Carlos Gallardo
Seminarian for the Diocese of Colorado Springs“Thus says the Lord: I remember the love of your youth, how you loved me as a bride, following me in the desert in a land unsown” (Jer 2:2).
I believe that the roots of every priestly vocation are in the heart of Catholic families; which is why Pope John Paul II called the family the “Domestic Church”. To explain my wish to be a priest, I would have to travel to the past when my childhood love of God and the Blessed Virgin Mary was born. Fortunately, I grew up in a Catholic family whose rule of life was our religion, that lovely relationship with God in everything we did. It was pretty easy to fall in love with God because of his constant presence in our lives, such as in the praying the holy Rosary, the Sunday Mass, and the very important relationship between priests and people. In addition, we often saw the presence of seminarians or nuns in our community in the summer or during Holy Week. All this in some way made us feel that we were loved by God. It made us feel that we were personally touched by God.
When I was a teenager, and I had almost forgotten my religious identity, and I had already forgotten how to pray, I could see my childhood love for God in the sweet and lovely relationship of my youngest brother with God, and especially with the Blessed Virgin Mary. I saw how my little brother felt a great dependence on God, and how that little child trusted deeply in the Virgin Mary as his own Mother. My mother once gave my youngest brother a little card with the image of the Virgin Mary. He put all his trust and his entire life in the hands of the Virgin Mother, and he always kept the card in his pocket. There was not any human power that could get it away from him. Examples like this make us understand why Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these” (Matt 19:14).
I certainly believe that God never leaves us alone. Sometimes I have not been entirely aware that God has always been present every moment of my life. God has always loved me, but is patiently waiting for my trusting answer. Today, as I review my life, I see that at some moments I was close to my Creator and other times I was far away. I can say along with the prophet Jeremiah, “You have seduced me, O Lord, and I let myself be seduced; you were too strong for me, and you have triumphed” (Jer. 20:7). I would like to trust and love God as I did when I was child. Now I believe that this trusting love will make me a good priest; and a priest’s love makes the priest do great things for his Church. That is what I think God expects and wants from me. But I know that I can not do it by myself; I am not strong enough, I am not smart enough, and certainly I am not worthy. Therefore, in my answer to the call of God, I just want to say as the fisherman said, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but on your word I will lower the nets” (Lk 5:5).
Carlos Gallardo Morales
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Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, St. Louis
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