Biak Thuantho , 21 Diocese of Kalamazoo Third-Year College
MEET YOUR SEMINARIANS
“ The thought of priesthood never left me ”
The thought of priesthood had been in me since I was about seven years old . The first person who encouraged me to be a priest was my aunt , Ram Sia . I do not know where I would be or what I would be doing now without her constant encouragement as I was growing up .
I originally came from Myanmar ( Burma ) about six years ago . I am the fifth child in a family of eight . Sending children to boarding schools was very common in Myanmar , so I went to two different Catholic boarding schools . Having thought about priesthood already , going to these boarding schools helped me keep the thought of priesthood alive . Most importantly , being able to go to daily Mass , serve as a frequent altar server and pray the rosary each day strengthened me tremendously .
When I knew that I was going to the United States , I stopped thinking about priesthood because I thought that I wouldn ’ t be able to overcome the temptations I would face . What I knew and saw about the U . S . on television was a focus on impure things . The more I saw those things , the less confidence I had . I was also worried that I wouldn ’ t be smart enough to be a priest . I thought priests needed to be very smart . So at this moment , the priesthood seemed out of the question . On top of these things , I didn ’ t go to school for two years because of all the preparations necessary to go to the U . S . This affected my education where I felt like I needed to relearn everything .
However , the thought of priesthood came back to me when I was in eleventh grade . During that year , I started asking myself what I want to become . I thought about many different things , but none of them really excited me . After getting involved with activities at my parish , I started thinking of priesthood again . The more I thought about it , the more excited I was , but it was very difficult to decide to join the seminary . Coming from a Burmese background , I had a mindset that once I entered seminary I had to become a priest . I wrestled with this for a while in prayer . When I was confident enough that this was what God wanted me to do , I talked to my pastor and started my application process .
When I prayed and reflected , I realized the thought of priesthood never left me . It was always in me secretly . One moment where I realized my calling was during my freshman year at St . Philip Catholic High School . In my theology class I was told to write down on a small piece of paper what I want to become when I graduated , and I wrote down “ priest .” The teacher asked some students to share what they wrote down . Being a quiet and shy student , I chose not to share it . I didn ’ t want other students to know because I was afraid that they would treat me differently . After class ended , I threw that small piece of paper in a trashcan .
I believe God planted the seed of vocation in my heart when I was very young and nurtured it through boarding schools and through my aunt . I entered the seminary in the fall of 2015 and now I am a third-year college seminarian . I am still very happy about my decision to enter the seminary , and I still feel that God is calling me to be a priest .
18 Sacred Heart Major Seminary | Mosaic | Spring 2018