Uncovering The Righteous Desire To Give Christ To Others

Brother Titus Mary Sanchez didn’t plan on becoming a priest, but a series of ordinary conversations and courageous friends led him to a life-changing encounter with Christ. Now preparing for ordination in the Order of Preachers, he shares how small invitations, honest questions, and the Dominican formation helped him uncover his calling: to give Christ to others.

Sometimes God speaks to us through a single moment of insight. Other times, He puts people in our path whose witness, honesty, and courage to ask the right questions draw us closer to Him.    

That’s how the Lord chose to make Himself known to current DHS student and soon-to-be ordained priest Brother Titus Mary Sanchez, O.P.  There was no burning bush miracle or singular moment of clarity. Instead, God directed Brother Titus to religious life through seemingly normal events, like friends willing to speak openly about their faith, unexpected invitations, and ordinary conversations.

Originally from Fort Worth, Texas, Brother Titus didn’t set out to become a priest. He certainly didn’t arrive at college seeking to increase his faith. But God, in His mercy, surrounded him with people who weren’t afraid to talk about Jesus. Those people changed everything. 

“They were just the hand,” he says. “They were the messengers of God for me, challenging me in ways I’d never been challenged before.”

Now, just a few years later, Brother Titus is set to be ordained in the Order of Preachers, with this as his stated goal: 

“I want to give Christ to others.”

A Question That Changed Everything

The first spark came in a dorm room at Southern Methodist University. It was the second or third week of his freshman year, and he was sitting with a new friend when the question came out of nowhere:

“Do you pray?”

It was a simple inquiry, but no one had ever asked him. Raised in a culturally Catholic household in Fort Worth, Texas, Brother Titus grew up going to Mass on Sundays, but faith didn’t extend much beyond that.

 “It was kind of like the salt and pepper shakers on the table,” he recalls. “You don’t go to the table to look at them, they’re just there.” God was present, but unexamined.

“I thought about that question,” he remembers. “And I answered honestly: No, I don’t.”

It was a strange moment. It wasn’t accusatory or confrontational, just honest. But it cracked something open. “It made me see myself in a new way. Like, wait, why don’t I pray?” 

“Is that who I want to be?”

Grace in a Thousand Invitations

God didn’t change Brother Titus’s life all at once. Instead, grace came slowly through a thousand small invitations.

“It was a process,” he says. “Kind of like coming in from a rainstorm. You stomp your boots and take off your wet jacket, but your pants are still damp and muddy. There’s more to clean. That’s what coming into the faith felt like. It was gradual, but real.”

Little by little, old assumptions were stripped away. New habits began to form. He started reading Scripture, praying regularly, and asking his own questions. 

“There was a lot of growth that happened that year,” he says. “And it was that year, too, when I first considered becoming a priest. That idea had never once crossed my mind before.”

A Voice from Within

The most decisive moment came later that semester in another quiet dorm room conversation, through another simple yet complex question. His friends had just walked him through the basic message of the Gospel and asked plainly, “Do you want God?”

The answer came from somewhere deep.

“It wasn’t from me, but it came from me,” he recalls. “I want God.”

That phrase—clear, sincere, and unshakable—was not just a fleeting sentiment. It became a reorientation. “I knew the end: I want God. So then came the question—what are the means? What needs to change in my life to pursue Him? What needs to be removed?”

That semester altered the trajectory of his college years and his entire life.

Practicing the Faith by Preaching It

Over time, he moved from being the one receiving the questions to being the one asking them.

He and a close-knit group of friends began to live their Catholic faith publicly and joyfully but without pretense. They played Spikeball on the campus lawn, invited new friends out for pizza, said grace before meals, and prayed the Rosary. In simple, natural ways, they introduced others to Christ.

“I like to think we were just normal guys who happened to love Jesus,” he says. “We weren’t saints—we weren’t even trying to be impressive. But we were intentional. We knew who we were, and we wanted to share it.”

Drawn to the Order of Preachers

By senior year, the idea of becoming a priest was no longer just in the background. “I wasn’t applying for jobs,” he says. “I was discerning where God was calling me.”

When he visited the Dominican House of Studies, something clicked. He was drawn to the prayer life, the sense of fraternity, and the Marian devotion. But what most attracted him was the charism of the Order itself.

“The number one reason I became a Dominican is because we are the Order of Preachers,” he says. “All of this—all the study, the prayer, the common life—it’s to give Christ to others.”

One moment on that visit stands out in his memory. A Dominican priest had just finished explaining the Order’s mission, and someone asked whether it was really about preaching or just about being intellectual. The priest didn’t hesitate.

“We’re not the Order of intellectuals,” he said. “We’re the Order of Preachers.”

That was the answer Brother Titus didn’t know he was waiting for.

Formed by the House

His years of formation at DHS have been equal parts humbling and transformative. “You come in thinking maybe you’re smart or capable, and then you’re sitting next to guys who are just off the charts,” he laughs. “It’s a small pond, and all the fish are big.”

But he hasn’t found the academic, spiritual, and personal intensity discouraging. He recognizes that it is meant to refine. 

“You realize that your brothers have gifts you don’t have, and that’s a good thing,” he says. “It’s not about being the smartest guy in the room. It’s about growing together in the truth.”

At DHS, study is not isolated. It’s communal. The brothers read, think, and wrestle with the most profound questions of the faith. This is not done for self-glorification. It is for the sake of preaching, and ultimately, to glorify God.

“The House doesn’t just give you knowledge,” he says. “It shapes you to serve.”

A Future in Christ

Brother Titus will be ordained a priest in the Order of Preachers this June. He’ll remain in Washington for another year to complete his licentiate in Sacred Theology, and then he’ll receive his first assignment—wherever the Province needs him.

He doesn’t know exactly what lies ahead, but he knows why he is going.

“I want to give Christ to others,” he says. “That’s what a priest does. That’s what a Dominican does. That’s what I’ve received, and now I want others to receive it too.”

You can empower our mission to ensure preacher’s are formed to give Christ to others. If reading Brother Titus’s story compels you to do so, please click here to support the Dominican House of Studies.