Ante Skoko
I am a cradle Catholic, and like many before me I fell into the lull that comes with unconscious ‘believing’. As a youth I went through the motions, Confirmation was my church ‘graduation’. I went to Mass, knowing the basic whats of our faith but not the whys or having a relationship with the WHO. I went to Confession during the ‘C&E’ express lines, and didn’t have any friendships or activities in my life outside of my Sunday cultural Catholicism. Being Catholic was more of a little BADGE (Rosary on the rear-view mirror) than being the bedrock of my life. Having this weak shallow faith, led me to try and fill the hole in my heart with people and things, the void that only God can fill.
Throughout high school, university and the few years after I was an animal looking for what I thought would satisfy, falling prey to my primal temptations for earthly pleasures, only to later learn that what was controlling me was a beast that could not be fed.
I lived this hedonistic lifestyle for about a decade. And although I had a loving family, a group of solid friends that I am still close with to this day, and got through a grueling Bachelor’s in civil engineering, there was so much lost potential with the poison I got involved with, especially later learning how many of our Church’s greatest saints were either martyred or living their glory stories for God in their teens.
As St. Augustine said, “My heart is restless until it finds rest in Thee” and boy was I a restless lad… and He was relentless in how He brought me Home and continues to pour out His grace on me.
My awakening happened at a Hillsong United concert (the Beatles of Christian worship music) that a friend invited me to. It was in the summer of 2011 at the Molson Amphitheatre with thousands of people, smiling - and sober, not what I was used to in these types of settings. We settled in, and I started soaking in these songs, which were essentially prayers and praise… then whack - the Holy Spirit hit me like a ton of bricks and I broke down in tears. The song that did it was called ‘All I Need’ - YouTube it. I spent the second half of the night on my own reflecting on my life, what and WHO I needed, and where I needed to be as a man, as a son of God.
This was the night I woke up and got my life in gear from being a drifter for so long. It was an uphill climb - but that’s the only way to ride if we want to be winners in this life, making it to the next. That weekend I went to the spa, the Spiritual Spa, the Confessional to pour everything out, all the shame, pain, hurt, and the weight I was carrying and I needed that HOLY healing. This was, and still is a hard journey. It isn’t easy being a Catholic - but it’s worth it.
Jesus told us, “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
In my life leading to this I always took the easy way, the path of least resistance, doing what looked good and felt good, not knowing what truly was good. I wanted a custom Christ made in my image, rather than conforming to Him, and was the prototypical ‘Cafeteria Catholic’.
My reversion took me on a 180 degree turn in the way I lived my life. And like I did before with worldly passions, I did a deep dive into my faith… Scripture, Mass (even daily sometimes), consistent Confession, spiritual reading, apologetics and later studies in Philosophy and Theology, and a slow and steady building up of my prayer life.
And what’s been amazing throughout this journey has been developing a multitude of rock solid friendships with people with same fire and zeal for Our Lord.
At the same time, I have lost friends who did not like Ante 2.0, endured attacks in business and during political campaigns, and those first few years especially while I was undergoing a profound purge of bad habits and such, I felt a fraction of what Job must have in the Old Testament. There were questions and struggles… but I never doubted or feared anything or anyone since I had my awakening. No desolations, and countless consolations so I feel truly blessed for that. This world seems to be sinking in sand, yet I have always felt confident and firm on the rock that is our Church knowing the war has been won and we are simply battling for souls, glorifying God.
The prophet Isaiah says in 40:31, “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Saint John Paul II said more than anything in his time with us as Pope, BE NOT AFRAID!! And the Bible says this 365 times, and it is what I live by – even having those words on a bracelet I wear daily.
My reversion happened when I was 24, so at this time in my life I had already graduated and was a few years into my engineering career. While I was doing all the above, I went to a Catholic retreat in Los Angeles where I met a wonderful woman who I dated for five years. This wasn’t just my first long-distance relationship, it was the only long-term relationship (ie. over a few months) I had ever had, thankfully – and she was my first love. There were highs and lows, and a few breakups in between, but after 5 years there was still tension so I decided to commit to a 54 Day Miraculous Novena, on the Feast of the Assumption. Before this, my prayer life was consistent, but almost clinical, and I would only really pray for others and felt unworthy of MIRACLES in my life when our Christian brethren in the Middle East and other parts of the world were getting massacred. However, I was more than ready to be a husband and wanted God to make clear what His Will was for my eventual wife. Within the first week or so, that relationship came to an end, and only a few weeks later I met Roberta through David, Mr. Yes Catholic!
I was totally blown away with how swiftly God answered my prayers. The night I met her, I knew she would be my wife. How God created a woman beyond my dreams, perfect for me, I was so humbled. Her story of coming Home paralleled my road, and every day that passed, God’s Will became clearer and our love only grew stronger. We were engaged on Christmas Eve at her home church, St. Mary of the ASSUMPTION – just another sign.
We were married 6 months after that in June 2017 and we recently welcomed our firstborn Ilija Robert, named after our fathers on 9/11. I ended up leaving my lucrative career in engineering in 2018 to go into youth ministry full-time which was a bold move that was inspired by prayer. It has brought so much hope, joy and ‘job’ satisfaction as for a long time I felt a calling to serve the Church in this arena as there is such a dire need in this dark culture where our youth are being devoured, and I humbly pray daily that they can be inspired by my story and turn to Christ sooner than I did.
Roberta and I also started our Catholic et Cetera blog and social pages in 2018 where we share our story, our struggles, lessons learned, cultural commentary, ‘et cetera’.
I am not sure what God has in store for our family, our ministry, our jobs… but we have full faith and trust in Him and we just want to be able at the end of our lives to say what St. Paul said at the end of his… “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
I encourage all Catholics to be bold, be brave and be a Saint. That’s our Baptismal mission and end game.
Thank you for reading my journey Home and what has become my daily YES to God!
God love you,
Ante
“BE WATCHFUL, STAND FIRM IN YOUR FAITH, BE COURAGEOUS, BE STRONG.”
“SHOW ME YOUR HANDS, DO THEY HAVE SCARS FROM GIVING? SHOW ME YOUR FEET. ARE THEY WOUNDED IN SERVICE? SHOW ME YOUR HEART. HAVE YOU LEFT A PLACE FOR DIVINE LOVE?”