Cardinal Cupich’s path to priesthood did not include a “lightning bolt” moment, he told students at St. Andrew School, on Feb. 2.

The cardinal spoke to students on Thursday of Catholic Schools Week, a day set aside to celebrate and learn about vocations, so he shared his own vocation story.

His story was one of gradual realization and understanding, he said.

“I had to think about not what I wanted to do, but what God wanted me to do,” Cardinal Cupich said. “The answer kept coming in a slow, easy way. God was very gentle with me.”

He advised the students to think the same way when they consider their vocations.

“The word ‘vocation’ comes from the word for ‘to call,’” he explained. “God is calling you to do something. You need to think about what God is calling you to do, not what other people are expecting you to do, or something to make money or become famous.”

Cardinal Cupich was first asked to consider priesthood by the pastor of his home parish in Omaha, Nebraska, who suggested that the parish sponsor young Blase Cupich at the high school seminary. The cardinal’s parents said no, that he was welcome to go to college seminary when it came time for that, but he was theirs to raise until he got out of high school.

But they also told him and his eight siblings that they should not rule out a life in service to the church too quickly, without giving it serious thought.

In high school, he did not think much about becoming a priest, he said. He was involved in lots of activities and served as student council president and assumed he would go off to college and study something else, especially since his older brother was already in college seminary.

The pastor again suggested that he consider entering the seminary.

“I thought it was like those coupons, one per family,” the cardinal told the students. “He told me that wasn’t the case.”

Cardinal Cupich went to undergraduate seminary at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. After four years, the archbishop of Omaha suggested that he do his major seminary studies in Rome.

“I told him, ‘I’m not ready to sign on the dotted line yet,’” the cardinal said. “He said, ‘That’s OK. We’re not ready to ordain you yet.’”

He did study in Rome, and was ordained a priest four years later. His career in ministry included time as an associate pastor and pastor, but also time working at the Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, D.C., and as rector and president of Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio.

He also earned a doctorate in theology in 1987, 12 years after being ordained a priest.

In 1998, he was appointed bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota, by St. John Paul II; in 2010, he was appointed bishop of Spokane, Washington, by Pope Benedict XVI; and in 2014, Pope Francis appointed him archbishop of Chicago. He became a member of the College of Cardinals in 2016.

When a student asked how long he had to study and prepare to be a cardinal, he said, “I was 67 when I became a cardinal, and everything I did helped prepare me for that, so 67 years. That’s a long time to prepare for something.”

Catherine Blair, an eighth grader and president of the school’s student council, said she was surprised at how much Cardinal Cupich had studied and how much he had done before becoming archbishop of Chicago.

“Being a cardinal, you don’t just stay in one place,” Catherine said. “You have to move around a lot.”

Another student asked why cardinals wear red.

Cardinals, he explained, are called on to protect the church, even to the point of shedding their blood if necessary.

Some people might think cardinals are named after the red birds that are common in North America, he said, but it is the other way around. European explorers thought the red feathers of the birds made them look like Catholic cardinals.

Another student asked if Cardinal Cupich had met the pope. The cardinal replied that he has met four popes: Pope Paul VI, St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. He knows Pope Francis the best because he travels to the Vatican frequently to work with Vatican groups and committees.

“He’s very nice to be with, and he has a great sense of humor,” Cardinal Cupich said of Pope Francis.

Asked who he looks up to and admires, the cardinal said the older he gets, the more he admires his parents. His mother was a homemaker and his father worked for the U.S. Postal Service, and took on other jobs to make ends meet.

They provided a good home and a good education for all of their nine children, Cardinal Cupich said.

“They sacrificed so much and they did so much for us, and they didn’t make a big deal about it,” he said. “They thought it was what they were supposed to do.”