Script of my Vocation Story

 
Hello I am Bro. Ivan Vincent Parena, newly professed brother of Sons of Holy Mary
Immaculate.
This is our Seminary, Tara!
 
In staying here in the seminary my vocation has been formed and my desire to
become professed brother of Sons of Holy Immaculate became clear. But this desire
is ultimately not mine but it came from God. What I did is just responding to His call
of love. 
 
My desire to follow God began when I was still a kid. As a kid my parents instill to us
the importance of prayer, specially the praying of the Holy Rosary and participating
the Holy Mass.
I did have seen the path towards priesthood, but while growing up that vision was
blurred by my material desire. When I am still a 4 th Highschool student, the question
that I encountered is that “what ready-job course will lead me to become
successful?”. My definition of success that time is good salary, house, and beautiful
girlfriend. That was the reason why I took Engineering course, because I believe that
as engineer I can have them.
My mother is very active in the parish to the point that she stayed in the parish most
of the time. Being active she enlisted me to join the Youth Camp of the Parish. I can’t
say no to her, so I joined. To cut the story short the Camp ended, but the happiness
and love I felt on that camp urged me to join the youth ministry and consequently
serve God as a choir member. With the youth ministry I was able to know the
Seminary. We went to the seminary to participate their silver jubilee. In there, there
was a priest told me “here, we pray, study, and play, WHY DON’T YOU TRY?”. 
“Why don’t you try?” these words struck and confused me. During that time, I was
still an engineering student dreaming to become successful. Yet I want to serve and
follow God in the way of priesthood. I put them into scale and realized that I did have
misconception of success. Success can’t only be measured with the things you
accumulate. Success can also be measured when you guide people to our saving
God. There I consider to enter the seminary and at 2016 I entered the seminary of
Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate.
 
My desire to serve God changed little by little when the years passed by. It is not
regressive but progressive. Little by little I understand that my deepest longing is not
only to serve God but above all to be Holy. As it is written: “be holy as your heavenly
Father is holy”. And I believe that the path towards holiness prepared for me by God
is the path of religious life. Yes, I am convinced that this is the life for me. How am I
convinced? I prayed for it. In me alone I cannot be certain. Why? Because I do have
questions about myself. “can I really profess the evangelical counsels?” But with
God, I believe. Like the Blessed Mother, she has questions concerning how can she
be pregnant if she has no relation with any man, yet despite of these uncertainties
she believed that in God nothing is impossible. And so, it happened she bore a child. I
believe and it will happen. I believe and I’ll become holy.