ORLANDO | Imagine being invited to dinner and offered a smorgasbord of delicacies to tantalize your palate. That’s how seminarian Josué Reyes Díaz describes his summer assignment at St. James Cathedral.

As he views the cathedral’s many ministries, he is selecting activities to enhance his experience of priesthood. Entering his second year of seminary, known as First Discipleship, he is being mentored by rector Father Miguel González and parochial vicar Father Phillip Mills.

“They expose me to pockets of parish life — serving at Mass, helping out with vacation Bible school, different youth ministry events, helping distribute Communion to the sick,” Reyes said. And in terms of experience, getting to live in a rectory with priests is a key learning lesson. “It is the life you’re discerning so, outside of the ministry, what does that look like? That has been a huge blessing as well.”

Reyes is halfway through his assignment that concludes at the end of July. A typical day begins with Mass at 7 a.m., where he assists in serving at the altar. After Mass he gets some work done then heads to staff meetings, marriage preparation, funeral planning, and more. The afternoons are generally a little slower, offering time for prayer and reflection. Then evening activities move into high gear with youth ministry and teaching adults who want to become Catholic.

These are times he accompanies a priest during an emergency visit to a hospital or home for Anointing of the Sick. Those experiences offer some of the greatest impact on the seminarian.

“People are hurting, and they come and share that with you. There’s a temptation to want to ease the pain,” he said. “The pain they’re experiencing is real. Most of the time they’re just looking for someone to talk to. A profound experience is when someone comes to me to share something going on in their lives, and I can’t do anything about it. That doesn’t mean I can’t engage them in that moment and make sure they feel seen and heard.”

He recalled one call where he was asked to take Holy Communion to someone he knew who was receiving cancer treatment. She reached for his hand, and he simply held it in silence.

“No words had to be spoken, just the understanding someone is here with you,” he explained. “I think the pace of (priestly) life, on the surface, is frantic. If you’re just looking at the day to day as one thing to the next, to the next, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. But my experience so far has been, what we do is bring Jesus to the world.”

He said he constantly finds encouragement and motivation from the saints and the priests with whom he serves.

“When we talk of this high pace of life, I haven’t experienced it as a burden primarily because I have those men as mentors, as models to look up to,” he said.

“Man is not meant to be alone,” he quoted from Scripture. He credited the fraternity of the priests at St. James for keeping them going and being Christ to others. He pondered how often Jesus planned to rest and then was greeted by the crowds. It helps Reyes ask for the grace, “because it is only through grace that this life can be sustained,” Reyes said. “No matter how busy your day is, take time to pray, sit before the Eucharist. What better way to relate to Him than to sit before Him?”

Reyes also offers two reflections a week at the end of Mass. It provides opportunity for his own prayer and reflection and serves as practical experience allowing for feedback from priests and the congregation.

So far, Reyes said his take away from ministering with Father González is fully embracing what he calls “the ministry of presence.”

He said as a seminarian and as a young priest, there is the temptation be to be present everywhere and “super available”, having your hands in everything.

He said the grace received from Father González “is answering the question, are you actually there, present to your people? Or when you’re interacting with them, are you there physically but your mind is somewhere else?” Reyes added, “The ministry of presence is the most important thing we can offer the people because you are an image of Christ to them. When you’re present to them, you can be Christ to them, and they can experience the love of Jesus through you.” This is something he said he witnessed people receiving through Father González.

From Father Mills he has found his interactions with his seminarian friends, young priests, and family refreshing. He said he has learned “how those relationships are pivotal for longevity in a healthy, priestly life.”

Watch a reel of Seminarian Reyes’ summer assignment here.

By Glenda Meekins of the Florida Catholic staff, July 10, 2025