Journey
of many steps leading to priesthood
By NADIA MARIA SMITH
CS&T Staff Writer
From Buddhist to Catholic to discerning the priesthood, 23-year-old David
Sao can’t believe how lovingly God has answered the prayer he made
eight years ago.
While on a high school retreat Sao got down on his knees, held a crucifix
and prayed, “God I don’t know if that is really You on the
Cross, but I want to commit myself to something greater — to a higher
cause.”
Sao had been brought up culturally Buddhist, according to the Cambodian
tradition, and had a vague understanding of God when he started at Cardinal
Dougherty High School. There, he was impressed with the Catholics he encountered,
who seemed so “happy and fulfilled,” Sao said.
He also got involved with the school’s Community Service Corps,
which gave him a desire to live for more than just himself and this life,
he added.
He began asking the big questions: Who am I? What was I created for? Is
there more to life than this?
The simple prayer he made on that retreat opened a floodgate of grace,
and God began to work in Sao.
Later, while on a service trip with the Office for Youth and Young Adults
to work with Native Americans in Arizona, he attended daily Mass with
his team and made another significant prayer: “God if it is really
You in the Eucharist, then let my heart feel it.
“One Mass I felt it and I realized that the Catholic Church has
the truth — it has Christ in the Eucharist,” Sao said.
When he returned, he approached his school minister, Father Carl Janicki,
now the president of Cardinal Dougherty, about becoming Catholic. He entered
the Church on March 31, 2002, at the age of 17.
Sao is now a junior at Pennsylvania State University pursuing a degree
in psychology and sociology.
While on the main campus, Sao was part of the Newman Catholic Student
Association, Bread of Life prayer group, the student-run Search Retreats
and PSU Students for Life.
Now back in Philadelphia attending a local branch of the school, he is
an active member of Generation Life, and of his parish, St. John the Evangelist
in Center City, where he has been instrumental in the new parish pro-life
prayer group and the outreach program to the homeless.
He is also a member of the Missionaries of the Eucharist, a group of college
students who take to the streets for six weeks in the summer — walking
from Maine to Washington D.C. — talking about Pope John Paul II’s
Theology of the Body to youth and church groups, and anyone they meet
along the way.
When he graduates in 2009, Sao plans to enter the Order of St. Benedict
to pursue a priestly vocation.
Reflecting on how drastically his life has changed over the past several
years, Sao notes with gratitude: “Our God is a God of mercy and
through all things He provides. He gives us everything we need so we have
nothing to be afraid of.”
Sao’s hope now is “to serve and bring God’s love to
those who are seeking it,” heeding the call of his two greatest
inspirations: Pope John Paul II and St. Therese of Lisieux.
CS&T staff writer Nadia Maria Smith can be reached at npozo@adphila.org
or (215) 965-4614.