CALLED TO SERVE

MJ GROARK

MJ Groark, currently a postulant
with the Capuchin Franciscans, lives at St. Conrad Friary, Milwaukee.

May 2006, I began a drastic reordering of my life. For many years I had constructed a personal mindset in which I expected the world to serve me. I had profound ups and extreme downs, but at either end, I expected others to serve me. As a minimalist protestant, I had drifted far from what little faith and Christian identity I may have had. I embraced the world and the world devoured me. It took a profound experience of hitting rock bottom to come to conversion and to start looking at the possibility that it is not all about me.

The reordering of my life began with re-
establishing a relationship with God. This led me into the Catholic Church. As my conversion progressed, I began to realize that, as baptized Christians, we are not only called, but I dare say, expected to serve and love others just as Christ loves his church. This realization blended with some experiences I encountered in the darkest parts of my past and opened my eyes to the fact that God had been very patient with me. It was now time to quit being selfish and submit completely to his will. I knew that I was called to serve his church.

Over the past couple years of living in community, I have experienced many forms of service ministry. As the youth coordinator at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Milwaukee, I teach confirmation to inner-city high school students and run a youth group. Another blessing in my life is to be able to do prison ministry and administer Eucharist to home-bound or hospitalized Catholics. The greatest source of grace for me is knowing that whoever I am working with, whether that be a confirmation student or a 95-year-old who is bed-ridden, I see the face of Christ. I know that there is something greater than me at work. I thank God constantly for allowing me to survive and giving me the strength, in some small way, to help do his will.