Father Ben Little
Ten years into his priestly life, Father Benjamin Little said, priesthood has confirmed what he anticipated. “I knew it would be beautiful and sacrificial all at once, but until you actually live it, you don’t know how true that is,” he said.
“Sacramental ministry and preaching, in particular, are the real joys and the things you savor and you’re just in awe of, as a priest, that this is happening through me for God’s people,” he said. “And even the unexpected things you’re asked to do, things you take on, things you learn and forget, and learn again.”
Father Little, 38, pastor of St. John the Baptist in Savage, said parish administration and its responsibilities and needs, and friendships entered into with families, have enriched his life and priesthood.
One family that impacted him greatly during his time serving at St. Michael in Farmington from 2015 to 2020 had a son diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumor around the time a younger brother was to be confirmed. Father Little asked Archbishop Bernard Hebda for permission to confirm the younger brother “maybe quietly, given everything else that was happening within the family.” Instead, Archbishop Hebda came to a Mass at St. Michael and administered anointing of the sick to the older brother, JD, and confirmed the younger brother, Lucas, “and then walked with that particular family through the months that followed until JD went home to the Lord,” Father Little said.
A bond developed with the family simply because “we were there,” Father Little said, present in the moment. “And the Lord did a beautiful thing and JD’s memory is precious to me, and that closeness to the family.”
Father Little said Bishop Donald DeGrood, who was a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis until his installment in 2019 as the bishop of Sioux Falls, also has been instrumental to his priesthood.
Following Father Little’s 2012 ordination, his first assignment was as assistant priest at St. Peter in Forest Lake, where then-Father DeGrood served as pastor. Father Little said he developed “a deep relationship with him.” He also succeeded then-Father DeGrood at St. John the Baptist, which has been a great blessing, Father Little said.
Bishop DeGrood and many other priests have “modeled Christ for me as a priest,” Father Little said. “It’s Christ who I’m following and imitating, and hoping that others can see and know in me through my priesthood.”
Father Little said his vision for his own priesthood has been to minister as a parish priest, which he loves. “I just … want to be more and more in awe of priesthood every day,” he said. Since childhood, priests have inspired him, he said, “and I want to keep going.”
As for advice to newly ordained priests and to seminarians, Father Little said, when serving the Lord, prepare for trials, but expect many joys as well.
“Ask the Holy Spirit to keep giving you the gift of awe at the priesthood you share with Jesus,” he said. “Never close yourself off to the depth of relationship with the Lord and with his people. It’ll hurt sometimes, but it’ll bring a deeper joy than you could ever imagine.”
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