God will fulfill all of your desires

During my last year at St. Ben’s, a priest told me, “Don’t believe the lie that God will not be enough for you. He will fulfill all of your desires.” These words really resonated with me as I, up to that point, was in a tough spot thinking that I would be happy and fulfilled as a priest. Before I entered seminary, I spent a year at Nicholls State University instead of entering seminary right out of high school. I did this because I did not think that the Lord would fulfill my desires to be part of a family and to teach. So instead, I was at Nicholls dating, joining a Fraternity, and majoring in secondary education. All these things were good, but there was still something missing; it was not what God had planned for me and my happiness.

I eventually took the leap of faith and entered seminary not because I believed God would fulfill my desires, but because there was something missing in my heart. My three years at St. Ben’s were great, and God was indeed fulfilling my desires providing for me a brotherhood to be part of and even opportunities to teach the faith! However, I was blind to it and still did not believe that God would be enough. This is where I was when I heard those words, “He will fulfill all of your desires.” That brief encounter with this priest began to open my eyes, but very slowly. It was not until an amazing summer in Omaha, NE, that I began to believe this was true. That summer was spent in a nine-week intensive spiritual program called the Institute for Priestly Formation (IPF). It was during this summer that I encountered the love of Christ personally for me. I came to realize that if God loved me so much, wouldn’t he ensure that I had the opportunity to live life to the fullest and be happy and fulfilled in it? The answer is an emphatic yes! I began to see my discernment and following of God’s will through this new realization and began to notice the many opportunities the Lord gave me to be part of a family and to teach.
The biggest opportunity that the Lord has given me is the brotherhood that I am privileged to be a part of within my own diocese.
I may have entered seminary as the only seminarian for the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux in the fall of 2018, but I have four brothers who have joined after me, whom I now have the privilege of being an older brother to. The fraternity I have with them is without a doubt the most fulfilling part of my life. The gift of their brotherhood, the Lord has beautifully used to fulfill the two desires of my heart. I am now part of a family because of their yes to follow the Lord, and boy do we have fun! I have come to love these brothers as if they were my own family, and I hope that they feel the same. I have also had the opportunity to be a mentor for these guys, teaching them how to be a seminarian and pursue friendship with the Lord. This has even allowed me to teach them in a classroom setting things like the liturgy and prayer. The Lord indeed knew what he was doing, calling me into the seminary and eventually the priesthood. I firmly believe that in two short years, as a priest, God will fulfill, in ways that I cannot even imagine, all of my desires.

(Ryan Thibodaux is a second-year theology student at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans.)