Gull Lake High School graduate Ted Martin to be ordained as a Roman Catholic …
KALAMAZOO — “Excitement, great joy and a tiny nervousness” is what Ted Martin feels as he views his future life as a Roman Catholic priest.
“It is somewhat analogous to the beginning of a huge sports game and having adrenalin,” the Richland native stated via email. “If you do not have adrenalin, then you will not play well. … After all, the game of life has eternal consequences and therefore we should have some ‘holy adrenalin.’”
Martin, 27, a 2003 graduate of Gull Lake High School, returned to West Michigan last week after four years of theological study as a seminarian at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Previously, he graduated from Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio.
Currently an ordained deacon in the Catholic church, he will be ordained as a priest at a 10 a.m. Mass on Saturday at St. Augustine Cathedral, 542 W. Michigan Ave.
Martin stated he first felt the tug of God on his heart to become a priest when he was in high school. “We had a class in our parish to prepare us for the sacrament of confirmation and our parish priest stated that we could ask any questions we wanted, and so I began to ask questions. …
“I had so many questions and I did not know exactly why I had all of these questions at the time, but I remember being very taken by the answers.”
Not long after that, the priest and members of St. Ann Parish in Augusta, which he attended, asked him if he had considered becoming a priest.
“I was terrified at the prospect,” he said. “I thought that if I were to give my life to Jesus Christ in that way, I would lose everything: a wife, family, career. … I thought I would lose all that is beautiful in life.
“I knew deep down in my heart, though, that God was calling, ‘Teddy, come and follow me.’”
As a college freshman, Martin said, he finally began to take seriously God’s call for him to become a priest.
“I started to pray often, and to ask Mary (the mom of Jesus) to pray for me that I might have the simple faith she had when she was fearful before the angel Gabriel. … From that point on, I knew that I was called and there was great peace.”
Martin stated he feels that, as a priest, one of his major responsibilities will be to show the love of Jesus Christ to others.
“We will be judged on one thing — how well we loved God and our neighbor,” he said. “Love is not a sentiment, but a great sacrifice.
“If you want to know what love is, look at a crucifix. That is how much we must love others. Very simple, but not very easy.”
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Submited at Saturday, June 25th, 2011 at 3:00 pm on Uncategorized by ethan
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