Today’s Vocation Story comes from Mr. Andrew Cordonnier, a son of St. Remy parish in Russia, OH, third year seminarian for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and currently on his internship year, serving at St. Antoninus Parish in Cincinnati, OH.

When I was a sophomore in high school, we were given an assignment to investigate various careers that appealed to us.  As I already thought that I wanted to follow in the footsteps of one of my brothers who is a mechanical engineer, I chose to investigate engineering.  The problem was that there were three lines on the form, and as I had not yet given up my childhood dream of being a chopper pilot, I wrote this down also.  This left one unfilled space, so as a joke I wrote down the only other profession that I could think of: being a priest. 

I ended up taking baby steps towards engineering during high school, eventually deciding to attend a local vocational school to study machine trades so that I could get a decent job first and then apply for college later.  I was given a part time job in a machine shop senior year, and started full time the day after I graduated.  About four months later, I noticed that something was amiss and I realized two things.  First, that I was unfulfilled with that job and second, that I did not want to be an engineer.  I had set out for myself a plan for the future that would have me making good money but would ultimately make me miserable in the end.  Sadly, I had only factored in my own will, and had forgotten that this would make me rich but not happy.  I had mistakenly valued money over happiness.

I scoured my memory banks for how I had ended up at that job, and remembered that sophomore project.  Frustrated and exhausted, I went to the parish church to pray because I figured that since I had no more answers, I would turn to the Lord for His guidance.  Not long after I had posed the question to Our Lord as to what I ought to do with my life, I received His answer clearly.  As if someone were whispering in my ear, I heard “be a priest.”  Astonished, I looked around to see if someone was pranking me, but there was not another soul around.  Slowly coming to the realization that this was the Lord’s answer that I had asked for, I responded with, “No, but what should I really do?”  Again he responded with, “I want you to be a priest.”  Though I did not understand it, I was beginning to appreciate the magnitude of what was happening, so I replied “maybe,” and went home. 

I didn’t tell anyone about it at first because it took me a few weeks to come to grips with the seeming unreality of it all but for the first time I felt a deep sense of interior peace. I also began to feel a burning desire to do the Lord’s will.  In fact, the more time that passed, the more that I could not contain my excitement, so about three weeks after receiving the Lord’s call, I summoned my parents to the dinner table one evening to announce my decision to them.  I was taken aback by the fact that they did not even seem the least bit surprised.  They offered their support and suggested that I inform my oldest brother next because he had been telling me for years that I ought to be a priest.  Unbeknownst to me at the time however, he tells every young man to be a priest, but that is another story.  He put me in contact with the vocations director for the Archdiocese, and that got the ball rolling.

The amazing thing is that every time I tried to put up some sort of roadblock in the road to the seminary, the Lord managed to break it down, and as many times as I tried to run away from Him, the Lord has always kept me close to Himself.  Inevitably, a vocation comes down to interior happiness, and the Lord had never let me down.

To make a long story short, I spent four years at the Pontifical College Josephinum, graduating with a degree in English Literature and a minor in Philosophy.  I have now completed two years of major seminary formation and am currently on my internship year at St. Antoninus parish.

Is there something in your life that you are trying to seek more than the will of God? What is holding you back from giving yourself entirely to Christ?

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