My vocation has been one of growth from the beginning and continues to grow today. I have never wanted to be a priest, and in the beginning, I thought that I would never enter religious life because of this. I never really thought I would be any kind of religious growing up.
I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. There I attended Padua Franciscan High School, which at the time was staffed by friars from the Sacred Heart Province. There I first met friars and began to learn about Francis and Clare. While there I went on my first mission trip to the Dominican Republic. It was there that I realized that I wanted to serve others, but also to pursue art. A lay man living in the community we served was an artist and a man of faith. I spent a lot of time with him, and seeing how he lived his life and how his art made him and others, inspired me to do the same.
I attended St. Bonaventure University to study studio art. My original plan was to be a car designer. I also began to meet more friars and see their way of life and their spirituality. It wasn’t until I went on a pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi that the life and spirituality became very real to me, and I gave up my dream of designing cars to create religious and spiritual art.
I entered the friars through what was Holy Name Province, now part of the new Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I still don’t feel called to be a priest and am very happy as a brother. It has allowed me to do many different things, including serving migrants at the U.S./Mexico border. It allows me to keep myself and my heart open to the needs of others. My journey has taught me that staying open will bring me exactly what I need, even if it wasn’t what I thought it would be.
-Submitted by Br. Kevin Hamzik