Written by Mark Wanek
My Catholic faith was always important to me, but I had a hard time following all the teachings. I did not understand the sacrifices God was calling me to make, and I lacked a personal relationship with Christ. My heart yearned for more. Living out my Catholic faith on a college campus where it was rare to find someone with the same beliefs was challenging me in a way I had never encountered before.
Because of my involvement in Phoenix Catholic at UWGB, I started to make Catholic friends on campus. Joining the Catholic community on campus was crucial in deepening my faith life. I started going to weekly dinners, adoration, and I began to embrace my Catholic identity.
In the beginning of my sophomore year, I found out Phoenix Catholic would be going to SEEK. One of my sisters had gone and had an amazing experience, and I immediately knew that I also wanted to experience it. Thanks to the generosity of families like yours who supported the Raising Vocations Collection, I was able to attend SEEK. Your support changed my life forever.
When I arrived in St. Louis for the 2024 SEEK Conference, I could not have been more excited as I walked into the stadium for the opening session. Thousands of college students cheered for our Lord, raising their hands as they praised Him. The stage in front of us had the most beautiful projection of the Sanctuary at the Cathedral Basilica which was just a short drive away from the convention center. Everywhere I looked, there were flags waving of all the colleges represented at the conference. Something stirred within my heart. Was this the feeling I had waited for all this time? If it was, what did it mean? I took a deep breath and decided I would discover what was on my heart while at SEEK.
As I attended each keynote and breakout session, I started to realize more and more Catholic college students were facing the same struggle of making sacrifices for Christ and taking the road less traveled. Each talk truly shed light into areas of the faith that I had not given much thought to before.
During an incredibly powerful keynote session in which we had Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, we were encouraged to go to confession. The room we were led to had hundreds of priests spread out, ready to hear our confessions. I had one of the most amazing and consoling confessions of my life, and I was ready to start following Christ entirely without making excuses as to why certain teachings did not apply to me.
One of the last keynote speakers, Emily Wilson, deeply impacted me when she brought the audience back to her own time in college. She realized that if she wanted to fully follow Christ and follow His will for her, it would cost her. She might lose friends, comfort, or even her reputation.
At that moment, I truly understood that following Christ is not supposed to be easy. While this may seem like a basic concept to most, it was revolutionary for me. This idea is what started to transform me from a lukewarm Catholic to a man ready to follow Christ through the challenges and sufferings of this life and to always submit to the will of the Lord.
My time at SEEK was the start of something new, and if I had not gone to experience it, my prayer life and willingness to serve the Lord would not exist like it does now. Because of SEEK and my participation in Catholic campus ministry at UWGB, I know my life belongs to God.
I will always follow the Lord and ask the Holy Spirit to guide me where He wants me. This happened because of the generous families and individuals who supported the Raising Vocations Collection. Thank you so much for helping me hear God’s call!
To help more young people like me hear God’s call, please make your gift to the Raising Vocations Collection today.