Configuration IV

Parish: St. Mary Parish, Ledgeview
Birth Date: March 6
Seminary: St. Francis de Sales
3257 S. Lake Drive
St. Francis, WI 53235-3702

nbudde@shsst.edu

What is the best type of ice cream?
As a holder of Cedar Crest’s “Licker License,” it is my infallible, expert opinion that “Cookie Dough” is not merely an excellent flavor of ice cream, but indeed the best.

What do you consider to be your greatest personal victory?
One thing that I thought I would never be able to overcome was my fear of public speaking. Over my time in seminary, I not only became more comfortable with speaking in front of others, but now I find preaching at Mass among my favorite aspects of diaconal ministry.

What was the first thing that you learned about Jesus?
One of the first things I remember learning about Jesus is the story of his life in the Bible. More specifically, I remember as a young child reading The Rhyming Bible with my parents. Through this paraphrase of the Gospels, I particularly recall learning about his birth on Christmas, the miracle of feeding the five thousand, the conversion of Zaccheus, and his death and resurrection.

How have you celebrated this Jubilee Year?
At the beginning of the year, I was blessed to participate in the opening Mass for the Jubilee Year at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Green Bay. Over the course of the summer, I was able to offer Holy Hours of Hope at my summer assignment at St. Thomas the Apostle in Newton. During each of these Holy Hours, I offered a brief reflection on the upcoming Sunday’s Gospel and the theological virtue of hope, which deepened my own prayer and awareness of how hope is always offered to us in the Sacred Scriptures.

What is your favorite verse from St. Paul’s writings?
My favorite verse from St. Paul is 2 Corinthians 12:9, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” Two summers ago, I was assigned to go to the Dominican Republic to learn Spanish and gain missionary experience. I remember having many fears about the summer. I felt very vulnerable during this time because nothing was up to me. I could not choose what I did each day; I could not choose what I ate; I could not choose where we went or who I would be with; I could not even choose which language I spoke to communicate with others. At Mass on Corpus Christi during my first week there, I shared these fears with Jesus and, as I did so, I read this verse from Scripture. In that Mass, throughout that summer, and in the years since, Jesus showed me over and over again how His grace is sufficient for me and that He always takes care of me.

Which virtue exemplified by St. Paul do you most aspire to?
I aspire to grow in the virtue of perseverance that St. Paul exemplified in his ministry. The virtue of perseverance is the habit of persisting in a good action, even amid difficulty, until it is accomplished. Among all the saints, I can think of no greater exemplar of this virtue than St. Paul in his ministry to the Gentiles. In 2 Corinthians 11, he describes at length to the Church in Corinth all that he has suffered and endured for the sake of preaching the Gospel: imprisonments, beatings, shipwrecks, robbers, sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, and the list goes on. St. Paul never let any of these trials keep him from proclaiming the Gospel with the same zeal with which he first preached it after his conversion. This is a level of perseverance that is not only admirable, but heroic. Rather than leading him to discouragement or tempering his efforts, these obstacles seemed to give him greater fire to offering the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends
of the earth! This is a virtue that does not come easily. I have grown immensely in it over the course of six years of seminary, but there is always more room to grow and one that does not always come naturally to me. My prayer is that I might continue to grow in the heroic perseverance exemplified by St. Paul as I finish my last year of seminary and begin priestly ministry.

Which saint should people invoke for your vocation?
St. Stephen. Please pray that through his intercession, I might live out my diaconal service to the Church faithfully and prepare for ordination to the priesthood in a few short months.