By Natashya Fernandez
For Perth man, Sheldon Burke, being a family man with a career was a simple, laid out plan to him.
Little did he know that there were bigger things in store for his life and faith journey. Back in Perth for his summer break from Rome Brother Sheldon spoke to The Record Magazine about his calling to join the Somascan Fathers, making his first profession and life as a consecrated brother.
Br Sheldon says it was his parents who planted the seeds of faith and profound love for God and Our Lady at a very young age.
He recalled the stirring in his heart started in 2008 at World Youth Day in Sydney when he was just a 16 year old teenager.
“I didn’t realise what this feeling meant, so I kept it a secret and avoided thinking about it.
“I was certain that I wanted to be a family man with a career. Although I was always involved in my faith through youth movements in the parish and the Church community, I still wanted to enjoy being young and so I found myself going to parties, being in relationships and enjoying all that life had to offer.
But in spite of everything that he did, he said he wasn’t any happier and finally realised he ‘could not deny answering that lingering call’ any longer. He had to discover God’s plan for him.
“In 2012, I was involved in the Vincentian Fathers ministry here in Perth and attended an inner healing retreat and felt like the Lord drawing me closer and closer to him, as I finally opened my heart to Him.
Br Sheldon commenced his period of Postulancy with the Somascan Fathers in Perth at the end of 2014, before moving to the small Italian town of Somasca in August 2015 to begin his 12-month Novitiate.
“What drew me to the Somascan Order was certainly the charism. In my discernment process, we are encouraged to look at the charism which is the gift the Holy Spirit entrusts to these religious congregations to carry out a particular mission in our Church.
“While my greatest desire was to be a father of a family before I grew in the understanding of my vocation, responding to my call, I realised I was actually called to be a Father of a much larger family. In every sense of the word, God has fulfilled my desire in my vocation with the Somascan Fathers, because our vocations are everything we were created for in order to be Holy,” Br Sheldon added.
It was not an easy road to follow and Br Sheldon said he doubted himself every step of the way.
“I felt that the only way I was able to overcome my challenges and doubts was through my devotion to Our Lady and the Blessed Sacrament which gave me strength and guidance, especially in my discernment process,” he said.
Br Sheldon made his First Profession on 3 September 2016 in the house of the Somascan Fathers, in Somasca, northern Italy.
“It was an incredible night, as it was the culmination of a year’s preparation in the novitiate to profess the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience,” Br Sheldon added.
Br Sheldon has immersed himself in pastoral work at St Jerome’s Church in Spearwood while on his summer break.
“Being a lay person and coming back after two years as a religious, there are surely many differences and now I’m here to serve the people of Perth in any small way that I can as a religious brother.
“I believe that our vocation is one of the greatest gifts Our Lord gives us, so even though it may seem impossible to follow our Lord in this way, the Lord gives us the grace to follow Him when we open our heart to Him.
“Being a young witness to serving the Lord is such a blessing but also an adventure in our quest for Holiness.
“I can comfortably say that I have never been so fulfilled and joyful in following God and I think that’s because God is love and wherever God is, there too my heart longs to be,” Br Sheldon said.
From pages from 18 to 19 of Issue 9: ‘What is a Vocation?’ of The Record Magazine