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Rev. Daniel MaloneOrdained to the priesthood May 19, 2007 Born: 2–18–1968 Home Parish: Queen of the Universe, Chicago, IL |
| In a nutshell, my calling to the priesthood would probably start when I arrived at the ripe old age of 7 years old. At that time I was invited by the pastor to become an altar server. I still recall the cold and hard marble floors we knelt upon at St. John the Baptist Church in Chicago. It was also during this time that both my sisters and I would act out the holy Mass at home. We even had an old pantry room in the basement that later became our sacristy. We affectionately called this room the "Lamb of God" room. I was confirmed in the 8th grade with the name St. Francis. And it wasn't till later in high school that I started to not practice my faith. In fact this led to a wine, woman and song St. Augustine story. Suffice it to say that I had strayed from the straight and narrow road of salvation and walked what I thought was a somewhat neutral path. Yes, I still acknowledged that God existed but He more or less became irrelevant to me in my every day affairs. I had what some have called an "awakening" of the faith while I was serving in the Coast Guard. I was drilling with my Coast Guard buddies out in Grand Haven, Mi on Lake Michigan in 15 foot swells. Well we almost capsized the boat coming into port. I still remember my face parallel with the water and the wide eyed boat driver who looked like he saw a ghost. When we finally were all safe back at the base I started to wonder where I would end up eternally if I would have died that day. Meditating on my possible death brought me to the conclusion that I was not going straight to heaven and that I needed spiritual guidance. So, I went to a Catholic Church in town and received a plastic rosary. I didn't remember the mysteries but I knew 1 patre, 10 ave's, and 1 gloria. I prayer this intensely for about 3 weeks and then quit. St. Louis DeMontfort said you could have 1 foot in hell, and if you prayed the rosary somehow Mary would come to your aid. That is what happened because after those 3 weeks of praying I just finished a book written by a Protestant that had scripture quotes about heaven. I finished the book and said "Jesus, I don't see any kind of heaven on earth, but if this heaven really exists I will do anything to get there." I then said with all sincerity from the bottom of my heart "Jesus, will you please come back into my life." Those were the magic words so to speak. Because God waits and waits patiently knocking on the door of our hearts. He waits so long to see if we will come back to our spiritual senses to see if we will give Him our permission to let him in. Well, I let Him in and have never been sorry for having done this. My life has been transformed and I am on fire for God. He called me and healed me. Every day is a conversion experience and the trials are many believe me but truly His grace is always sufficient for whatever is going to be asked of us in order to serve God and our neighbor. Now having said that I became a foreign lay Catholic missionary for almost 7yrs and I am now, God willing, preparing for Holy Orders on May 13, 2006. May God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven! God Bless you for reading this. |
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©2008 Diocese of Rockford