Personal Biography: Justin Matthews

My name is Justin Mathews. I am currently a high school seminarian at Holy Cross seminary House of Formation in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The seminary is a great place to be especially while I’m trying to discern my faith. The neat thing about it is the fact that if I go to the seminary that doesn’t mean I have to become a priest. The whole purpose of the seminary is to become a good devout Catholic man. This should be everybody’s dream: God’s will be done, not mine. My dream is to become a priest. That’s a dream worth fighting for.

The first time I had ever obtained or even thought of the idea of coming to the seminary, I met a very unique young man. His name was Tyler Hiles. This Tyler Hiles told me that he was leaving for a place called a seminary. At this point in time I doubt I even knew what a seminary was. That just comes to prove how coming to the seminary really improved my knowledge of the Faith. This Tyler Hiles kept telling me more and more about this place and I seemed to grow an interest in it. I decided to find out more...

A few months into the school year I went to “Come and See Days”, which was a way that the seminarians could give regular people the joy in being at the seminary. I spent one weekend down there and I really enjoyed it. A few months later I decided to shadow Tyler just to see how the school, Aquinas was like. I came back home telling my parents that this was what I wanted to do. I wanted to discern my life to the priesthood. Thanks to Tyler Hiles I get to stand by him every day in the chapel and say Morning Prayer along with all the other seminarians that I have bonded with over the past few months. Matt Worley is one of them and Caleb Alford is another. Together along with Father Martin and Mr. Husing we make up the Holy Cross House of Formation.

My progress at the seminary has been going very well. I am currently increasing my prayer life and becoming a whole lot more devoted to God. I have been able to understand scripture and realize that everything that you hear in scripture is not always literal. There is a lot of symbolism in scripture and I have finally grasped that. I have been able to understand the mass better since I have been here. The seminary helps me to better understand the meaning of faith and doing what God wants of you me to be my first priority in life.

The seminary is a great place for any young man to discern his vocation. He is called to become a priest, married, or single. The seminary narrows down all of these vocations and if I’m not called to the priesthood then I’ll leave the seminary, get married, take part in the creation of life with the help of God, and start a family. Saying I’m a priest doesn’t make me better than anyone else. It is God’s job for me to do. All of our jobs help to fulfill God’s plan for salvation. We are not here for nothing. We have a role in life which is essential for God’s will. God sacrificed himself for the world, or in other words, “did His job,” and the least I could do would be to return the favor and do mine. God’s will be done!