Praise be to God for all that He has accomplished in my life. 

It was only in my early twenties that I began to realise that God might be calling me to the priesthood. 

I was born in Saudi Arabia while my mother was working there as a nurse. A few months later I was brought to India, where I was baptised into the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church. I received much of my early Christian formation there, particularly through the witness of my grandmother, Mariamma, and her aunt, Saramma. Although I learned many prayers and was given a strong foundation in the faith, I gradually drifted away from religious practice after our family migrated from Kerala to Oxfordshire. It was there that my father, Titto Thomas, my mother, Desy Titto, my sister, Jis Maria, and I began to build our life together in the United Kingdom. As a teenager, I practised my faith rather reluctantly and often needed considerable encouragement from my mother to attend church, which she gave without wavering! 

From an early age, I had a sense that God hears and answers prayer. As a child and teenager, I attended various retreats and spiritual programmes through both Catholic and Orthodox communities, including Christeen, Jesus Youth, Shalom, and Sehion Ministries. These experiences helped to nurture my faith, even during periods when my commitment to religious practice was inconsistent. I particularly remember experiencing God’s mercy rather than condemnation in my first confession, which I made to Rev. Fr Eldhose Koottappala Cor-Episcopa in the Jacobite Church. Before beginning university, I also benefited greatly from attending a residential SOE retreat under the guidance of Rev. Fr Soji Olickal. I remain grateful for the warmth, dedication, and witness of the many priests, religious, and full-time missionaries who invested in me during those years, especially those associated with Sehion Ministries. I also fondly remember my encounters with the priests of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, especially His Grace Mor Philoxenos Zacharias, the bishop responsible for the United Kingdom.

However, a decisive turning point came during my third year at university, when I was studying Mathematics. Through various Catholic movements and the university chaplaincy, attending daily Masses at the Oratories of Oxford and Birmingham, my faith began to deepen. Still, it was through meeting Br. Prince Vithayathil, later the founder of the Missionaries of Apostolic Grace, that my life took a new direction.

I was struck by Br. Prince’s love for the Word of God, his devotion to the Eucharist, and his love for Our Lady. Around that time, I was reading True Devotion to Mary by St Louis de Montfort. Through that book, I discovered a Marian spirituality that drew me more deeply to Christ through humility, self-surrender, and trust in Our Lady. What particularly impressed me was that the spirituality I encountered in St Louis de Montfort was not merely devotional sentiment; it was deeply rooted in Sacred Scripture. As Br Prince guided me through the Scriptures, I began to see the very same themes reflected there.  

The biblical foundations he showed me helped me to understand and embrace more fully what I was reading in True Devotion and other books such as Imitation of Christ, and some of the works of St. Augustine. In this way, these books and his teaching complemented one another, deepening my love for Christ, the Eucharist, Our Lady, and the Word of God. At the same time, I was becoming increasingly convinced of the truth of the Catholic faith, particularly through Sacred Scripture, Apostolic succession, and communion with the See of Rome. 

Through the guidance of Brother Prince, I gradually adopted what would later become the spiritual pillars of the Missionaries of Apostolic Grace: daily Mass, regular prayer, meditation on Sacred Scripture, and striving to offer every action through the hands of Our Lady for the glory of God. These practices provided a concrete framework for living the faith and helped me to grow in a more disciplined and intentional relationship with Christ. 

Among the many Scripture passages that Brother Prince shared and reflected upon, one verse in particular remained deeply impressed upon my heart: 

“I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one” (1 John 2:14).”

To overcome the evil one, I must allow God’s Word to dwell in my heart. Our Lady herself treasured and pondered the Word of God within her.  

Over a few years, while serving in youth ministry, helping with retreats, training as a teacher, and later working in accountancy, I gradually became aware that the Lord was calling me to give myself entirely to Him through the ministerial priesthood. 

I remember hearing a song written by Br. Prince about the priesthood. The opening line says that the priest leaves behind his own people, his own home, and gives his life for the Church. Those words resonated deeply within me, perhaps more so at that time, when it needed to! Like many vocations, my own involved difficult conversations and sacrifices, especially as my family tried to understand my desire not to marry but to become a priest. Yet through prayer and discernment, I became increasingly certain that this was the path to which God was calling me. 

Looking back, I can see the providence of God at every stage of the journey: through my family, through the foundations in the Jacobite Church, through the Catholic faith, through Scripture, Our Lady, and the many people who helped me along the way. For all of these gifts, and above all for the gift of the priestly vocation, I give thanks to God — the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and to Mary, the Mother of Jesus. 

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