The call to priesthood happened early for a young man from Aiken, but listening took some time. Now he's sharing his journey to inspire others.

“I felt like Tiger Woods must have felt when he won his first Masters.”

That's how Father Andrew Trapp describes his first mass after being ordained on July 27, 2007.

This week, the 26-year-old returned to his alma mater, Aquinas High School in Augusta, to celebrate mass with students and faculty.

He also talked about his path to priesthood and his work as an associate pastor at a parish in Bluffton SC.

"It's been awesome to celebrate mass, hear confessions and help people know Christ's forgiveness and pardon, to be able to help minister to people in all their different crises. It's really been amazing,” Trapp said.

Raised Catholic, Trapp first heard the call to priesthood in the fifth grade when he saw a story about Father Damien of Malachi who dedicated his life to helping sick people in Hawaii.

But Trapp didn't realize his chosen path until freshman year at Clemson University.

He was studying to become a teacher, but left college and broke up with his girlfriend to enroll in seminary at Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio.

“I heard God's call and He gave me the strength to say ‘yes’ and even accept the sacrifice of giving up a wife and children,” Trapp said.

Students at Aquinas say his down to earth message helped them get a better understanding of the sacrifices and rewards of priesthood.

“To see a normal person, not much older than us, who becomes a priest is inspiring,” Mac McElveen, a senior at Aquinas, said.

“I think a lot of people, when they think about religious life, they're kind of taken aback, you know? They don't want to give up a family or a relationship, but he said it really fulfilled him, so that makes it more like something me and my classmates could see ourselves doing,” Sara Kennedy, a senior at Aquinas, said.

Today, Father Trapp wears his grandfather's wedding band on his left ring finger as a reminder of his union with the church.

And although he sacrificed marriage for priesthood, he says he gained a spiritual family.

He hopes his story will inspire others to answer the call.

“The priesthood is a life of sacrifice, both not only in not being married, but in so many ways. Even to minister as a protestant minister is a life of sacrifice and so not as many are willing to take up and make that kind of sacrifice for our Lord, but there's a lot of reason for hope. There's a lot of people saying 'yes.' Our seminary was full of young men saying ‘yes’ to priesthood and everywhere I go, in each parish, I meet many young men and women who are discerning a call to religious life,” Father Trapp said.

Father Andrew Trapp is an Associate Pastor at St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church in Bluffton, South Carolina. With about 5,000 members, it's one of the biggest parishes in the Diocese of Charleston.

You can read Father Trapp’s devotional messages on his website click here

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