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Vocare Blog

(Vo-car-ee) L. - "to call, to summon, to invoke, to invite"

The Vocare Blog will be a place to find articles, stories, updates, and other information related to vocations in the Universal Church and the Local Church in Raleigh.  From time to time you will find posts written by seminarians and priests of the Diocese.  Subscribe to Vocare now in order to receive the latest posts.

Ryan Elder PDF  | Print |  E-mail

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Ryan Elder

3rd Year Theology

 

Seminary: Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook

 

Ordination Date: 2013

 

Birth Date: January 21

 

Home Parish: Newman Catholic Student Center Parish (Chapel Hill, NC)

 

High School: J H Rose High School (Greenville, NC)

College: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Go, Tar Heels!)

Hobbies: Cooking (and, of course, eating), reading mystery novels, travel, being a beach bum, and translating the great works of Latin literature. Yes, I'm a geek. Sicut dicit Plautus, ego sum; salve.

Who Influenced/Inspired you to Priesthood: Mostly my friends in college, who could see things in me that I couldn't see in myself.

What would you say to a young man who thinks he may have a vocation: The most important thing is prayer. Pray daily and see what floats to the surface. If Our Lord is calling you to His altar, He will let you know. The thing that helped me the most was praying parts of the Liturgy of the Hours and talking over my prayer life with a spiritual director; the most important thing, however, is to love Our Lord and let Him lead you where HE wants you to go.


Favorite Scripture Passage: Psalm 116:10-17 (The Grail translation)


[10] I trusted, even when I said, "I am sorely afflicted,"
[11] and when I said in my alarm, "No man can be trusted."
[12] How can I repay the Lord for His goodness to me?
[13] The cup of salvation I will raise; I will call on the Lord's name.
[14] My vows to the Lord I will fulfill before all His people.
[15] O precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His faithful.
[16] Your servant, Lord, your servant am I; you have loosened my bonds.
[17] A thanksgiving sacrifice I make: I will call on the Lord's name.

This psalm (well, half a psalm) has been one of the most important passages that has helped me define my sense of vocation over the last year. It reminds me that, even when things aren't going the way I think they should, God has a much wider perspective on things than I do, and He will guide me. It is also a vivid reminder that Jesus suffered on the Cross so that we all could live (verse 15), and that He calls me as a Christian to that same self-sacrifice for the sake of others. More specifically, as a seminarian, this psalm reminds me that the "cup of salvation" is the same Blood of Christ that I may one day (God willing) have the privilege of offering in the Holy Eucharist, and what a blessing it will be to make that "thanksgiving sacrifice" in His Name.

 

Favorite Saint: St. Thomas Aquinas. He was a man who strove to make sense out of his faith – not just for himself, but explained in a systematic way so that others could understand, as well. He was able to find a harmony between faith and reason that made the Catholic religion understandable as more than a set of rules and dogmas, but rather as a unified vision of God's love for us and His way of helping us order our lives to the things that are important – those things which will bring us closer to Himself.

 

Print 8 x 10 portrait of Ryan Elder (PDF)
 

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