'Listen to the people near you ... God calls you'

Was I struck by a bolt of lightening, or felt the power of the Holy Spirit harboring over me? Not really. When people ask me how I knew I was called to be a deacon, my answer is "I do not really know." What I say to those who ask is "listen to the people near you, they are the voice of God calling you." That is the way I discovered my vocation, by invitation from those near me who knew me and in whom I trusted. For this reason I ask every person: child, young men and women and married men I come in contact, have you thought about becoming a priest, religious or deacon? Often we lose vocations because we fail to ask the question and the more the questions are asked, the more it becomes a call.

Becoming a deacon has been a rewarding experience because the call does not end with that first question, but rather in every event in one's life.

When I was first ordained, I was assigned to Ste. Anne in Detroit and I was very comfortable there, but then the call came to be administrator of St. Gabriel.

At first I thought that being administrator entailed doing what I had been doing for 24 years, take care of daily administration tasks. However, I was called to serve a parish of 1,700 families, the majority, young people who were going through a crisis and I found myself listening to their cries of disappointments, fears, anger and uncertainty.

What was I to do? I had been thrown into this situation and no help was offered to me from anyone to help the people cope.

Being sort of lost myself, I began to challenge the people to thrust the parish forward by continuing the ministry of the Church. To my surprise, they answered the challenge and I discovered a wealth of leadership that was just waiting to be tapped. Although the people are still disappointed that it took 16 months to find a Spanish-speaking priest to be their pastor, they have responded to the call to ministry and together we have continued the work of the Lord. Today the parish has grown to almost 2,000 families and I have grown with them spiritually.

What I thought to be an administration job, turned out to be a call to be a pastor to people with many problems. Some women were experiencing domestic violence. Young people were trying to break their addiction to alcoholism and drugs. I was called to teach catechism to adolescents preparing for confirmation, to go out to hospitals to visit and bring communion to the sick. I witnessed many weekly weddings and performed many baptisms a month. All of these and many other calls to ministry accomplished three things: to truly appreciate the work of the pastor, to enhance my life of faith, and to look forward to Wednesdays -- my day off from work.

I feel honored to have been called by God to accompany and serve the community. Listen to the call of God and be sure to invite others to listen and respond.

Deacon Raul Feliciano is temporary pastoral administrator at St. Gabriel Parish, Detroit.