It is with great joy that I am preparing to be ordained to the Order of Diaconate in just a few short weeks. My whole journey into the seminary and through the seminary has been grounded on my prayer life. Different devotions and examples throughout my whole life have helped me to prepare for this great moment.
When I think about the impact that prayer has had in my life, I go back many years to when I was a teenager. My mother used to go to the Monday evening Rosary at our parish. I can remember her and my father taking my three younger brothers and me to pray the Rosary. It made an impact on me to see my father come with us and I learned the importance of prayer in my life of faith, in my life as a man of God. I will admit that it is not always easy for me to take the time to pray the Rosary because I usually get distracted easily. But I think a lot of my vocation has grown out of my praying the Rosary at a young age and then continuing into my years of work during my 20s and 30s. This is a devotion that has grown in my life, just as I have grown.
I have also become familiar with the daily prayer of the church called the Liturgy of the Hours, which is prayed by all clerics around the world every day. I have been praying that at the seminary for the last five years and have been praying it at my current parish assignment in Saint Padre Pio Parish in Vineland. I have even been asked to lead the prayers a couple of times a week for our Live-stream of it. This has been good practice as I will be doing this on a daily basis once I return to the seminary as a transitional deacon. Soon I will be making a promise at diaconate ordination to pray the Liturgy of the Hours every day for the rest of my life. This time in the parish has helped me ready myself for that responsibility.
One other way of praying that I have found influential in my vocation has been time spent in front of the Blessed Sacrament. When I would spend time in front of Jesus in the sacrament of the Eucharist, I would try to listen for what He was asking me to do with my life. I must say that this time always bore fruit for me and I can say has instilled a love for the Eucharist in me. I believe that spending time in front of the Blessed Sacrament can help many of the faithful have a deeper appreciation for the sacrament of Holy Communion and of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in that sacrament.
I would finally say that if there is any other prayer that has helped me throughout my adult years, it has been the Divine Mercy Chaplet. I have gained so many graces from this prayer, which have been promised by Jesus to anyone who prays it. I recommend it to the faithful of this diocese as a way of helping to recognize the great love and mercy which Christ has for all of us and the trust which we should have in Him. May God bless all of us during this time and bring us together again soon.
Steven Bertonazzi is a Third Year Theologian at Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall University. He will be ordained a Transitional Deacon on June 13. He is currently assigned to Saint Padre Pio Parish in Vineland.
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