Roven Earl Danao de la Cruz is a seminarian of the Diocese of Masbate in the Philippines.
"My family and relatives are Catholic and so they shared the Christian faith with me. When my parents sent me to study in a Catholic school in our area, this seed of faith began to grow. In that environment I began, little by little, to discover my priestly vocation. I remember clearly that moment when I said to myself, for the first time in my life, that I wanted to be a priest. I was eight years old and it was at a monthly Mass in our school when I was very affected by the priest's life. Since I was always very late for Mass and the chairs were already taken, I would stand up. However, what made me sad was that I arrived earlier than the priest. Then the Mass would begin and, to my surprise, I would see that the priest could sit down even though he was much later than I was. After Mass, I approached my teacher to ask her about it. She jokingly told me that I had to be one like him to be able to sit down. So, I decided then and there that I wanted to be a priest: just so I could have a seat when I was late.
Four years later, thanks to divine providence, this superficial reason has matured. When I finished elementary school, I spoke to my parents to tell them that I wanted to enter the seminary. The first answer was very negative. Therefore, I prayed to the Lord to give me a signal I asked him that if he allowed me to enter the seminary, I would take it as a sure sign that I was for the priesthood. So, I asked him that if he allowed me to enter the seminary, I would take it as a sure sign that I am for the priesthood. A few weeks later, this prayer was granted: my parents allowed me to enter the minor seminary. I entered the minor seminary at the age of 12 and there I began to have a long time of discernment that resulted in a good relationship with God and with my brothers. There I enjoyed community life very much.
It was in the minor seminary where I experienced for the first time in my life being extroverted which turned into having many good friends with whom I shared my joys and sorrows. I remember a moment when my fellow graduating classmates rallied around a classmate of ours who, for inadvertently throwing a crumpled piece of paper at a professor while we were playing during class, was punished by our formators with a week's worth of clean-up work. The reason we did it was that, in our promotion, the phrase "One for all! And all for one!" is always above any rule of fraternity. We served the punishment with joy because it was a time when we could have conversations of laughter. From these guys, I learned that a happy life is one that always thinks about the another. At the same time, I have also realized that my life's journey is to think about what God is asking of me: my priestly vocation.
Four years later, I continued my formation in the major seminary. During this time, there were difficulties that made me doubt the certainty of my vocation. So, I raised the subject with my formator and in that talk he reminded me of the first moments when I decided to become a priest. Then, from there, I remembered the signal I had asked for before entering the seminary. Thanks to this formator of mine I have rediscovered the greatness of my vocation and so I continue to be in the seminary with the certainty that God is always faithful to his promise".
