"The Priest"

JMJ.  I was watching the celebrant at Mass this morning and marvelled at how little like an alien he looked; remarkable, really, that he looked so much like me--and as a consequence of that alienness of his how deserving he is of our sympathy, prayers, our gratitude and loyalty. 

Consider that each man voluntarily undertakes a journey of many years' duration.  He leaves family and friends and sets out to follow in blind faith the commanding call of One whom he can neither see nor hear but Who exists as surely as do the seasons.  And with each year the path he follows leads him further and further away from the familiar.  With each step he severs one more of the ties that bound him to the world.

It's a journey fraught with danger and glory and sorrow and tears and laughter and a larger communion with our God Who alone can supply the strength and sustenance necessary for so arduous a trek.  And when this man's time is fulfilled he prostrates himself before the throne of our King and His viceroy utters the words that will sever the last earthly tie and mark him forever as an alien set apart from the rest of humanity.

He has been tried in the furnace of God's love and majesty as few others have been.  He can stand before the altar of the Lord and bring forth the eternal Creator from mere food and drink by the power of his words and the working of the Holy Ghost!  He can take my sins and cast them far from me and can restore me to the sight of the God I have offended and feed a part of my humanity that some insist does not exist.  Acting in persona Christi he will know many sleepless nights, the Evil One will target him with his darkest works, and he will never know the comfort of a wife and children of his own.

That was the being who evoked my awe this morning and I will aspire never to fail to express my gratitude to him and his brother priests for the sacrifices that they make for me.  I am their spiritual child and I glory in calling them "Father."