I'm a cradle Catholic, and through the years I've felt drawn to do a bit of light spiritual reading. When I retired, I took on part-time construction jobs around town, with a friend. One day, my wife said, "So...what are your plans for the future?" I said that God would steer me into something, to which she replied me, "Well, you 've got to get moving first if he's going to steer you!" She then slid The Pilot's ad for the Master of Arts in Ministry and the Master of Theological Studies programs at St. John Seminary across the table. Well, the third time she slid an ad across the table, I thought to myself, "Maybe I ought to find out about this!" What a brilliant idea -- of my wife's! Studying, discussing, writing, learning -- from wonderful, faith-filled teachers, with likeminded Catholic students -- has been a great, life-affirming adventure, for me and for my wife.

In the MAM and MTS programs at St. John Seminary, my intellectual skills and my faith life have been stretched and have developed. My understanding of who I am in Christ has deepened, effecting my personal and interpersonal relationships. I believe I have grown as a person, as a husband and as a neighbor, and I have been given the skills to respond to pastoral opportunities both in the Church and in the community.

The most surprising impact of these studies has been the deepening of my faith life. My prayer life, and therefore my encounter with Jesus, my friendship with him, is growing daily. Along with enriching my faith, exposure to the Church's teaching has filled me with amazement at the depth and breadth, the wisdom and understanding that she holds. Study of her theologies, for me particularly Moral Theology, and Theological Anthropology have opened me up to the truth of our life in God and have helped me to sort through all the competing ideologies and specious arguments being thrown around in today's culture.

Embarking on either the MAM or MTS programs at St. John Seminary is indeed entry onto a life-changing journey to explore the always new, always deeper Catholic life to which God calls us. Each day, some nugget from a class discussion or reading opens up my thinking to God's Truth contained in one of life's events. If you are looking for a cure for the numbness or depression that too much news/ gossip can bring on -- come and study the Catholic faith. You will never again look at this world the same way!

PETER BRAUDIS IS A 2015 GRADUATE OF THE ST. JOHN'S SEMINARY MASTER OF THEOLOGICAL STUDIES PROGRAM.