From Doubt to Devotion: Brother Bernardo Ross on Faith & Vocation

In this inspiring episode, Brother Bernardo Ross of the Legionaries of Christ shares his transformative journey from distancing himself from faith in high school to a profound conversion during his freshman year of college. He discusses the allure of worldly pleasures versus the true happiness found through Christ, the challenges and revelations faced during his vocation discernment, and the deep spiritual practices that shaped his path. Brother Bernardo reflects on God's specific plan for every life, the importance of seeking truth, and how Catholicism offers a coherent and harmonious worldview. This heartfelt conversation offers insight into the struggles and confirmations that guide one towards a life dedicated to faith and service.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Today I'm interviewing Brother Bernardo Ross. He's with the Legionaries of Christ. Tell me a little bit about your pre-religious life.

SPEAKER_01: 0:11

When I was in high school, I actually, I went pretty far away from the faith. So I think I started living a life where I was choosing kind of more of the worldly pleasures. As I like to say, I often, whenever I tell my vocation story, I always talk about the gospel of the world, right? So like, what is that gospel, right? The parallel gospel to the gospel of Christ. Because that's ultimately what the gospel is telling us. It's like how to live a life that ultimately leads you to true happiness. And so the world also promises that, but they promise it here and now. And it's, you know, it's filled with pleasures and immediate satisfaction and gratification. And when I was in high school, I definitely went down that road. So I usually say it was about four years that I was away from the faith, and I had a big conversion in college. Actually, my first year of college, freshman year, I came back to the faith. And that's really where I would

SPEAKER_00: 1:01

say my vocation... Wait, sorry to interrupt. Your first year in college? That's like an interesting, like... time, like most people are knee-deep in everything bad.

SPEAKER_01: 1:10

Well, it was actually I mean, I don't want to be dramatic here, but it was kind of getting to a point like that that brought me to Christ because when I was in high school, I mean, just without getting into any of the details or any of the specific points here, I think I was definitely searching for God in places where He definitely wasn't. I was seeking a joy that only Christ could give me. And so that was actually the night when I kind of stopped and when I tell her, Christina, I don't believe that God exists. something within me kind of shook what is god's plan for me and that's what i felt like he had in my using this image right like god was far away my spiritual life i start walking closer to him as i get closer i see he has a gift for me and that gift was the vocation and i said i want to know what that vocation is i want to know what god's calling me to i want to know what mission he has for me i think it's uh i might be wrong i think it's saint john paul ii who says every life is a vocation. No one is just here on this earth to pass time and be here and then be gone. God has a specific plan for every single person He's made, And that was really exciting for me to start to find out. A girl who had been a Disney princess in Florida, and curiously enough, she was one of the ones who most pushed me to be a good Catholic man. She told me, we can't start dating until you read this book by Jason Everett, which was a book on chastity. And I remember just thinking, I don't think I've ever read a book that quickly in my life, because I said, I really want to take this seriously. And it was a relationship that I was going to be taking very seriously, because I thought God was maybe calling me to be married at that time. And so a big moment for me was after a few months of diving headfirst into the business world, getting these different awards, winning these scholarships, getting into this master's program. My girlfriend at the moment was a Disney princess, literally. I remember thinking, actually, I remember being in the chapel with her. Actually, we would pray together often, which was also a nice part of our relationship. And I remember thinking in the chapel, literally, God, you're still calling me to the priesthood, aren't you? In particular for us in the Legionaries, those two years are really intense. What

SPEAKER_00: 3:30

does that look like?

SPEAKER_01: 3:31

So, yeah, that was something. That was a big question. I was like, okay, if I'm entering with you guys, I want to know almost like what are the terms and conditions or something, right? And it was pretty clear early on. They said, well, look, this is the way the novitiate looks. You have no phone. You have no phone. You have no access. to watching games whenever you want. We have different moments in the year when you watch games. You have an email address and you can write letters. And the idea is to separate yourself from the world so that you can dive deep into your relationship with Christ. I remember I went to Mass back in San Antonio, and a woman came up to me, you know, right after Mass, a woman I'd never met before, never spoken to, right? And I'd been praying a lot, like, what, you know, God, am I doing the right thing, right? Like, I've taken this decision to enter the seminary, right? And I said, God, is this really what you want? You're second-guessing. And at that moment, this woman, you know, came up to me after the Mass, and she tapped me on the shoulder, and she just, she said something to me. She just said, you're going to make a great priest. And it was so out of the blue. I'd never been told that before. That's for sure, God. Yeah, and it was huge for me. That for me, just these little confirmations, right? And it helps us to see how God works because it wasn't a miracle in the sense like something super out of the ordinary. Like God uses people and kind of holding on to Mary's hand, she can... help you walk deeper into that relationship with him right in that particular mystery right let it be maybe the resurrection or the ascension or or the finding of jesus in the temple like what did that mean right and so meditating on that uh is beautiful and that's why i love it

SPEAKER_00: 5:13

i do too i i i'm a big fan of the rosary but is there anything that you struggle with

SPEAKER_01: 5:20

one of the things that brought me to the faith was seeking the truth right and so early on that meant seeking what would truly make me happy. And I think now I'm at a point where I'm really just diving into like, what is the truth about life, about existence, about what comes after this life? How to live this life? Why are we here? All these types of maybe more philosophical questions like you mentioned. And yeah, there's a bunch of them. But what I've found is that Catholicism is the most coherent system as a whole, right? Like when you look at everything that the church teaches, Everything that the church teaches works together in a beautiful harmony, and that's precisely because God has revealed himself to us through the church, right? Obviously, God has revealed himself to us through Christ, right? The fullness of revelation has come to us through him, which is amazing.