Cooking Up Vocations
Posted by Lisa Hendey in Faith on Tuesday, September 21, 2010 1:00 PM
I found this article today at CNN about Kenneth Smith, a New Orleans area chef who’s hanging up his apron to enter the seminary. The amazing thing? The future Fr. Smith is beginning his path to the priesthood at 50 years of age.
Mr. Smith shared the following comments with the CNN reporting team:
It [becoming a priest] is something that I thought about as a child. It was something I was going to do out of high school, and I put it off. I’m glad now that I didn’t go through with it, because I was very immature. I wasn’t ready. But now I feel very strongly, and I know in my heart that I’m ready to do it.
You should really take a few moments to head over and read his comments in their entirety - they are very inspirational! Perhaps the reason I’m so drawn to this story is that it underscores my personal growing sense of my own vocation, and to the fact that I’m really starting to believe that those calls we receive can and do indeed change and blossom as we age.
I’m so impressed with the fact that someone who’s been such a success at his work would have the courage to make such a major change. News reports about Kenneth have shared that he has donated his cookbook collection (nearly 3,000 books!) to an area museum and that his vocational call was partially inspired by his friendship with Archbishop Gregory Aymond of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
I hope you’ll join me in praying for Kenneth Smith and for all of the other seminarians out there who have heard and answered God’s call in their lives. Kenneth’s “yes” reminds me to continue to listen for God’s will in my own life every day. I’ll bet he’d appreciate having a bunch of Catholic moms here praying for him!
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