On the Tuesday of Holy Week many of the priests of the Diocese gathered downtown with Bishop Malesic for the Chrism Mass at which all the Holy Oils that we use during the year were blessed & consecrated. Before the Mass, as has been the tradition for many years now, we gathered together with the Bishop for prayer & a meal.

   During the prayer one of the priests of the Diocese is invited to share a reflection. This year’s reflection was given by Fr. Eric Garris who serves as our Diocesan Vocations Director. During his talk, in which he reflected upon the beauty of the priesthood, Fr. Garris, challenged each of us to, on the 4th Sunday of Easter, share our vocation story with our parish. How did we get to where we are? Where do we find the joy in our priesthood. I’ll preach about that this weekend, but since I haven’t learned bilocation & can’t share it with everyone at each Mass, I wanted to share a bit with you here in this column.

   It was the joy & example of a retired priest in residence at my home parish, Fr. Joe Goebel, who began to cultivate the seeds of a priestly vocation in my life. I had been starting to think about what I wanted to do in life as I got closer to high school graduation & it was Fr. Goebel’s joy & his priestly enthusiasm that lit the spark within me that the priesthood was something that God might be calling me to. Fr. Goebel was the one who I sat down with the first time that I told someone other than my parents that I thought I might be called to priesthood. It was he, & Fr. Bob Friedel who was the Pastor at the time, who pointed me in the direction of the Seminary. Over my time in the Seminary, other priests, such as Fr. John Singler who became Pastor at my home parish when Fr. Friedel retired, along with priests at the Seminary like Fr. Tom Tifft kept cultivating that vocation within me.

  This year, on May 12th, I’ll celebrate 16 years of Priesthood & where I find the joy in what I do is when I am able to help bring the presence of God to others. I’m amazed by how, even when I am humanly stressed & exhausted, God is able to work through me to reveal His presence. The joy sometimes wavers, especially in the weeks where it seems like one thing after another needs to be done & sometimes I allow my human frustrations & anxiety to get in the way, but I truly find joy each & every day in being a priest.

  Please continue to pray for me as I seek to do my best to minister to both parish families & please pray for all our priests. Pray too for our seminarians & for all those who are discerning their vocation. May the Master of the Harvest send out more laborers for His harvest!