Dear Parishioners,
Blessed New Year! On December 30th, I’m flying to Israel for a 2-week pilgrimage to the Holy Land (delayed a year due to COVID) with fellow seminary alumni classmates and this year’s Deacon class from Mount St. Mary’s Seminary. Please pray for me, as I keep you in my prayers.
My first 6 months. I cannot begin to count the many blessings and graces and inspirations I’ve received
from you while serving as your Associate Pastor here at St. Jane Frances and Our Lady of the Chesapeake these past 6 months, witnessing and experiencing your desire to know, love, and serve God and neighbor, expressed through countless acts of love and service.
Since I’m often asked, “Why did you became a priest?” and “What can I pray for you?” I thought I’d share an answer to both questions (and also for anyone who may be considering the priesthood). It’s an excerpt from an essay I wrote almost 8 years ago for application to become a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Baltimore in response to “Why do I want to be a priest?” which still rings soundly in my soul. My New Year’s resolution is to live up to these words, through the grace of God and your prayers.
“I would like to become a priest so that I can bring Christ to others and bring others to Christ through the sacraments, to be an instrument of God’s grace through the most profound and sacred moments in their lives: being born again through baptism, becoming free from the slavery of sin through the absolution of it, offering sacrifice and thanksgiving on behalf of God’s people and giving them Jesus in the Eucharist to sustain them, witnessing and blessing the life-long unity of a man and a woman in matrimony, strengthening and sealing the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit at Confirmation, and healing the body and soul through the anointing of the sick. I would like to become a priest to offer masses for my wife Shirley, and to pray for my sons.”
“I would like to become a priest to preach the Word of God: to make it come alive and relevant and challenging and attractive for singles, husbands, wives, and children as family members, workers, students, neighbors and friends… to have God’s Word make a difference in their lives so that they can change the culture for Christ and bring about His kingdom right here and right now.”
“I would like to become a priest to teach parishioners the richness and fullness of the Church’s teachings from the Scriptures, the Catechism, the Doctors of the Church, Councils, our popes, and saints to allow the Holy Spirit to convict them and naturally draw them to their truth and beauty and goodness, and the incredible benefits of embracing them and following them. Doing this as a priest would make me feel like the man in the parable who found the treasure hidden in a field (Matthew 13:44)—the treasure which is the fullness of God’s revelation through Jesus Christ—who in his joy gives up everything he has to spend the rest of his life sharing these treasures with my parishioners so that they too ‘may have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10).’”
Your servant in Christ,
Father Jim
