Many of you know that for six years I worked as a Catholic Chaplain at Rhode Island Hospital. It was a ministry that was gratifying and exhausting at the same time. When people find themselves at the boundaries of life and death, pretense drops away and matters ultimate become immediate.
Looking back, I now realize that my fellow priest chaplains and I, not only “brought” the Sacraments to the sick and dying, we brought another Sacrament each moment we roamed that often impersonal complex.
We brought the Priesthood of Jesus, the Sacrament of Holy Orders, to every person and encounter, whether we were aware of it or not. Only in these past years have I come to accept the fact that something changed in me thirty years ago. I no longer belong to myself; I belong to Him and to you!
Looking back on those countless times I stood in trauma rooms and intensive care units praying with families and patients, I realize they did not want me there simply to perform a function. They wanted me there because in a mysterious and often imperfect way, Jesus was there for them because I was there.
I write this not to convince you my brother priests and I are in some way different or better than you. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, we are weaker than most. Our weaknesses are often exposed to the light so we will finally no longer depend on ourselves but on the One who chose us to be His broken and healing presence in this world.
For too long, many priests and laypeople have seen the priesthood only in terms of position, governance, authority and function. In my own life, those descriptions seem to be more and more illusory. My experience has been of a priesthood that is far more mysterious and often even baffling. What I once imagined this life would be, is no longer the reality. It is more a mystery to which I bow instead of a function I perform.
I write today because our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI has declared the next twelve months to be a “Year for Priests”. This is to be a year for the entire People of God to reflect on the meaning of the Catholic Priesthood in their lives. In a specific way, the Holy Father invites everyone to offer their prayer for your priests this coming year.
I don’t know about other priests but I need your prayers. Prayer opens us to moments of grace in our lives. Grace reveals moments of the healing presence of Jesus in, among and between us. Some know better than others how imperfect I can be. I, along with my brothers throughout the world humbly ask for your prayers and continuing support in this year of prayer and grace.
Fr. Grant
We brought the Priesthood of Jesus, the Sacrament of Holy Orders, to every person and encounter, whether we were aware of it or not. Only in these past years have I come to accept the fact that something changed in me thirty years ago. I no longer belong to myself; I belong to Him and to you!
Looking back on those countless times I stood in trauma rooms and intensive care units praying with families and patients, I realize they did not want me there simply to perform a function. They wanted me there because in a mysterious and often imperfect way, Jesus was there for them because I was there.
I write this not to convince you my brother priests and I are in some way different or better than you. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, we are weaker than most. Our weaknesses are often exposed to the light so we will finally no longer depend on ourselves but on the One who chose us to be His broken and healing presence in this world.
For too long, many priests and laypeople have seen the priesthood only in terms of position, governance, authority and function. In my own life, those descriptions seem to be more and more illusory. My experience has been of a priesthood that is far more mysterious and often even baffling. What I once imagined this life would be, is no longer the reality. It is more a mystery to which I bow instead of a function I perform.
I write today because our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI has declared the next twelve months to be a “Year for Priests”. This is to be a year for the entire People of God to reflect on the meaning of the Catholic Priesthood in their lives. In a specific way, the Holy Father invites everyone to offer their prayer for your priests this coming year.
I don’t know about other priests but I need your prayers. Prayer opens us to moments of grace in our lives. Grace reveals moments of the healing presence of Jesus in, among and between us. Some know better than others how imperfect I can be. I, along with my brothers throughout the world humbly ask for your prayers and continuing support in this year of prayer and grace.
Fr. Grant
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