I suppose that I have poor blogger etiquette being that I am trying to blog Monday through Friday and have only accomplished that once. Hopefully you will forgive me for being inconsistent and continue to come back as I work on being consistent. I do need to work to bring this set to a conclusion on why I want to be a priest.
The best answer for why I want to be a priest is that over time I have discovered that deciding to cooperate with God is far better than trying to move through life on my own. I have not abdicated my freedom. In fact, it is just the opposite. In freedom I have discovered that when I cooperate with God’s grace, then I know the joy to the fullest.
It took a number of years to discover this. Thanks to my parents I knew that obedience was a good virtue to practice. Thanks also to my parents I knew that I could trust in authority. I did not spend much of my youth in rebellion but I spent much of my youth knowing that my parents and grandparents loved me. I suppose this was why it was easy for me to enter the seminary and why I enjoyed many parts of the seminary.
I did spend much of college always looking around for what I thought would be fun or interesting to do. Much of the time this was my own perception and ideas. It was not until I considered Theology school that I began to answer the question about being a diocesan priest or a religious priest. The answer finally came to me mid way through my senior year in college. I knew that God wanted me to be with my diocesan brothers and not in some other community. So through pray and releasing my selfish tendencies I was finally able to hear and know what God wanted.
This led to what has been the happiest day of my life. It was the Ordination to the Diaconate. It was happy because I had finally arrived at what I had been working for so long. I was being ordained at the Josephinum with good friends and I had family and friends to witness the event. Ultimately I was happy because I had what I can only describe as a surplus of God’s grace. I am certain that I knew that God was happy and that made me happy. To this day I still have some of that joy with me.
There have been tough days as a priest. There have been some days that I would not want to repeat. But there has not been a day where I regretted cooperating with God. I truly understand the passage 15:11 from the Gospel of John.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Why I want to be a priest
Unfortunately sometimes when we look at careers we have a tendency to see if we are attracted to the actions of the job or what the job will allow us to do. When I was young I always dreamed about working for George Lucas and helping in the Star Wars movies. Being part of the Star Wars Production seemed to be the ideal job. As I got older, I realized my skills would probably not lend me to be able to have a career for Lucas. In high school I did find one of my talents, that is the gift of speaking. I was able to overwhelm my sisters with the strength of my voice, which seemed to give me more joy than them. So I took notice that part of the Mass was the homily, the priest speaking to the people in the Church. I think this was first started my attraction to the priesthood. I admired that Fr. Arnold, Fr. Dunn and Fr. Trenor were not only sincere men of prayer, but they were wise men that knew how to relate the world and the Church together. As I listened to them more I began to see myself potentially as a priest. This insight allowed me to start thinking that being a priest was not only possible but would be a worthy task.
Preaching is an activity that I very much enjoy as a priest. In fact, I am sad when I look at the schedule and see that the deacons are preaching. It is an activity that takes work and effort, but it is a labor that I enjoy. It requires several things. First and foremost it requires grace. Preaching is not what I think people need to hear, but what the God and the Church need people to hear. Second it takes a daily prayer life. You have to go to God daily, so that you know Him and are receptive to the information. It takes an education from the Church. Just speak with any of the seminarians; being a priest has an academic component that must be completed. It also takes a great knowledge of the community; you must know your parishioners. It also takes a listening ear on the part of the preacher. I know that I in need of the message of the homily myself.
Sometimes when I look back on what I wanted to do with my life, when it was just what I thought possible or wanted, I laugh at myself. Now when I look at what I am able to do because of answering God’s call I see how what He wanted is far better than I could have imagined. I think most young boys dream of doing a job that is of service to society, then when they get into high school, the world presses them to be concerned about what they can do for themselves to survive in the world. Grace is what should inspire us to see how we can make what God wants for us with what we want and then accomplish more than we could dream.
Preaching is an activity that I very much enjoy as a priest. In fact, I am sad when I look at the schedule and see that the deacons are preaching. It is an activity that takes work and effort, but it is a labor that I enjoy. It requires several things. First and foremost it requires grace. Preaching is not what I think people need to hear, but what the God and the Church need people to hear. Second it takes a daily prayer life. You have to go to God daily, so that you know Him and are receptive to the information. It takes an education from the Church. Just speak with any of the seminarians; being a priest has an academic component that must be completed. It also takes a great knowledge of the community; you must know your parishioners. It also takes a listening ear on the part of the preacher. I know that I in need of the message of the homily myself.
Sometimes when I look back on what I wanted to do with my life, when it was just what I thought possible or wanted, I laugh at myself. Now when I look at what I am able to do because of answering God’s call I see how what He wanted is far better than I could have imagined. I think most young boys dream of doing a job that is of service to society, then when they get into high school, the world presses them to be concerned about what they can do for themselves to survive in the world. Grace is what should inspire us to see how we can make what God wants for us with what we want and then accomplish more than we could dream.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Why I want to be a priest
A commodity today besides money is time. There never seems to be enough time. In talking with people one of the points I hear over and over again is I don’t have enough time to be…. And the list is long that can come after the “be.” Whether it “be” a better golfer, “be” a better husband, “be” a better child, etc. We seem to realize that we have not made enough time to fulfill a commitment in our lives.
As a priest I hear from people that they don’t pray enough or that they are not the person that they should be. I encourage people to place prayer in their schedules. Sometimes we taken it as a given that prayer needs to occur, but we never write it into our daily routines, so our daily life slips by and we never accomplish this task that we know as important.
In the Ordination to the Diaconate there is an examination of the candidate in which the man must answer, “I am” to a series of questions. One of the questions is:
Are you resolved to maintain and deepen a spirit of prayer appropriate to your way of life and, in keeping with what is required of you, to celebrate faithfully the liturgy of the hours for the Church and the whole world?
The man then answers, “I am” to the Bishop asked the question. This is another great reason to be a priest. It is our responsibility and job to pray. I encounter many people who state that they do not enough time to pray and devote themselves to God. And here I have been called to a life where I actually can and I am held accountable to this ideal.
As a priest I have the responsibility to have my own prayer life, but I am also charged with praying for the Church and for the world. People expect a fireman to put out the fire, they expect the police to uphold the law, and they expect a priest to be a man of prayer. I know that I am graced to have as a daily priority what so many people want in their life, but don’t always accomplish.
As a priest I hear from people that they don’t pray enough or that they are not the person that they should be. I encourage people to place prayer in their schedules. Sometimes we taken it as a given that prayer needs to occur, but we never write it into our daily routines, so our daily life slips by and we never accomplish this task that we know as important.
In the Ordination to the Diaconate there is an examination of the candidate in which the man must answer, “I am” to a series of questions. One of the questions is:
Are you resolved to maintain and deepen a spirit of prayer appropriate to your way of life and, in keeping with what is required of you, to celebrate faithfully the liturgy of the hours for the Church and the whole world?
The man then answers, “I am” to the Bishop asked the question. This is another great reason to be a priest. It is our responsibility and job to pray. I encounter many people who state that they do not enough time to pray and devote themselves to God. And here I have been called to a life where I actually can and I am held accountable to this ideal.
As a priest I have the responsibility to have my own prayer life, but I am also charged with praying for the Church and for the world. People expect a fireman to put out the fire, they expect the police to uphold the law, and they expect a priest to be a man of prayer. I know that I am graced to have as a daily priority what so many people want in their life, but don’t always accomplish.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Why I want to be a priest
In some jobs it is obvious why someone wants to do it. When I saw the movie Top Gun I wanted to be a naval aviator; being shot off a carrier and flying at incredible speeds who would not want to do that. Watching fire trucks rush by I think makes everyone think about fighting fires. Just recently I was watching Mythbusters with my dad. He was confused about the plot of the show for about ten minutes before he understood and now watches regularly. Watching a priest does not always inspire someone to think about answering the call to priesthood. It is a decision that is less obvious. But being less obvious does not means that it does not have some great aspects.
One of my favorite aspects of the priesthood is the Eucharistic Prayer. It is a prayer that I did not really understand until I was ordained and began to pray it actively for the Church. I understood the words from when I was a little kid, but I never really listened to the concept. It was always a time that I felt disconnected from the Mass because it was something the priest said and I had to wait patiently until he was done. I learned about it in college seminary and in theology. I began to understand it from an intellectual standpoint. When I was ordained to the diaconate, I knew it well because now I was turning the pages of the Sacramentary for the priest. But it was not until I was a priest that it really dawned on me what was taking place.
On the altar are the gifts that God has asked for, wine and bread. By the Eucharistic Prayer, the priest, states the prayer of Jesus to the Father and by means of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, God accepts the gifts and transforms them and returns them to us. There are a couple of parts that always cause me great joy. In the second Eucharistic Prayer the priests states:
Lord, You are holy indeed, the fountain of all holiness.
I get to stand right next to the font of holiness. I can see how a fountain is always throwing water up into the air and some of that spray gets carried by the wind. I have been to Victoria Falls in Africa and felt that powerful spray that can be seen for miles. So everyday I stand next to the font and am doused in holiness. In the third Eucharistic Prayer the priest states:
And so, Father, we bring You these gifts. We ask You to make them holy by the power of Your Spirit…
Sometimes people ask me as a priest where is God in this world. One answer is that God is present on that altar every time Mass is celebrated. In the first Eucharistic Prayer it states:
Then, as we receive from this altar the Sacred Body and Blood of Your Son, let us be filled with every grace and blessing.
I know that I need all the help I can get and in the Eucharist prayer we have God giving Himself in the Eucharist. God is giving Himself to help us to be conformed to His image.
Being a priest means cooperating with the Divine rather than the mundane of a jet or an explosion.
One of my favorite aspects of the priesthood is the Eucharistic Prayer. It is a prayer that I did not really understand until I was ordained and began to pray it actively for the Church. I understood the words from when I was a little kid, but I never really listened to the concept. It was always a time that I felt disconnected from the Mass because it was something the priest said and I had to wait patiently until he was done. I learned about it in college seminary and in theology. I began to understand it from an intellectual standpoint. When I was ordained to the diaconate, I knew it well because now I was turning the pages of the Sacramentary for the priest. But it was not until I was a priest that it really dawned on me what was taking place.
On the altar are the gifts that God has asked for, wine and bread. By the Eucharistic Prayer, the priest, states the prayer of Jesus to the Father and by means of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, God accepts the gifts and transforms them and returns them to us. There are a couple of parts that always cause me great joy. In the second Eucharistic Prayer the priests states:
Lord, You are holy indeed, the fountain of all holiness.
I get to stand right next to the font of holiness. I can see how a fountain is always throwing water up into the air and some of that spray gets carried by the wind. I have been to Victoria Falls in Africa and felt that powerful spray that can be seen for miles. So everyday I stand next to the font and am doused in holiness. In the third Eucharistic Prayer the priest states:
And so, Father, we bring You these gifts. We ask You to make them holy by the power of Your Spirit…
Sometimes people ask me as a priest where is God in this world. One answer is that God is present on that altar every time Mass is celebrated. In the first Eucharistic Prayer it states:
Then, as we receive from this altar the Sacred Body and Blood of Your Son, let us be filled with every grace and blessing.
I know that I need all the help I can get and in the Eucharist prayer we have God giving Himself in the Eucharist. God is giving Himself to help us to be conformed to His image.
Being a priest means cooperating with the Divine rather than the mundane of a jet or an explosion.
Friday, January 4, 2008
the Best Gift
The second Christmas Preface reads:
Today You fill our hearts with joy as we recognize in Christ the revelation of Your love. No eye can see His glory as God, yet now He is one like us. Christ is Your Son before all ages, yet now He is born in time. He has come to lift up all things to Himself, to restore unity to creation, and to lead mankind from exile into Your heavenly kingdom.
Pope Benedict preached the following in his Inaugural homily:
[Jesus] leaps to His feet and abandons the glory of heaven, in order to go in search of the sheep and pursue it, all the way to the Cross. He takes it upon His shoulders and carries our humanity; He carries us all…
During this season of Christmas it is easy for us to lose sight Christ for a variety of reasons. But during this season of Christmas we must work to people who give thanks for God and the birth of Jesus. The description of Jesus leaping to His feet and landing in the womb of Mary to walk ultimately to the Cross is the best gift. It is the gift that we MOST need.
This season should inspire us to act as Christ. Pope Benedict closed the homily with these words:
Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and He gives you everything. When we give ourselves to Him, we receive a hundred fold in return.
Today You fill our hearts with joy as we recognize in Christ the revelation of Your love. No eye can see His glory as God, yet now He is one like us. Christ is Your Son before all ages, yet now He is born in time. He has come to lift up all things to Himself, to restore unity to creation, and to lead mankind from exile into Your heavenly kingdom.
Pope Benedict preached the following in his Inaugural homily:
[Jesus] leaps to His feet and abandons the glory of heaven, in order to go in search of the sheep and pursue it, all the way to the Cross. He takes it upon His shoulders and carries our humanity; He carries us all…
During this season of Christmas it is easy for us to lose sight Christ for a variety of reasons. But during this season of Christmas we must work to people who give thanks for God and the birth of Jesus. The description of Jesus leaping to His feet and landing in the womb of Mary to walk ultimately to the Cross is the best gift. It is the gift that we MOST need.
This season should inspire us to act as Christ. Pope Benedict closed the homily with these words:
Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and He gives you everything. When we give ourselves to Him, we receive a hundred fold in return.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Finding Jesus
In Advent we looked at the theology in the Prefaces of the Eucharistic Prayer. As we are now well into Christmas we will do the same. There are three that we use up to Epiphany.
The first one reads:
In the wonder of the Incarnation Your eternal Word has brought to the eyes of faith a new and radiant vision of Your glory. In Him we see our God made visible and so are caught up in the love of the God we cannot see.
This preface teaches us that we are privileged to be able now to see God. That the long awaited Messiah announced by the prophets in the Old Testament has finally emerged on earth among humanity.
It also highlights one of favorite teachings in the Catholic Church and that is the beatific vision, “contemplation of God in His heavenly glory (Catechism, 1028).” This is a great reason to attend Mass. That is to be in the presence of the Eucharist, Christ Himself. The more we are around Him, the more we will know Him, become like Him and aspire to act as He acts. The more we around Him, the more grace we will receive which will motivate us to draw ever closer to Him.
Pope Benedict talked about the fear of eternity in his latest encyclical. The fear arising from the not know what will occupy us and our time in heaven for such a long time. The beatific vision will satisfy our needs. The problem is that it will happen in a way beyond what we can imagine now. But if we work on the ability to be in awe of God now we will be reassured on how this will take place by God’s grace giving us wisdom, courage and peace.
Discernment is an activity and it requires action. During this season of Christmas find Jesus!
The first one reads:
In the wonder of the Incarnation Your eternal Word has brought to the eyes of faith a new and radiant vision of Your glory. In Him we see our God made visible and so are caught up in the love of the God we cannot see.
This preface teaches us that we are privileged to be able now to see God. That the long awaited Messiah announced by the prophets in the Old Testament has finally emerged on earth among humanity.
It also highlights one of favorite teachings in the Catholic Church and that is the beatific vision, “contemplation of God in His heavenly glory (Catechism, 1028).” This is a great reason to attend Mass. That is to be in the presence of the Eucharist, Christ Himself. The more we are around Him, the more we will know Him, become like Him and aspire to act as He acts. The more we around Him, the more grace we will receive which will motivate us to draw ever closer to Him.
Pope Benedict talked about the fear of eternity in his latest encyclical. The fear arising from the not know what will occupy us and our time in heaven for such a long time. The beatific vision will satisfy our needs. The problem is that it will happen in a way beyond what we can imagine now. But if we work on the ability to be in awe of God now we will be reassured on how this will take place by God’s grace giving us wisdom, courage and peace.
Discernment is an activity and it requires action. During this season of Christmas find Jesus!
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