenge, should you choose to accept.
It is professed in the first Chapter of the Gospel of Mark, "As Jesus passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting out their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, 'Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.' Then they left their nets and followed him." Just as Jesus' disciples dropped their nets, their livelihood, their dreams to follow him, I too have answered Christ's call in my life and after my first year at SJSC, I continue to follow him with an open heart and an unyielding faith. It has been yet another loop on this unpredictable rollercoaster ride through life and what keeps me going is the knowledge that God is in the seat right next to me! He has been with me at my highest moments, when I was soaring on top of the world and He has been there with me when I have spiraled downward into doubt and hopelessness. Regardless, He has been there with me the entire time and I have grown to love Him and know Him more intimately. I am ready for what is to come and I am unafraid.
You know, in the grand scheme of things, God is the ONLY one who knows why a particular person is attracted to the Priesthood, or attracted to the Religious Life, or attracted to Marriage. But in our own weak human way of analyzing it, I can say that my vocation to the Priesthood took up a very long stretch of that rollercoaster ride. I am convinced that my vocation is rooted from the very moment God created me and my first glimpse into that vocation occurred in 2002 while I was sitting before a Priest in the Sacrament of Confession. Up to that moment of conversion, I was living a pretty average teenage life, just like any mainstream teenager was living in our modern society. I remember that moment like it was just yesterday. I was sitting inside the Sacred Heart Basilica on the Notre Dame campus with hundreds of other young people my age. I began to contemplate my life, my struggles, and the fact that God seemed to be absent or at least in and out of my life. I began to tear up just thinking about it and after a few minutes of fighting back the waterworks, my eyes couldn't hold it back any longer and I began to weep. It was at that moment that I became entranced by the presence of God. It was as if He was reaching down from Heaven to say "Jared, I am here." I was moved by the spirit to get up from my pew and walk over to one of the side altars where a newly ordained Priest was silently praying. I sat down in front of him face to face as I hung my head in shame and the minute I looked up to make eye contact with him, I lost it again and began to weep. He simply put his hand on my shoulder and let me cry as the Holy Spirit did its work. Shortly after, we began to speak. I began to unload everything that was weighing me down. My private struggles, I revealed to him. Pains that were inflicting me, I unleashed. Things that had held me captive for years in the deepest, darkest parts of my being were finally being cast into the light. We spoke for over an hour that night and he spoke some of the most powerful words that have ever been uttered to me. He said, "Jared, my brother, Satan has been lying to you for all of these years. Satan is nothing more than a LIAR! He can tempt us, but he cannot touch us, unless we open the door. So close the door to the snares and deceit of Satan and open wide the doors to Christ!" He then said, "God is trying to get your attention, does He have it now?" He proceeded to tell me that God works in mysterious ways, ways that we will never understand, but it is up to us to TRUST, to trust in His will and to follow Him with open eyes, an open heart, and an unyielding faith. My faith that had just been shaken was immediately beginning to strengthen and re-form with every word that Fr. Dan was speaking. Then came the moment of Absolution. The moment that would change my life forever and send me in the direction that God had always planned for me to follow. Six years later, after finishing high school and two years of college, I began a trend of centering my day on God rather than just trying to fit Him into my day. At that point I was praying more than I was studying, which is good and bad depending on how you look at it! I felt as if I was in the wrong place in life and was spinning my wheels and going nowhere fast. One night while really struggling with all the stress and weight of life, something told me to go to the parish. So without a second thought, I drove to the Perpetual Adoration Chapel at St. Thomas Aquinas parish in College Station and began to pray before the Blessed Sacrament. After just minutes of agonizing over my current state of confusion and grief, that same feeling that I felt those six years ago came over me. I felt the true presence of God illuminating through my soul and with one glance at the Blessed Sacrament; I was overwhelmed with a love that I cannot describe to you. I then heard Christ speaking to my heart. It was unlike anything that I had ever experienced in my life. I saw with opened and unopened eyes what God was asking of me. God was calling me to follow him and enter into a countercultural life as a Priest and I could no longer say "No" to Him. Priesthood to me is a daunting and rather uncommon call and one that isn't to be taken lightly, thus why it took me so many years to say "Yes!" Not only that, but now my heart is completely consumed by Christ and His Church. Above all though, I want nothing else from this lifetime than to help bring others into communion with Christ.
You now know briefly my story and now comes the part where I get the opportunity to challenge you to help me and to help all of our brothers and sisters to once again create a culture of Vocation. We live in such a noisy culture that is not centered on God, but on the things of this world. Think about it! Listen to your heart, listen real intently, God IS speaking to you. Are you hearing Him, or are you hearing the world? Listen to the voice of God, often it is but a whisper! Are you following God's call in your life? Parents, are you open to God's call for your children whatever it may be? What if your parents had not answered God's call to get married and have children? What if Mother Teresa had not answered God's call to consecrated herself to the Lord and live amongst the poor? What if Pope John Paul the Great had not answered God's call to devote his life to Mary and our Lord and become a Priest? My brothers and sisters in Christ, Priesthood is for REAL men, consecrated life is for REAL women. Many of you right now, are probably being called and may not be hearing it. Do Not be Afraid! Brothers, we need some good men that are willing to sacrifice and lay down their lives, dropping everything to follow Christ. What a journey it could be! The more Priests that we have out there, the louder the message will be. So what exactly is it that I am challenging all of us to do today? I challenge you to open your hearts and minds to Christ. Open wide those doors to God's call in your life and to all you parents, I challenge you to be open to the possibility of your own children being called by God to a religious vocation and encourage them to explore that possibility. DO NOT BE AFRAID! I also ask that you keep me and my brother seminarians in your prayers as we continue to discern God's call in our lives and as we continue our formation to the Priesthood. And in our day to day lives, let us not forget to pray for our beloved Priests who day in and day out, administer to us the source and summit of our very lives, the Eucharist. I thank you for your time and offer my prayer that in this parish community; an epidemic of faith continues to break out because of each and every one of you. Thank you for your prayers and support and may God Bless you all!
Voice of St. Padre Pio de Pietrelcina:
In response to many questions from friends and family, I decided that I would reflect on what my day to day looks like as a Catholic Seminarian.
After morning prayer, we are able enjoy a nice breakfast in the refectory if we would like. Most classes then start at 8am. My weekly schedule is as follows: On Monday's I have no classes in the morning, so I usually spend that time studying, cleaning, reading, watching the news, running errands etc. At 10:50, I have Schola rehearsal and at 11:15, we have Mass in the Abbey with the Monastic community where the Schola sings and cantors. Directly after Mass we all walk over to the refectory together for lunch which has been prepared by our great food services staff. After lunch, afternoon classes start, but again, I have a nice little gap until my first class at 3pm, which is World Religions. After my 3pm class I have my last class at 4:15, my Formation class. Starting at 5:45pm we have our daily "Lectio Divina," which is the practice of "Divine Reading." It involves quiet spiritual reading, intense meditation over what we read and lots of prayer. It is perhaps my most favorite part of my day. After 30 minutes of Lectio Divina we all go to the prayer room for Evening Prayer with the community. Dinner then follows in the refectory....
