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Soon, I will celebrate my tenth anniversary of ordination. What have I learned after ten years of service as a priest? Experience convinces me that what people actually want and need is usually much less complex and spectacular than I sometimes imagine. Parishioners are not looking for religious leaders who can solve all their problems or answer all their questions. Often they know the answers already or they know their problem has no immediate solution.
More than anything else people look to us who minister to them for our presence as loving, caring and forgiving people. They want our help in their efforts to handle pain and frustration. They look to us for understanding; they seek a sensitive and consoling response to their hurt feelings; they need the spiritual comfort we can bring through our ministry of word and sacrament. They want someone who will pray with them; whose presence will remind them that no matter what their difficulties may be, God really loves them and cares for them. They want assurance that God will never abandon them.
What have been my greatest frustrations as a priest? I must confess that I am one of those people who by temperament enjoys the conflicts and battles of life. Being easily stirred by a host of interests and enthusiasms, I often assume more responsibilities and activities that I should. Then come frustrations, a sense of pressure, and irritability. Not being able to lay aside obligations easily, I am often forced to reexamine my priorities. The best place to do this is in the Lord's presence - if you will, I say my prayers.
Through prayer I realize that I cannot do all things. I know what ought to be in my consciousness - that this is God's world, not mine. As I reexamine and learn to use my time more wisely, life takes on a new perspective and new strength - the strength of the Lord.
What have been the happiest times of my priestly ministry? I can answer without hesitation: the times when I have been nearest to my parishioners, when I could share their joys and sorrows, when, through my presence, I could give them assurance that notwithstanding all their shortcomings and failures, they were important in the Lord's eyes. For this I express gratitude to God and to all who have supported and encouraged me in my vocation.
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