Joseph Delka

Intermountain Catholic

+ Enlarge

"Find your delight in the Lord who will give you your heart’s desire." (Psalm 37:4)

Deciding what one is going to do with his life is a big deal, one that can raise a lot of questions and anxieties. For me, that time came during my college years. I was still working on my degree, but already looking forward to see what may lie beyond graduation. In the midst of this, the possibility of a priestly vocation was set before me. This led me to ask the question about my future in a different way. Rather than "What do I want to do?" it became "What is God calling me to do?"

Finding the answer to this question required an act of faith. Rather than following my own will I had to hand everything over to the Lord. Doing this isn’t easy. It requires trust in the words of the Psalm that the Lord will "give you your heart’s desire." It requires faith and trust to recognize that, as St. Augustine says, the Lord knows us better than we know ourselves. He doesn’t give me just any desire, but the true desire built into the fiber of my being.

Through prayer and discernment, striving always to put my faith in God, I came to see that He was calling me to enter the seminary. I am now in my fourth year of studies, having started down a path I would have never dreamed of on my own, and it has given me great joy. It all started with an act of faith. I must continue to make this act of faith through all the joys and sorrows of life. Through this I hope to trust Him more and more knowing that in His will I find my heart’s desire.

Joseph D. Delka is at the Pontifical North American College, Rome, and studying theology.