Here’s a moving piece by Sean Gallagher on a young man with plans, interrupted:

In the spring of 2005, David Ballintyn was a new graduate of the University of Notre Dame.

But unlike many young graduates who strike out into the marketplace with ambitious career plans, Ballintyn decided to give of himself to God by serving two years as an apprentice in parish catechetical ministry through Notre Dame’s Echo program.

Over the course of the summer, as he was planning to minister at St. Mark the Evangelist Parish in Indianapolis, Ballintyn became sick and was later diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.

In the process, he discovered that God was asking more of him than he had originally planned to give.