Brady Anderson
College II
Hello my name is Brady Anderson. I am from O'Neill Nebraska and have been a member of St. Patrick's Parish since the age of four. I am a recent graduate of St. Mary's High School. My parish and high school have had a significant effect on my life and my faith. Having attended a Catholic school all my life I was blessed to be under Our Lord's and Our Lady's guidance from an early age.
Being brought up in this environment I have come into contact with my fair share of good and holy priests, and I hold them mostly responsible for planting the seed for my call to priesthood. However, when any of them actually approached me with the idea of entering into seminary I was quick to dismiss the idea saying, "Oh, I could never be a priest." Once high school started creeping to an end it became increasingly clear that God had other things in mind for me. My senior year was a good year and my own personal piety had grown a great deal. I was praying more (especially the rosary), had a much stronger devotion to the Eucharist, and had came to realize that when all was said and done all that really mattered in this life was Christ. And one day after musing on all this the thought of seminary came back into my mind, and this time it was not so easily dismissed. In fact in was not dismissed at all. After much prayer and speaking with my pastor and the Vocation Director I finally decided that seminary is where God wanted me to be.
For men who think God might be calling them to priesthood the best advice I can give is to be honest with yourself and with Jesus through prayer and He will take care of the rest. Also I have found it helpful to remember that God’s will is not always my will. He may lead you to places you might not necessarily want to go, but you better believe He has a mighty good reason for taking you there. God bless.
