My Story
“I’ve always believed that stories—especially sacred ones—aren’t just meant to be read. They’re meant to be lived, wrestled with, and passed on.”
I grew up in Coachella, California, and went on to earn a double bachelor’s degree in Theology and Philosophy. My journey has taken me through seminary halls and parish chapels, where I discovered not just doctrine, but drama—where the lives of the saints and the life of Christ became not just teachings, but stories I longed to share.
My first book, In the Shadow of the Cross, began as a parish play and grew into a prayer of light and shadow—a Passion retold not through spectacle, but through stillness and reverence.
My second, Blessed Are the Pure, was written for those who still dare to believe in virtue—those who feel the tension of our culture and long for something clearer, deeper, and more true.
And if you've come this far, perhaps that's you.
My own life has taught me that faith is rarely lived on mountaintops alone. Scripture is filled with stories of exile—of wandering, waiting, and learning to trust God when the destination disappears beyond the horizon. Like Israel by the rivers of Babylon, there are seasons when God seems to ask us to sing the songs of Zion in a foreign land.
Those seasons changed me.
They taught me that hope is not optimism, that perseverance is not stubbornness, and that God's greatest work is often accomplished in hidden years long before anyone sees the fruit.
That is why I write.
While the world increasingly claims the month of June to celebrate pride, I felt called to reclaim it—not in protest, but in witness. Not as a condemnation of people, but as a celebration of purity. Not a loud rebuttal, but a quiet procession of saints.
Blessed Are the Pure began with a simple question:
What if we filled June with the lives of those who chose chastity—not only in body, but in heart, intention, and purpose?
What if each day echoed not with slogans, but with stories of virtue that challenge, illuminate, and inspire?
This book was born from that desire. It is both a devotional and a declaration: that purity is not repression—it is strength. That chastity is not shame—it is clarity. And that in an age of confusion, the saints still speak, still shine, and still show us the way home.
This is not a book of rules.
It is a book about love—love disciplined by grace and rooted in the Sacred Heart of Christ.
But my work does not end with devotional writing.
I also write fiction, most notably the growing Toll Booth Universe, where mysterious toll booths demand intangible tolls in exchange for passage. Memory. Identity. Desire. Through supernatural stories, I explore the same questions that have always captivated me: what are we willing to surrender, what truly has value, and what does redemption cost?
Different in form, but not in purpose.
Whether through theology or fiction, every page is an attempt to illuminate truth.
Today I continue that work while preparing for the priesthood as a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Las Vegas. My vocation and my writing are not competing callings; they are different expressions of the same desire—to lead others toward Jesus Christ.
I do not write because I possess all the answers. I write because the saints found them. They have shown me that holiness is often quiet, often costly, and always worth the price. If my work serves any purpose, I hope it is simply this: to hold up a lantern on the road to Heaven, its light borrowed from those who walked before us.
We are all walking toward the same Cross.
And there is still room in its shadow for one more soul.
Stephen A. Codekas is a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Las Vegas. The views and opinions expressed throughout this website, its articles, and published works are solely those of the author and should not be understood as official statements or positions of the Archdiocese of Las Vegas.