The Everyday Apostle
The Everyday Apostle
The Everyday Apostle - EP012 - Fr. Louis Merosne
What happens when a young boy from Haiti, dropped unexpectedly into a life in Boston, charts a path to priesthood in America? Join us as we unravel the extraordinary journey of Father Louis Merosne, a radiant figure in the faith community with ties to both Haiti and America. Father Louis graces our episode with tales from his childhood, capturing the awe of experiencing modern wonders for the first time and his educational pursuit at Franciscan University. He candidly shares the momentous choice to return to Haiti, where he now champions the cause of the poor and serves as a beacon of hope in his role as pastor of the Cathedral of St. Anne.
Amidst the vibrant backdrop of growing up between two cultures, Father Louis navigates the complexities of a bilingual environment and the cultural challenges of moving from Haiti to the U.S. With memories of being different but finding strength in his Haitian roots, he paints a vivid picture of his academic success fostered by an upbringing steeped in memorization. The narrative is rich with anecdotes about embracing his Catholic identity, sparked by encounters in Haiti that deepened his spiritual beliefs and reconnected him with his faith's core teachings.
Father Louis's priestly journey is a tapestry woven with intellectual curiosity and spiritual epiphanies. From the moment a fervent believer ignited his passion for faith, to the soulful bus ride that brought him to Franciscan University, Father Louis's story is a testament to the transformative power of faith and community. As we celebrate his ministry, he invites us all to nurture our relationship with Christ and embrace the love for the poor—a legacy instilled by his mother. Don't miss the chance to witness Father Louis's heartfelt journey and the inspiring message that resonates with listeners far and wide.
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Speaker 3:Welcome to the Everyday Apostle, where ordinary lives meet extraordinary faith. Join our host, kendall Peterson, as we explore how everyday men and women bring the gospel to life wherever they live, work and play. Let's dive into it right now.
Speaker 1:Hello and welcome to episode 12 of the Everyday Apostle. So thrilled to be here with you once again to bring a great story that we have for you today. A little bit different episode today, bringing a very, very special guest to the show, somebody that means something very important to me personally but means something to our faith community in the work that he's doing as well. So can't wait to get into that Special shout out to all of the people that have sent prayers and petitions, everybody who has supported us along the way, greatly, greatly appreciate that. Looking forward to getting this episode published and out to you guys tomorrow, which you guys will be hearing today. So that was kind of foolish to say tomorrow, but so let's get right into it, because I want to maximize as much time as we have with our guests. So our guest is Father Louis Merosny Did.
Speaker 2:I get it Good job.
Speaker 1:Yes, you did Thank you From here on out, you're just going to be Father Louis.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to tread on that again. That's perfect. Good job though for daring to go there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so Father Louis was born in Haiti. He grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, though, which is going to be an interesting part of the story. After graduating from the Boston Latin School, he studied at Franciscan University from 2002 to 2007 for his undergraduate and graduate degrees in philosophy, French and theology. As a missionary, he helped establish Haiti 180 in the south of Haiti, and in 2010, he responded to the call to definitively return to his homeland in order to serve the poor and the local church. It was an amazing call. I can't wait to hear more about that. In 2011, he was ordained a priest in the diocese. I'm going to butcher this. I'm so sorry. What's the diocese?
Speaker 2:Ansevou and Miragouin.
Speaker 1:Ansevou, okay, and Miragouin Well. There's no wonder I didn't take a shot at that?
Speaker 2:No, that's a good choice, father Louis.
Speaker 1:No, that's a good choice. Father Lewis continues to preach the gospel and to serve the poor in Haiti and abroad. Currently, he is the pastor of the Cathedral of St Anne in Haiti. He also serves as Episcopal vicar on his bishop's council. He is a proud board member of Lifeteen International and other mission-oriented organizations, which I can't wait to get into that as well. He's the executive director of the Francis Integral Development Foundation Corp. A New York-registered foundation, Correct, that is focused on promoting a strategic plan of integral human development of Haiti through a revival of national production and capacity building. That is amazing.
Speaker 1:Father Lewis is an international speaker who ministers at youth and adult conferences as well as at parish missions. He's passionate about knowing Jesus and making him known, and he loves Mary and the church and if you guys are watching at home, you'll notice we have an addition to our crew today in the form of Mary here with us. He founded Mission to the Beloved, a US not-for-profit organization and a dear friend, a beloved pastor, a guest pastor at my parish St Augustine Catholic Church in Coral Gables, Florida, and with that, Fr Lewis, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you very much. It's an honor to be here, kendall. Thanks for the invitation and, by the way, I'm not a guest pastor at St Augustine's. I am a guest priest, though, so the pastor is the one in charge of the parish, and that would be Father Richard Vigoa, who is fantastic.
Speaker 1:I sit corrected.
Speaker 2:I come in and serve with him at his request sometimes.
Speaker 1:So I go back and forth to my parish and here Right, yeah, so I guess the best place to start this story would be Haiti.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's where you grew up In the beginning. That's where I was born and that's where you grew up. My second grow-up is in Boston, if you will.
Speaker 1:Okay, how old were you when you made the move About?
Speaker 2:11.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you had quite a long time in Haiti, that's true. You're nurturing and developmental.
Speaker 2:That's right. That's right. So I have fond memories, some scary but mostly fond memories of Haiti, of my childhood and Haiti itself. I actually lived in three different places. So there's the small village where I was born. There's a second small village where I moved to when I was about five or six years old. I was there, I think, for one or two years. Then I moved to Port-au-Prince, which is the capital, where I went to school. There I did my first communion, but every summer I would go back to my home village where I was born to be with grandma, grandpa my home village where I was born to be with grandma, grandpa and my dad. He was still living in the village where my mom was living in the capital. So we went back and forth. It was nice and it's a beautiful small village, farm village.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I know, because I'm going to drive us in that direction. I know we're going to talk about the Haiti of today. Sure, tell me a little bit about the Haiti when you were growing up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the Haiti, the only Haiti I know when I was a child, was beautiful mountains, river animals, fruits, vegetables, work and having fun as a kid, and so and that's's all. I didn't know much technology. I still remember the first day I saw a vehicle as her car and it was mind-blowing to me because the fastest thing I knew was my grandpa's horse, and so seeing a car on a highway or, yes, certainly a highway was like what is going on. I still remember the first time I felt ice. Uh, because we didn't.
Speaker 2:It was just everything was natural and you know, you cook, you eat and then you, you grow your food, and it was very organic living, if you will. Um, I remember the first time I saw a television set and thought there's it. It doesn't register to your listeners or viewers what that means going from no screen at all, no iPad, no telephone, not even one of these little, you know, like tiny Nokia's. When I was a child, at least, I'm not saying these didn't exist in Haiti, but in in my village, my surrounding, we didn't know any of that. It was pure natural living and it was beautiful. So, yeah, it was a beautiful, simple, community village life.
Speaker 2:And then when I moved to, so then I moved to another village like I said, similar situation. But I moved there. I don't even remember when my parents sent me to that other village, but I was whatever, my aunt, my mother's sister and her husband, and going to school there, it's probably for schooling. And then we moved to Port-au-Prince, and then that was a very different thing. That's when I saw a car for the first time, that's when I saw a television for the first time. I was like what is going on? And so Port-au-Prince was a bit, of course, way more crowded. It was not the cute little village Every house is, you know, on top of each other, like I was not used to that.
Speaker 2:But it was also during a time I remember at a certain point there began to be some political upheaval and what we call manifestation, so public riots even sometimes, and I still remember a couple of times my parents were rushing, or my uncle rushing, to pick us up from school early, because they had heard that there was some kind of riot going on somewhere and they wanted the kids to be safe. So they came and got us. I was like what's going on? I didn't know what was going on. We still had the army at the time, because our neighbor, her brother, was in the army, and so he would come with his buddy every Sunday or every couple Sundays, and then before they left, they would always take out their rifles and just started shooting in the air.
Speaker 2:And I thought I was so cool as a kid seeing that and hearing that, and so it was a crazy beautiful life as well. There's still a lot of simplicity, even in Port-au-Prince. Crazy beautiful life as well. There's still a lot of simplicity, even in Port-au-Prince. And going to school there, walking to school with my friends, and yeah. So you let me know what questions you have.
Speaker 1:I mean, that sounds beautiful, right, especially if you live in a city now and you think about the countryside and you just think about the purity and the peacefulness and all of that, which is a great way to grow up. I grew up in a similar way Then, so quite a shocking difference. When you get to Port-au-Prince, correct, then you go to Boston, right, which is shocking again, right, a next level shock, yeah. So what was that like?
Speaker 2:So it took me some time actually I think these past couple of years for me to actually process all that change in my life. I never took it as something important, but it actually has an impact on a child to go from location to location. Being with mom and dad, not being with mom and dad, being with mom and dad again not being with mom and dad again. It was just like separation after separation as well. Yeah, boston was a whole other shock. Well, snow was one of those big shocks. I was like what the heck is that thing? And the cold. And also I felt too that in Boston it was not as community oriented, unfortunately, and I wasn't even allowed, for example, to go out to the park because we lived kind of in a bad neighborhood and I was like I don't want to go play.
Speaker 2:And it was interesting how you could have neighbors in certain places and you don't really know your neighbors. That's unheard of. In Haiti there's no such thing. Like you, all know each other up and down the street and people are usually outside of their homes, like they go inside their homes to go to bed or maybe to eat or something, but mostly people are outside hanging out or going out to work. But the outside world, outside of our home, is important to us. We like to be together, and so and that's a common feature in Haiti You'll get on a public bus and people just sit right next to each other, right up on each other, and you go to church and there's like a ton of benches open and let people just they come, sit right next to this other one who was there, like can I get my own space? Or like no, I wanna sit next to this other one who was there, like can I get my own space? I was like no, I want to sit next to you. So there's a beauty to this connection that we have Very, I guess, maybe in a sense tribal, in a good sense, or communal, I should say.
Speaker 2:But when I got to Boston, it was different. My neighbors are strangers to me, and so that was another big change. Learning the language was a huge change. I didn't speak English growing up. I spoke Creole and I learned French in school. These are two official languages in Haiti, creole being the national language, french being a second official language, and so learning English was different. So I started out in like a bilingual program in fourth grade and fifth grade, and so that's where I was during the transition, if you will, and during that time also, I was picked on because I was different.
Speaker 2:I was from a different country, I spoke a different language, I looked different, I spoke different and I had different mannerisms, different cultural values, and so some people are afraid of that, and so they would sort of make fun of that. I remember, I still remember this day. One insult that was given against me is well, they thought it was an insult is this young lady calling me oh you, little Haitian. And I thought wait, but it's good to be Haitian, it's beautiful to be Haitian. I love being Haitian. And Haiti has rich history and has contributed historically to the entire world, especially to the world of freedom and human values, human rights. Actually, we're the first black republic, the first nation to be formed by slave rebellion, et cetera. So all that is awesome. But seeing that, oh wow, people look at us differently here, like this is a whole different world out here.
Speaker 2:But eventually I learned, you know what? Let's stay focused, stay focused on faith, stay focused on education, and so I would get down. Going to Latin school was an awesome thing. We had to take an exam. It's a public school, but it's a tradition because it's the first public school in America, and so they've held this prestigious tradition of education, very strong education, and so I was able to go there in seventh grade, which is when you can enter either in seventh or ninth grade.
Speaker 2:So I entered in seventh grade after taking the exam and it was a good environment. It was a better environment there because people were more focused on all right, let's learn, let's, let's put, put stuff in our minds and hearts and uh to grow, uh in in our education, and so that was a very good experience there, making some friends and also taking the intellectual life more seriously, if you will. Um, and my, my Haitian background was very helpful there as well. We do a lot of memorization in school in Haiti, and so we had to do some memorization in school at Boston Latin for declamation, so you'd have to memorize a speech or something, or a poem or something longer typically, and get in front of the classroom to speak it, to express it, and so I would wait till like the day before or something.
Speaker 2:And then my friends hated me, like what the heck? Like we've been studying for months but it came easy, easily for me with my Haitian background. So yeah, a lot of differences, if you will.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a lot of differences you mentioned when you were talking about the communal aspects of Haiti. You mentioned church.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And then, when you were talking about Boston, you talked about how you relied on your faith. Yes, tell me a little bit about growing up, what that faith life was like in your family.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was lucky to be born in a Catholic family, where my family was active in the faith, and so my grandfather was the chapel director, and I should explain what that is. And so in the Catholic church we have parishes, which are the main churches of the community, and there's a priest in charge who is the pastor of the parish, and he can have other priests with him that are associate pastors or parochial vicars we call them same thing. Um, now, in some places the extent of the parish is so wide that the priest can't be in all the places at once and people can't reasonably walk from all these different places to the main church, and so we'll establish chapels in those different parts. And so my village was a chapel under the St John Mary Vianney Parish, and as a chapel we'd only see the priest once a year, and so throughout the year we have a lay director who helps with the readings every Sunday and who even gives some exhortation, et cetera. And so my grandpa played that role of the lay director of the chapel, and so every Sunday we'd go to church, we'd hear the same readings that you would be hearing here, except we didn't have the Eucharist, unfortunately, except every year for the Feast of Our Patron, which was St Isidore the laborer the farmer, excuse me and Father would come for a few days. He'd do first communions, baptisms, marriages, everything, all like one weekend, that's right. He would usually stay for like a couple of days, so it was a big feast when father would come. My dad sort of inherited a little bit from my grandpa and actually one of my younger brothers sort of inherited some of that as well, helping out in the chapels. Now our chapel has become a parish actually, so we're very thankful for that.
Speaker 2:But yeah, my family, they, uh, they raised me catholic and I'm very happy for passing down that faith to me. I I received it as a child, um, and then, as I started to grow up, I started doing my own investigations and I almost lost that faith because I wanted to. Like. It was attacked in Boston and I was like, oh gosh, what do I do? If I'm going to be authentic, then I need to learn this thing, to decide to leave it or to love it. And in learning it I fell in love more and more with the faith.
Speaker 1:What did you do to learn your faith?
Speaker 2:So a couple of things. One I asked the Lord to teach me. I asked the Holy Spirit to fill me and one of the ways that happened is in going back to Haiti three years after I had come I came in 93, and then in 96, I went back to visit and there was this evangelical lady who would either evangelical or fundamentalist or both, but anyway who would, or either evangelical or fundamentalist or both, but anyway non-Catholic, and she was passionate. But she was also annoying to me, at least as a young man, kind of boring in a sense, like I didn't take my faith that seriously at that point. I wasn't on fire, I should say, even though I was given all the tools for my family and so, but she would every day be on my case about, you know, repenting and turning to Jesus, and I was like, lady, forget you, man. But there's something I noticed is that I felt like she put my coldness to shame. I felt like I was lukewarm in my faith. She was not lukewarm, I didn't agree with her, but she wasn't lukewarm, you couldn. She was passionate and I asked the Lord to help me fall in love with them like she was, and that's how I became a better Catholic, if you will. And I just the Lord, heard my prayer.
Speaker 2:Before I got back to Boston after vacation, something happened, something clicked Like. Even my parents in Boston were like what the heck happened to you boy? Praying every day, reading scripture every day and gathering with friends and feeling a sense of. I want to share this with others now, because the gospel is contagious. Once you've encountered Jesus in the gospel, you want to share Jesus in the gospel, the goodness, with everybody else. So that's that.
Speaker 2:But also, though, intellectually, I found Catholic Answers, which is an apostolate based in California, san Diego, and for the first time I was hearing the Catholic faith explained and defended in ways that I had never heard before. The way I had heard it defended before is, well, you know what? I don't care what you say. I was born Catholic, I want to die Catholic and I'm like that doesn't satisfy my intellectual curiosity. And so, finding Catholic Answers, I was like, oh, wow, there are answers. Why do we call the Pope Holy Father? Why do we call the priest Father? Why do we honor the saints? Why can we ask Mary to pray for us, like the professional virginity of Mary, all these things? I was like, wow, I can learn these things faith, justification, grace, et cetera. I was like, oh my gosh, I would print out articles upon articles. I would go to the Northeastern Library Northeastern, if you're listening, I was that kid that was printing out all those articles in your library for free. Thank you for that, northeastern University in Boston. So print these out, read them on the bus, go home, read them.
Speaker 2:I was consuming so much during my high school years and I was also called up Catholic Answers. Uh, during my high school years, and I was also called up catholic answers. That's how I found out about franciscan university, because there's an apologist working there by the name of jason everett and I was like I need to call this guy. I just called him up and they put me on. Thankfully, the catholic answers was good enough to pass me over to him and I asked him where he studied because, like, I've never heard people explain the faith like this. Then he told me he studied at Franciscan University. So that's how I decided that's the first time I had heard of it and wanted to go there.
Speaker 1:So obviously we know how the story ends you become a priest.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:But at that time so maybe in your younger years, prior to that moment or that trip, when you went back and something clicked for you, what did you think you were going to do with your?
Speaker 2:life. Well, the priesthood actually was always sort of there At least I can't pinpoint what age. I do remember when I was 14, it was very clear. It was like, oh, I want to be a priest. I remember that particularly, and because I remember a Haitian priest coming over to Boston preaching, I was like, wow, I want to be like him.
Speaker 2:And again, this is after I fell in love more with the Lord, after going back to Haiti and coming back, and so but even before that, even, I think, remember back in Haiti, because we grew up poor, but my mother would always teach us to love the poor, and so I didn't realize we were poor, because there were others who are poorer than and then then we're less fortunate, if you will, but we were really poor, and so my mother would choose to love the poor, and to love that would take us to mass, and I'm so grateful for that. So there was something there drawing me to the priesthood a little bit. I couldn't formulate it, but back in Boston, though, I thought of a couple of different things, one of which is to become a pilot, and I also thought of the military. That's still kind of a little part of my heart.
Speaker 1:Still back to that neighbor shooting the gun. There we go, there we go, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I remember one night going to the website for the Marines and just eating that up I was like I want to be a Marine, I want to be the best of the best and I thought the Marines were the best of the best, especially because I had a friend who had joined them and I really thought either a pilot or a Marine, if I didn't become a priest.
Speaker 1:Okay, could have been a Marine pilot. Could have been a Marine pilot.
Speaker 2:I could have been a Marine pilot and transitioned to be a chaplain.
Speaker 1:That's it.
Speaker 2:That's right, still possible. I could be a chaplain. There you go. They tried to recruit me for the Army, but my bishop was like, hmm, maybe not now.
Speaker 1:So Franciscan pops on your radar? Yes.
Speaker 2:And you decide I'm in. Yes, yes, I decided I'm in, but this was back in, I think, 10th grade, when the whole Franciscan thing maybe 11th grade. So it gets time to senior year and we're applying for colleges Boston Latin, what's the word? Boston Latin what's the word? So they train you to go to the big guys. Apply to Harvard, apply to Boston College, notre Dame, boston University, holy Cross at least up there, some of these big names, universities, ivy Leagues. It's normal for Boston Lions school students to be applying to those places.
Speaker 2:And so when I told my teachers about Franciscan University of Steubenville, they were like, where, steubenville? I was like, no, franciscan University of Steubenville. They were not very happy that I was looking to this other unknown college, to them at least, and so that's one reason why I was like I got cold a little bit. But the second reason really is because I thought I wanted to be a priest at that point. But I also wanted to take care of my folks in Haiti because of the poverty I knew they were in, and I realized that once I become a priest, I'm not my own. And so the time if I want to work, to try to make a difference, to collect a little money to help the family. It would be now. So when I called up the university Franciscan the minimum wage there was so low I was like, okay, so that's what I'm going to be making. That's not going to be making a dent at all. So what if I just go to another big university? Maybe if I stay in the Boston area I could work while I'm in college and I can make some money to help the family out, et cetera. So these two reasons made me not even apply to Franciscan at that point.
Speaker 2:And so it got to a point where, right before spring break of senior year, I was getting ready to respond, probably to Notre Dame, to say yes, I'll accept the package, etc. Boston College offered a package, stonehill offered a nice package, but I think I was like you know, I think I'm going to go to Notre Dame so, and probably would have been a good choice too. But I remember a substitute teacher who used to teach us a Catholic guy. He knew Latin like the back of his hand, and so he saw me at church in downtown Boston, at the Franciscan chapel there, and then he asked me what I was doing for college. I told him and he goes have you ever heard of Franciscan University? I was like, ah, funny, you should ask. I love that place.
Speaker 2:But you know, for this reason that reason I didn't apply. He goes what are you talking about? I think you should apply anyway. I was like, oh, it's too late. Like I already sent him my applications and my FAFSA for financial aid. That's already in. So there's no and I don't have any money to pay for it. He goes no, I think they have rolling admissions and I think you should contact them anyway and go visit.
Speaker 2:I was like go visit, like it's almost, it's like call them up and go visit. So I called them up and they were like, yeah, that's not enough notice. Sorry, we can't take it like, see, I guess. But then I also thought, if I'm gonna join, they have they had at the time I was called the pre-theological program. It's now called a pre-state discernment program. I was like I want to join that program so I could discern the priesthood. So I called them up and I was like, yeah, I wanted to come visit. But they're like, don't worry about it, we'll take care of it. You could can come, you stay with us. I was like, okay. So that's how, like within a week.
Speaker 2:I got myself a bus ticket Greyhound bus, I think it was at the time and drove down 19 hours, I believe. Not drive, but I took the bus 19 hours to Franciscan and walked into a mass as my first event. And the song, the only song I remember from that day is come, follow me. And I was like alright, lord, and I fell in love with the University even more. Being there, I was like this is so mission oriented, this is so gospel oriented, this is so true and good and beautiful. So I decided to apply. But then I had no money because it was too late to apply for financial aid. So the vice director, the assistant director of the pre-theology program, told me don't worry about it, we'll find a way to make sure you can attend, just come. I was like that sounds very loose, but okay, like I'm used to that. So I went down and that's how I went to Francisco University.
Speaker 1:So, father Lewis, one of the biggest challenges and struggles here in this particular podcast is time goes by so fast and I literally want to sit around the rest of the day and chat about this. So we don't have that much time left, but what I would love to get out of this right. So, like I said, we know the end you become a priest and you're involved in so many things, that decision to become a priest right. So we're all called to something. Yes, whether we listen or not, as a destroy, but we're all called to something. And so there you are, right. When did your decision point come, like?
Speaker 1:I kind of see where you went through all of your schooling and, clearly, your love of God, your belief in the power of Jesus and all of that All of that's very strong in the power of Jesus, and all of that, all of that's very strong, but the decision to become a priest and to become ordained and to fully devote your life and not make it yours anymore, as you said earlier. Let's talk a little bit about that and what your decision-making process was.
Speaker 2:Okay, it was a very difficult discernment process. I didn't know about discernment before I went to Franciscan University and then I was like, oh, maybe I don't want to be a priest then. And it was so hard feeling that God might be calling one way and everybody else seems to think I should be going that way. But part of me is scared of that, about whether or not I'll actually be happy, and that was the fear or about making a mistake. And so that was really tough. And I remember one day being in the chapel and saying, okay, you know what I'm tired, I'm drained, I'm exhausted, I'll just go with whatever everybody else thinks I should be doing and what God seems to think I should be doing. So I was mad. I was like, fine, I'll just become a priest, I'm not discerning, I'm just going to go ahead and go through the process. And I felt God say to me. I was crying and God was like, oh, that's cute, but what makes you think I want you in my ministry, like this? As if I was doing God a favor. I'll do it for you, man. He's like no. And God said, forget about the priesthood. I was like, okay, fall in love with me all over again.
Speaker 2:And that was, I think, what changed is focusing on being in love with the lord, which is the only indispensable thing, and so that took me to being more opened and, uh, to be more in love, and also to visit the missionaries of charity fathers in Mexico. I wanted to dream of the Teresa's group and I applied and they told me go back and pay off your student loans. I tried to do that as a taxi driver after I graduated from Franciscan, and also as a tutor and etc. And. But then, more and more, something was shifting, where now I, though I had really been attached to Haiti, I became detached.
Speaker 2:But people were telling me I think the Lord is calling you to Haiti instead of Mexico, which is where the MC fathers were. So I went back and did a retreat at Franciscan and I felt the Lord say one, fall in love with me as the most important, two, become a priest and three, go to Haiti. So I told my spiritual director. Then I contacted my current bishop and I said I think the Lord is calling me back. He's like okay, I wrote my letter and it took me. At first he thought why are you moving back to Haiti? Everybody wants to get out, but the Lord calls, and so I moved back and I never regretted going back and that move was in 2010 officially.
Speaker 1:So, man, I wish we had more time. So can you give me a 30-second version of how you recommend to others to discern their calling?
Speaker 2:Fall in love with Jesus. Know that God wants your happiness. He created you for happiness. He's a compassionate father. If you make a mistake, it's okay, he will get you back on the right path. So fall in love and trust. That's it. That's it, yeah.
Speaker 1:That's all there is to it, and we complicate it in every possible way.
Speaker 1:Father Lewis, I definitely want you back. I definitely do. There's so much we didn't get to and I'm sorry. Guy comes from Haiti or Boston or wherever you want to pick your point right and then finds his way to serving the Lord, because that's really one of the things right Is. God calls us to go out and proclaim the good news, and we all do that in different ways. So thank you for sharing that my pleasure. Thank you to all of the listeners, thank you for listening and bearing with this slightly different episode. Spoiler alert I've already talked to Father about doing a special episode so we can dive more into his ministries, the work that he's doing, not just in Haiti, but the work that he's doing all over and again. One of my favorite people that I know, definitely one of my favorite priests, and I thank you so much for devoting the time to the Everyday Apostle and with that guys, keep striving to develop your relationship with Christ and, as Father said, keep focusing on working on falling in love with Him. Amen.
Speaker 3:Thank you, thanks for tuning in to the Everyday Apostle. Don't forget to like and subscribe on YouTube, on your favorite podcast outlet, and at our website at everydayapostlecom. Until next time, stay blessed.
