I recently spoke to a fourth grade class about my vocation as a Dominican Friar. A few days before, I received an email from their teacher, a religious sister, with some questions she had asked the students to write in advance so that I could get an idea of what they wanted to hear. None of the questions were very surprising—in fact, they were quite straightforward: What is your everyday life like? Have you always wanted to be a brother? Who is your favorite saint?

But then one question in particular caught my eye: Why do you want to be a brother?

Three or four general reasons to enter religious life initially crossed my mind. But they weren’t really answers to why I want to be a friar. I realized that I wasn’t ready to answer that question without some preparation.

Saint Peter advises us to “always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you” (1 Pet 3:15). In the context of the rest of the letter, St. Peter is talking about sharing a defense of the faith in the presence of enemies and persecutors. But how much more should we be ready at all times to have a “defense,” a testimony, for the faithful—not to mention for a child? What if I wasn’t scheduled to speak to this classroom, but I met some of these kids at a parish, without time for preparation? What would I have said on the spot?

These children have a religious sister for a teacher every day, and they are hearing from me as one part of an entire unit on vocations. I couldn’t just ramble along with some quick reasons why people in general choose to become a consecrated religious. That’s not what the kids asked. They need to hear an account of the “hope that is in me” which drove me to consecrate my life for God. And it needs to be not just sincere but simple enough for a child’s heart. And it needs to be ready to go at the drop of a hat, in the moments where there isn’t time beforehand to prayerfully reflect and prepare. In fact, it will likely be in these moments that my testimony will be most needed.

It took a group of fourth graders, whom I had not even met yet, to make me realize that I need to take more seriously the advice of our first Holy Father. We spend Lent contemplating how God incarnate touched our world and changed it forever. It’s only fitting that we also consider how he has touched our hearts and changed them forever. Then, we can heed the advice of St. Peter and not just think about our testimony once in prayer, but have it always at the ready.

The Sunday readings, devotions like the rosary and the stations of the cross, and our silent moments with the Blessed Sacrament are beautiful opportunities to reflect concretely on how the Gospel has transformed us and how we might share that with others. God wants to help us to be fully prepared to speak from the depths of our hearts, at any time and to anyone, about the hope that is in us.

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Photo by Ben Wicks on Unsplash