{"id":96938,"date":"2020-07-27T16:20:50","date_gmt":"2020-07-27T20:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.org\/en\/?p=22125"},"modified":"2023-06-21T16:08:44","modified_gmt":"2023-06-21T20:08:44","slug":"from-boyhood-joy-to-the-priesthood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/from-boyhood-joy-to-the-priesthood\/","title":{"rendered":"From Boyhood Joy to the Priesthood"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deacon Christopher Gronotte, LC, will be ordained to the priesthood on Saturday, August 1st, 2020 at 10:00am, Eastern Time. You can watch the livestream of his ordination here<\/a> This is his vocation story.<\/p>\n

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The Happy Camper<\/b><\/h3>\n

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Over the next few years, Legionary Priests and Brothers would come and visit the school to invite us on retreats and summer camps. I loved going to the camps, meeting all the different boys my age. Then my brother joined the apostolic school in New Hampshire and I thought, \u201cWhat?! He just left me here with my sister! I want to go too.\u201d I only wanted to go to that school, just like my brother. I did almost everything with my brother, I looked up to him a lot. He was fun and popular, athletic and had a lot of talents. Much better than I, I told myself. So when I was filling out the application, I looked up and asked, \u201cIt asks, \u2018Why do you want to be a priest?\u2019, but I don\u2019t want to be a priest, I just want to go there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d said my Mom, \u201cJust write that you\u2019re open to the priesthood.\u201d I shrugged and wrote it, thinking, Well I guess I am open to the priesthood. I would say it was God sticking his foot in the door before I could close it. I don’t know where I would be if it wasn’t for the apostolic school.<\/p>\n

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I continued on through formation and loved every minute of it. I really loved staying busy and working with my hands, tiling floors, remodeling rooms, cutting grass, even secretariat work. Though I wasn’t very good at sitting down to study, I made it through just fine. I was, you could say, a happy camper. I had found the place I loved. I looked up to my older brother, who was always ahead of me in formation, but his legacy kind of hung over me. I can never be as good as him, I thought.<\/p>\n

A big part in the maturing of my vocation happened during internship. I was sent to Louisiana for my first year. The people of Louisiana were amazing and will always hold a place dear to my heart.\u00a0 Then I was transferred to Atlanta, to work as campus minister of the Lower School at Pinecrest Academy. Once again, I felt so welcome and at home. Every day was a lesson in simplicity. It was such a joy to be around all those kids, who taught me more lessons than I could ever imagine.<\/p>\n

It was a great time of maturing because I had to make my vocation my own. I had been pretty slow in my discernment. I loved everything I was doing and was totally happy, but I still had a feeling I was just going along without really questioning too much if this was where I should be. On top of that, quite a few fathers and brothers were leaving the Legion right around then because of the scandals of our founder, so I couldn\u2019t continue on anymore just because that\u2019s what everyone else was doing. I began to ask myself why I shouldn\u2019t just go home too. This difficult time forced me to be more serious about my vocation and make it my own. During one of my yearly spiritual exercises retreats, after night prayers one night, I went outside to think. <\/b>As I walked around under the moon and the stars, I felt God’s presence very close. I thought of all the great men that had passed through the halls of our seminary in Cheshire and all I could think was, I would never add up to be one of them, I would never even be as good as my brother. Then I felt God tell me it was okay, that I don’t have to be like them. He loved me the way I was, and this is where He wanted me. It gave me a lot of peace and a security in my vocation that I hadn’t had before. No longer did I have to try to be like my brother or anyone else, God loves me as his own Son, He loves me as I am, with all my strengths together with all my weaknesses.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSi car\u00edsimo!<\/i> It was just like the baptism of Jesus, like God was saying, \u2018This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just what I thought!\u201d I said. As we went outside for pictures, it was bright and sunny again. I treasured that moment as a special gift from God, a little tailor-made affirmation, just for me. After the profession, we had another five days of retreat and that was like my honeymoon! I soon came back to earth again, but with a deeper conviction of God\u2019s great love for me, which I hope to spread to all the souls I meet.<\/p>\n

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