5 Years a Priest
Five Years ago, on June 3, 2017, I was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Mobile. In these past five years, I have served as the Parochial Vicar of St Bede for 3 years and the Pastor of St John the Baptist for 2. These years have contained the most joyous moments of my life, but also some of the most difficult. The life of a priest is unpredictable, filled with God's people and the graces He offers them and through them. The day after I was ordained was Pentecost, on which I offered my first Mass of Thanksgiving. (The picture above is from that first Mass.) Monsignor Michael Farmer preached that Mass on the power of the Holy Spirit to taken broken and unworthy vessels like himself and myself and to use us to accomplish something entirely beautiful. I can now, five years later attest to that reality, both how broken and unworthy I am to hold the priesthood, and how God uses this weak man to accomplish things I have never thought possible.
I have frequently been reduced to tears and trembling after days filled with anointing the sick, witnesses countless people's final journey home to heaven, baptizing infants and those who have come to God in their adulthood, holding the hands of those who are hurting and lost, administering the Sacraments to a number of people I have completely lost track of, seeing people in their hardest struggles and in their greatest joys. Over these past 5 years, I have kept a diary of every Mass I have offered with and for the people of God, on three continents, four countries, on retreats, in front of gatherings of thousands, and at times alone, I have offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass 2,340 times, as of June 3, 2022. Yet, every time I offer the Sacrifice, it's as if it's the first time. I have heard tens of thousands of confessions and heard some of the most egregious sins, yet have been able to somehow look at the person in front of me with the tenderness of the Father.Reflecting back on Monsignor' homily, it is abundantly clear to me that these five years of grace as a priest have only been so grace filled because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life and ministry. Also clear to me is the reality that those moments where I have been a sub-par priest, pastor, and father are the moments that I have placed myself first. What I already knew before priesthood is that the Holy Spirit guides us, teaches us, and leads us into all truth, yet I had to fail and reflect back to see how that was true through my experiences as a priest.
John 14:15-31
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me; because I live, you will live also. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
25 “These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things,* and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place, you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me; 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.
The Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), Jn 14:15–31.
The biggest lesson that I have learned as a priest is the importance of humility. Those times when I have made decisions without prayer, things don't tend to go well, the seasons of my life where prayer has taken a back seat, I have lost my peace, the periods I have lived my life based on my own desires, I am left wanting more. Yet the times I have placed my relationship with God first, I have seen him operate in, through, and for me, I have been filled with His peace, I have been able to finally rest, I have found joy. After these first five years priesthood, I have a single piece of advice for anyone willing to hear it, be humble, loose your pride, allow the Holy Spirit to lead and teach you all truth, in His truth you will be peace.
Peace be with You.