My name is Simon Plankensteiner, I am 26 years old. and I come from Austria. I grew up in a village called Höchst, which is right on the shores of Lake Constance. My parents' names are Andrea and Dietmar and my brother, who is two years older than me, Manuel.
My parents gave us everything we needed and, above all and most importantly: their love. I can truly say that I had a beautiful childhood and for this I am very grateful. The only thing missing was faith. My brother and I were brought up in the Catholic faith, but we didn't practice it much. In fact, we went to mass only at Christmas. I have to confess that going to mass was always very boring for me.
So I grew up like that, like most of the young people in our environment and I must admit that, until my conversion, was really far from the Lord. I always believed in his existence and, in a sense, I also prayed, but most of the time I only turned to him when I had a problem. He lived totally sunk in the worldHe was more interested in the world than in God. He was more interested in the world than in God, a bit like St. Augustine before his conversion.
However, everything changed around my eighteenth birthday. Through some friends I went back to church, although I didn't want to. But during the celebration of a Eucharist, celebrated by a priest with a great work among young people, I experienced for the first time the pleasure of participating in the Holy Mass and I did not find it boring: quite the contrary.
From that moment on I began to attend mass every Sunday and then also during the week. So I gradually became. But I never thought about the priesthoodI wanted to get married when the Lord sent me the right bride. I wanted to get married when the Lord sent me the right bride. But after a while, I said to myself, "Okay, either the Lord is still taking a while to send me the girl of my life, or He has another plan for me!".
"He was more interested in the world than in God, a bit like St. Augustine before his conversion".
Simon Plankensteiner, 26 years old, is Austrian. In 2015 he entered the seminary of the Work of the High Priest of Jesus in Ariccia, near Rome. He has been in the Italian capital for 5 years and is now in his first year of theological studies at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
With this sentence he began my vocational journey. I talked to my parish priest, who really helped me, and obviously I prayed a lot and asked Our Lady to help me discover and accept God's Will for my life.
However, I must say that I was so afraid that the Lord wanted me to be a priest that I told Him so in prayer. In spite of this fear, I always wanted to do the Will of God and I really experienced that the Lord changed my heartWith the strong help of Our Lady, to the point that I felt the desire and the joy of becoming a priest.
Obviously, all this did not change overnight. The whole "process" took about a year and a half, and if I look back now I can see very clearly how strongly the Lord was working in my life.
At that time I still didn't understand it, but now I see very well that the Lord and Our Lady have guided everything in an extraordinary way to bring me here, to the point of to feel in my heart a great joy of being able to complete the plan that God had in mind for my life.
For me, the priestly vocation is an immense gift and I thank the Lord every day for choosing me as his future priest. At the same time, I thank Our Lady, who helped me not only to discover God's Will, but also to accept it with a heart full of joy and gratitude.
On the other hand, one thing was always clear to me, from the very beginning of my vocational journey: if God wanted me to become a priest, I had to be a priest in the Work of the High Priest of JesusI had come to know this community through my parish priest and from the beginning I felt attracted by its spirituality, which is very Marian and priestly, and I was immediately certain that the Lord was calling me to this work.
God has given me this gift of being part of this community and in this way has confirmed the desire that I had already put in my heart before.
In 2015 I entered the seminary of the Work of the High Priest of Jesus in Ariccia, near Rome. I have been here for almost 5 years and now I am in the first year of theological studies. I am still delighted and truly grateful for my path to the priesthood.
"For me, the priestly vocation is an immense gift and I thank the Lord every day."
"I grew up in a village called Höchst, which is right on the shores of Lake Constance. My parents are named Andrea and Dietmar and my brother, who is two years older than me, Manuel. My parents gave us everything we needed and, above all and most importantly: their love. I can truly say that I had a beautiful childhood and for this I am very grateful. The only thing missing was faith. My brother and I were brought up in the Catholic faith, but we didn't practice it much."
Since our work lives on divine providence, we always need several benefactors to help and support us. That is why I want to thank all the friends of CARF, who always help me and all my brothers in the community to be able to study in the Pontifical University of the Holy Crosswithout your help it would not be possible.
And I not only want to thank you for your financial help, but also for your spiritual help through your prayers and sacrifices you offer for priests and seminarians. I am convinced that your prayers also helped me in my decision about the priesthood, that is, to abandon myself to the Will of God in my life.
We do not always know for which people the Lord uses our prayers, He can also make them come for the benefit of unknown people. Only He knows what each one of us needs!
Therefore, I promise to pray for all of you and I also ask for your prayer that I may become a holy priest after the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Gerardo Ferrara
BA in History and Political Science, specializing in the Middle East.
Responsible for the student body
University of the Holy Cross in Rome
