Editor’s Note: The Register invited the five men who were ordained transitional deacons last year to write columns for the Register, to introduce themselves to the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln.
Deacon Augustine Reimers (pronounced Rye-mers) is from St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Seward. He was ordained a deacon in May 2023 and served at North American Martyrs Parish in Lincoln last summer. He is now in Theology 4 at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa.
By Deacon Augustine Reimers
“I think our Lord wants me to tell you that he is calling you to shepherd his flock.”
These were the last words that I ever expected to hear from my science teacher. Actually, I take that back. They were the second-to-last words that I expected to hear. It was the end of my junior year at Aquinas Catholic High School in David City, and my teacher had told just me the most unexpected thing that I had ever heard: the previous night she had a dream about me. Like Joseph, the interpreter of dreams in the Old Testament, or St. Joseph, with whom God communicated through his dreams, my teacher also heard God speak through her dream. However, it was not until she was praying about the meaning of her dream that she discerned God’s message for me “to shepherd his flock.”
Immediately, I knew that, at the very least, God was calling me to the seminary. The thought of being a priest was nothing new. It had been on my heart from time to time since I was in the fourth grade, but I always had a lot of fears about even giving God a chance and saying yes to the seminary.
My teacher’s words shocked me at first and even scared me, honestly. Never had I been so boldly confronted by the reality of God’s call for my life. So naturally, I bottled up all of my negative emotions and let them marinate for the entire summer leading into my senior year.
During my senior year of high school, a priest new to Aquinas, Father Benjamin Holdren, taught religion. His class was exactly what I needed. He taught us all about vocations and about how God has a unique calling for each of our lives. I learned that the vocation to which God calls each of us is for our good, helps us to achieve the greatest possible happiness and fulfillment in this life, and gives us the most grace to live with him in the fulfillment of eternity.
But I didn’t just learn this intellectually; the more Father Holdren taught, the more I began to experience the peace of God’s call. Father Holdren’s teaching began to free me from the bonds of the lies that I had believed about God’s call for my life.
My experience of this peace and freedom has only grown with each year that I have been in the seminary. I love the scene in the Gospel according to John where Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well. “Give me something to drink,” he asked the woman (John 4:7). His request was an expression of his desire for the woman to place her faith entirely in him, so that he can give her the living water that will truly bring her joy, peace, happiness, and fulfillment.
Jesus makes the same request of each of us. He asks us to give him something “small,” our lives, so that he can give us something beyond our wildest dreams. Our Lord wants to pour the abundance of his gifts on each one of us, but he needs our cooperation to do so. For me, this means answering the call to shepherd his flock. My experience of the Father’s love for me has kindled my excitement and desire to serve the people of our diocese, especially through my ordination. I look forward to sharing the Father’s love and giving others tangible experiences of this gift through the priesthood.
Read the other deacons' columns:
