Ryan Bilodeau appeared on MTNP Radio several years ago to discuss events transpiring at URI. At the time, he was the chair of the College Republicans in that Rhode Island school. Fast forwarding two years to the present, Ryan has just graduated and sets off on a new path in life. He wrote a nice note on Facebook regarding his plans, which he agreed to allow me to share with ‘Grok readers. I find it uplifting and inspiring that, in a world seemingly gone mad like the one in which we live, there are still young people willing to listen to the message of Jesus, and some that, when they hear God’s call, accept. Congratulations, Ryan, and may God Bless you!
With graduation behind me, friends new and old have e-mailed or facebook messaged me wondering what lay in my future plans. I’m writing this message today in a medium that provides for the most amplification possible. My motivation also emanates from the joy resulting from the path down which I have begun to walk and the subsequent desire to share it.
Let me begin with a passage from the Bible that explains everything: "I will give you shepherds after my own heart." Words found first in Jeremiah 3:15 and echoed later by John Paul II in his encyclical letter "Pastores Dabo Vobis," they truly represent my pivoting from the political and earthly world in which I resided into the one I enter next: a spiritual one. This Fall I will be entering Our Lady of Providence Catholic Seminary.
This may come as a shock to some who know me only as “political Ryan”. My time working in politics in Rhode Island and around the country had undoubtedly created an operative who violated many a maxim by which my faith instructed me to live. I regret the mistakes that I made, but I conversely welcome and am now experiencing their sanctification. It was during the political events at mansions in Newport or at conventions in DC that I saw firsthand (and participated in) a culture that stood in opposition to my entire moral code. From my point of view, I was partaking in a world based on “chasing the wind.” God spoke to my heart throughout it all, but I did not always listen.
I returned home this Fall from a summer in DC and my choice in the matter of listening was largely removed. The same thoughts which first surfaced as a teenager began returning as I spent the Fall semester riding the RIPTA bus to school and back in order to save money. On the bus I saw people struggling just to get by. It occurred to me: these are the people God wants me to work with and for throughout the rest of my life. I was not meant to move in circles that only congregated at cocktail parties. Instead God wanted me to be like His son Jesus who ate with sinners, lived humbly and stood firmly in truth with love. A good shepherd.
I enter this Fall extremely excited to begin a period in my life that I now realize to be the culmination of the previous ones and the beginning of the life that God was calling me to all along. What is great about God is that he calls the biggest of sinners to live pure lives and the meekest of men to lead others. In relying upon Him completely I am at peace with whatever He calls me to do.
I’d like to reference several last Bible passages before I depart, which are all found in 1 Corinthians 13. In the beginning we are reminded "If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing." This is an important commentary relating to my discernment process. The parameters of politics and its system itself drained from my motivation the love with which one should engage in political involvement. I was able to do great things in politics, but often acted out of selfish reasons, which is by definition contrary to love. The priesthood allows me to represent Jesus for others and act selflessly out of love like Jesus did. I thank God for calling me to this vocation.
Ryan K. BilodeauWoonsocket, RI