What is your full name?
Fr. Christopher David Muer

What is your current Assignment/Parish?
I am currently Associate Pastor at St. Peter Parish in Mount Clemens.

What is the greatest gift about being a priest?
One of the greatest gifts about being a priest is being able to walk with people in their journey of Faith and administering the Sacraments to the people of God. As a priest, people invite you into their lives in the most emotional, difficult, and beautiful moments of life. It is very humbling. I know that they are not inviting me or trusting me as a person, but it is as a priest, as the one standing in the person of Christ. That is who they are inviting in, and it is the greatest privilege of my life.

What would you say to a young man discerning the priesthood?
Relax. I think the trouble can be when we build up in our heads what we think the journey to a vocation should look like, when we try to fit a mold of what we think a seminarian or a priest is, or what we think others think it is. It is important to remember that God is not asking you to be like that guy or to do it the same way your favorite saint did it. For God calls each of us differently, and He has created each of us differently, thank God. Therefore, we need to try to become the holiest version of who God created us to be by seeking His mercy, striving for a deep prayer life, and asking for the grace of humility. There is no set time frame for the journey to realizing your vocation. Enjoy the journey with Christ and discern well.

How can people at your parish best support you?
When my people tell me that they are praying for me, it brightens my day, and I can feel the power of their prayers. The best thing people can do for their priests and future priests is to pray for them. Pray they may be guided by the Holy Spirit as a shepherd of souls. We will never fully understand the power of our prayers for others. Let us continue to build each other up in prayer, especially that we might be open to the prompting and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

How do you see the Holy Spirit working in the Archdiocese of Detroit?
I see the Holy Spirit working in the Archdiocese of Detroit in the way we are inviting the Holy Spirit to work. God does not force Himself upon us. We must invite Him in and give Him permission to work. That is what we have done with the Holy Spirit. We continue to ask the Holy Spirit to guide us, and we are beginning to see the fruits of our prayers. The faithful are responding to the invitation of the Spirit to be the band of joyful missionary disciples that Christ is inviting us to be.

Describe the first moment you knew God was calling you to the priesthood.
This is a question I get often as a priest, and it is a difficult one to answer because for me it wasn’t like I woke up one morning and just knew. The calling was subtle at first and was heard over many years. It grew in clarity, and there were times it seemed to grow in confusion. First, I was being called to draw closer to Christ and when I began to do that, I started asking God what He wanted for my life and everything changed. Once, I started to ask God what He wanted for my life and what He was calling me to, then I could be open to a vocation to the priesthood. I first heard the call to consider and look into a vocation to priesthood when I was a sophomore in college. At the time I first considered a call, I did not really know what it would take to become a seminarian or what the road of priesthood would look like. It is important to note that I did not become a seminarian for another three years. During that time, I started talking with others about a possible vocation: my girlfriend at the time, my family, my friends, and the director of priestly vocations. It is important to remember a vocation is not discerned or realized overnight; it takes time. Be patient with yourself and with God. The key is having an open heart.

What should all young people know about discerning a vocation?
What is important about discerning a vocation is understanding that a vocation is not what we do, it is coming to understand who it is God has created us to be. I came to realize the first step in the discernment of my vocation was asking God to show me, but it still took effort on my part as well. There is nothing lost by giving God time to reveal our vocation to us. Sometimes, we are afraid to admit to ourselves or to others that we might be interested or discerning a vocation to the priesthood because we are afraid of pressure or what they might think of us. Take courage. The best way to do that is with others: priests, family, director of priestly vocations, and friends. I got to the point where I was going back and forth on marriage and priesthood and decided it was ridiculous. I did not want to go through life always wondering if I should have been a priest. So I decided to apply, and the rest is history. I think the temptation is we tell ourselves that we need to know one hundred percent we are going to be priests before we enter seminary. This is not the case. The seminary is where you go to help you to discern that calling. Seminary gives you time to spend in prayer, asking God if this is the vocation for you. If God is calling you, He will never stop calling. Be patient with yourself and with God.