Mark was a college sophomore studying civil engineering.  When he was young his family went to Mass on Christmas and Easter (sometimes on Palm Sunday and Ash Wednesday).

While his Catholic faith was never a strong part of his own upbringing, he had a few friends for whom it was.  In particular Mark's girlfriend during his senior year of high school was from a very devout family.  He had been impressed by the way the faith united her family.  And he wanted to share in that same source of peace and joy that he had experienced with them. 

In part due to the inspiration of his girlfriend's family and in part through the witness of the university chaplain, Mark became more active in the Church when he entered college.  He became active in the programs at the Catholic Newman Center.  He enjoyed the socialization with other young Catholics, he liked helping the poor in some of the Newman activities, and most of all he found great satisfaction in the quiet times of prayer.  He came to know of the peace to be found in the forgiveness of sins; he was overwhelmed by the strength he received by spending time in adoration of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament; and most especially he knew of God's infinite Love found in the Miracle of every Mass.

For a year and a half he had been developing his faith through his participation at the college chapel, but Mark wanted more.  It occurred to him one Sunday at Mass that he might be called by God to be a priest.  His prayer on the subject continued through the week until he knew he had to act on it.  After Mass the following week Mark asked to speak with the priest.  He told him that he thought that he might be called to be a priest, but that he wasn't sure what to do next.  The priest's first response was simple: “Pray!”  Their meeting continued, and it became the first of many meetings of Spiritual Direction.  Eventually the priest gave Mark the contact information for the diocesan Vocation Director, and told Mark that He would call the vocation director to let him know that he should be expecting a call.

Not knowing what to expect, it took Mark quite a bit of courage to make the call.  When he did, he was pleasantly surprised.  The priest sounded friendly and responsive without being overly eager.  They set up an appointment to meet and talk about the possibility of entering seminary.

After the initial meeting, there was the application process and a visit to the seminary with multiple other interviews.  Finally he was told that he would be accepted as a seminarian and that it would be possible for him to transfer into the seminary.  Many of his college credits would transfer, but due to the fact that he was going from the study of engineering to the study of philosophy, some of the credits would not.  Despite the fact that he already completed 2 years of college, it would now take three more years to get his undergraduate degree.

Despite this minor frustration, Mark entered the seminary the next fall.  At first he seemed unsettled.  There was a big difference between life at a secular college and life in a college seminary.  Daily Mass and communal prayer multiple times a day was an obvious change.  Also different were the restrictions of a curfew and the required dress-code.  But there were also many similarities: the need to hit the books, love of sports—both played and watched—that he shared with many of his brother seminarians, and the sound of gut-aching laughter. 

It did not take long for Mark to understand why it was that the Vocation Dirctor had said that the place to discern a vocation to the priesthood is in the seminary.  Over his first 20 years of life, he learned very clearly what the world had to offer, now he wanted to respond to the Lord’s call to “come away with Me for a while” (Mark 6:31).