Editor's note: God has a call for all of us

WRITING MY FIRST editor’s note is humbling and surreal. Stepping into the role so masterfully held by Carol Schuck Scheiber is no easy feat. I feel unworthy, and yet, deeply fulfilled. Like many, I’m a cradle Catholic who lapsed in my faith in my late teens and early 20s. However, despite straying, my desire for God never faltered. It never occurred to me then that the cross was the treasure I was seeking. And so, my journey home began.

After not feeling God’s presence well into my 20s, I was called in my early 30s. God’s message was loud and clear, but I pretended otherwise. Nevertheless, I could not deny that something had changed, and my life was no longer mine.

Gradually, an unexpected possibility crossed my mind. Is God calling me to religious life? With doubts, I began a process of discernment. After a year of spiritual growth and strange experiences, I accepted God’s calling and said yes to the priesthood. And then an amazing thing happened. Days later, I met the woman who became my wife. The old saying that God works in mysterious ways is true, and the rest is history.

Ultimately, God called me to marriage. And yet, God offered me a way to connect with religious life through this ministry by serving HORIZON’s readers. We’re all here because we believe God is still calling men and women to religious life. However, we must work to meet the next generation where they’re at. And that’s what this Fall edition is about: connecting with young adults. As such, we must take the first step, which is perhaps the most challenging: simply listen to them and be with them.