Daniel Corso
Long before I was born, God gave me the greatest blessing I could’ve asked for: A family that knew His love, and lived it. Their love for me reflected that. To this day I don’t remember a time that I so much as doubted the fact that I was loved unconditionally- by my mother and father, but infinitely more so by God.
As a boy, I was always in awe of my father. I still am. The selfless, sacrificial love he had for me and for my mother was and is to this day one of if not THE most powerful Christian witness I have ever seen. I was convinced that no matter what I did with my life, I wanted to be a father like him.
When I was 18, athletic and academic pursuits brought me 500 miles away from home. I never lost my faith, but being far from family I also felt distant from God. In the early years away from home I tried to find happiness everywhere except Christ and his Church. For a while this was exciting, but I soon felt the cold, lonely emptiness of life away from God. Maybe you’ve heard the story before; I had everything I wanted, but I was miserable. Something huge was missing. Finally out of options, I went back to Church, to Mass. Nothing crazy happened at first, but I met incredible people who had the kind of joy I was looking for (despite lacking all that I was trying to find it in). Many of these are my friends to this day.
Coming back to Church was like coming Home. The community that welcomed me was served by an order of priests and religious brothers who gave witness to the simple truth that God Is real, and that His Love is enough. Their witness of fatherly love reminded me of my own father, which had felt so distant being so far from home. One of the brothers in particular challenged me to begin praying about what God wanted for my life. He taught me that life was not about what you can take from the world, or what you can get out of it, but about what you can give. By his guidance, the faith community, the Scriptures, and the Sacraments (especially Confession and the Most Holy Eucharist), I began to receive the gift of not just a relationship with God, but of intimacy with Him.
This intimacy helped me understand who I was created to be, and how God intended to use me and my gifts for His glory and the building up of his kingdom.
Over the next five years, I experienced what I can only describe as a miracle taking place in my own heart. The love that I had always imagined I could only feel for a wife and children, I began to feel for Jesus and His Church. Discerning the priesthood came with many difficulties, sacrifices, pain and even heartbreak. But the journey is purifying, it is beautiful, and it is an awesome adventure.
It is an honor and a privilege greater than anything I could ever deserve, ask for, or even dream of, that Jesus Christ would invite me to one day share in his holy priesthood; to be a sign of the Father’s love, to heal with His hands, to forgive with His mercy, and to call forth His very presence, body blood soul and divinity, in the Blessed Sacrament of His Love. To be a priest, His priest, forever, and to love His Bride as my own- with my very last breath, and each one until then.
It was the best YES I have ever said.
“REJOICE NOT OVER ME, O MY EMEMY; WHEN I FALL, I SHALL RISE; WHEN I SIT IN DARKNESS, THE LORD WILL BE A LIGHT TO ME.”
“THE WORLD OFFERS YOU COMFORT, BUT YOU WERE NOT MADE FOR COMFORT, YOU WERE MADE FOR GREATNESS.”