Where are you from?
I was born in 1994, in the city of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka. I’m the eldest of two children. My family immigrated to Canada in 2008 and Toronto has been my home since. I’m very blessed to have been raised up in a Catholic home with devout and prayerful parents and family, with many good catholic role-models to look up to and learn from.
When you were a child, what did you dream of becoming when you grew up?
From the day I first watched the movie ‘Back to the future’, around the age of 7 or 8, I wanted to be a scientist of some sort. I must admit that when I was younger people would come up to me and ask me if I wanted to or thought of being a priest, but the priesthood was the furthest thing from my mind.
What was your background before you joined the Companions of the Cross?
I studied Astrophysics and Philosophy at the University of Toronto with the hopes of pursuing a career in theoretical physics and research. But it seems that the Lord had other plans for me!
What are your special interests?
I love climbing trees and I enjoy board games and different kinds of puzzles. I play guitar and keyboard, and I love serenading the Lord, often with my own songs of worship. Praise and worship is a big part of my prayer life.
Who, or what, inspires you?
I’m inspired and challenged daily by my patron saint St. Sebastian to live my life with a warrior’s zeal of selfless faith and mission for Christ.
What led you to join the Companions of the Cross? Could you briefly explain your vocations story?
I first encountered Christ at a Life in the Spirit Seminar and I was filled with a fire to serve God in any way that I could. So I got involved in parish ministries, charismatic prayer groups and communities, praise and worship ministries, catholic campus ministries, young and young adults groups, retreats, etc. I couldn’t get enough of it! Eventually the Lord put in my heart a desire to discern a vocation to the priesthood. He has been confirming it more and more ever since. I had already been discerning for the archdiocese of Toronto when I met Fr. Allan MacDonald at Christ the King Rally in Toronto in 2015. He invited me to check out the Companions of the Cross. When I came to see them at a ‘come-and-see’ visit at Assumption Farm, I knew instantly that this is where the Lord is calling me. I haven’t looked back since.