“I did not know what to do with my life ... so I just decided to become a cook,” said Šiško, 37. “The Lord wants me to instead of giving people food as a cook, He wants me to give spiritual food to His people; His body, His blood, His word.”

Šiško’s journey towards the priesthood began in Makarska, Croatia, as a child.

“I was somewhere between five and seven and two priests came to my house and they were joking with my father,” he said. “I was moved by their joy. I said after to my father I want to be a priest and my father told me, ‘Oh my son you will forget about it.’ ”

And with time his father’s prediction came to fruition.

“(Eventually) I wanted to forget about the Lord; I wanted to lead my own life,” he said. “So I moved away from the Church and the Lord and in this way I wounded myself deeply. I killed my soul because I separated myself from the source of life and the source of joy.”

Only when Šiško’s brother, one of three, fell fatally ill did Šiško turn his attention back to God.

“He was about to die,” said Šiško. “(So) I prayed to God even though he was a distant God for me. I prayed to God that if my brother were to die let him die in peace and God listened to my prayer, the distant God heard me.”

From there Šiško moved back towards the Church by joining a Neocatechumenal Way community. Following a number of spiritually inspirational moments — the most significant being a 2000 pilgrimage to Israel where Šiško saw Pope John Paul II celebrate Mass — Šiško joined St. Augustine’s Seminary in 2004. On May 10 Šiško’s journey towards the priesthood was realized as he was ordained for the Archdiocese of Toronto. He is assigned to Holy Family parish in Whitby.

“God gave me the grace to finish.”