Mr. Matthew Trovato, OSFS, is the campus minister at St. Francis de Sales School in Toledo, OH. Matthew first professed vows as an Oblate of St. Francis de Sales in 2019. After several years, Matthew left the Oblates to continue discerning God’s will for his life. He re-entered the Oblate formation program in the fall of 2022 and again professed vows as an Oblate on May 11, 2023 at St. Francis de Sales School. In the fall of 2023, he will return to theological studies at the Catholic University of America. In this short article, Matthew reflects on his own discernment and his decision to return to the Oblates.
May has always been my favorite month. Although spring begins in March, usually the weather will peak for a while and then plummet back to wintry conditions. In May, temperatures finally climb to consistent warmth while trees and bushes flower - spring is on full display without risk of disappearing again. In this way, May could be called a “second spring.” As I reflect on the joyful day of my profession on May 11, I can find no better analogy than to say that professing vows again as an Oblate of St. Francis de Sales after having been away from the community is indeed a “second spring” in my life.
The operative question in any second-attempt or sequel is always “What’s different this time?” And so I ask myself, “What’s different as I officially enter the community this time?” I first answer by observing the change in my motivation for religious life itself. I first entered the community in 2018 enthusiastic about the dedication of one’s life to prayer, study, and sharing the fruits of a hopefully intimate relationship with the Lord. As I re-enter the community, I find myself enthusiastic primarily about the opportunity to serve the people of God. The other trappings of religious life - prayer, worship, communal living, study, etc. will all, I hope, coalesce in forming me as a more purified and more effective instrument of God’s unconditional love in the world. This new inspiration helped me to embrace my role this year as a campus minister at St. Francis de Sales School in Toledo, OH. It also provides motivation to sustain me in my upcoming theological studies - to be always approaching this learning process with the question in mind “how can this knowledge contribute to making me a better minister to God’s people?”
My second answer to the question of what is different as I enter the Oblates a second time is the ongoing process of spiritual maturing. I met face-to-face and resolved the issues of my own spiritual immaturity that kept me from fully embracing Oblate life during my previous time in formation. I had sought to find a place where the demands of cultivating communion with God every day would meet no obstacles form my surroundings or circumstances. Only after this realization did I understand that by taking responsibility for my relationship with God, I would be constrained by nothing but my own weaknesses (which would follow me to whatever community I might join), and the Kingdom would be near at hand whenever I had the spiritual sight to perceive it. With the major concerns that had led me to distrust my vocation to the Oblates laid to rest, the path was open and level for me to return to my spiritual home.
This second spring has brought me great hope (as spring always does), yet not without the awareness that trials are inevitable. Those trials will be an opportunity to thank God that He has slowly been purifying my faith and allowing my mind and heart to rest in Him and know that “all is well.”
Mr. Matthew Trovato, OSFS
In formation for the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales.
