Rev. Mr. Cornelius Deep

It is always interesting to read about one particular moment in which someone then realized what their vocation was, but, for me, it was more of a gradual “knocking at the door.” Growing up, I was involved in my parish as an altar server, part of the youth group, sacristan, and also attended the local catholic school. I also had great priest and seminarian role models in my life. So, it was natural for the priesthood to be on my mind since I was little. However, it would come and go as I would acknowledge that I might have a vocation to the priesthood, but I wanted to push it away and pursue other things. During the beginning of my senior year of high school, when I was deciding on what colleges I was going to apply to, by the grace of God, I came across The Catholic University of America in Washington DC. I immediately fell in love when I visited because it was what I was looking for deep down: a chance to be able to really deepen my faith life as well as receive a great education. It was during my freshman year of college at Catholic U that I began to seriously acknowledge that God may be calling me to the priesthood, and I was beginning to slowly accept this in my heart. During my four years at CUA, I really flourished in the spiritual life by attending daily Mass, praying the rosary daily, spiritual direction, and adoration. All of this helped my will conform to God’s will.

I have been very blessed to be formed on Mary's mountain at Mount St. Mary's Seminary where the Lord has gradually molded my heart closer to His. There is a saying at the Seminary that "formation works, if you allow it to." And I would say, by the grace of God, I have been able to be docile to formation because where I was when I first entered seminary versus now is very different. By far, my greatest lesson I learned at the Mount is the importance of our daily holy hour, which is one hour of prayer every day in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I attribute much of my formation to just being faithful to the holy hour each day.

Lastly, my one piece of advice for anyone discerning a vocation to the priesthood is to spend time in silent prayer because it is only when we step away from the busyness of the world that we can hear the soft voice of God.