Priesthood: The mirror never lies!

Priesthood: The mirror never lies!

I looked at a reflection of myself in the mirror today. I am the same person I was the last time I looked, but I notice today the lines are deeper on my face than they used to be, wrinkles are forming; the bags seem bigger under my eyes, I must get more sleep; the hair is thinner now, a wee bit greyer on the edges too, but despite the ravages of time it is the same face that looked back at me twenty five and a half years ago when I looked into the mirror of my tiny room on St Bede’s Corridor at Oscott Seminary.

Many experiences have touched my body, soul and spirit since that day and I am here standing today the better for many of them; the wiser for some of them; more wary for others too! Yet they have shaped and formed the person I look at today. Do I like the person I see? Do I recognise that fresh faced, enthusiastic candidate for Holy Orders from twenty five years ago; so willing back then, keen, happy, joyful and incredibly naive and vulnerable…perhaps not. Time and experience have a way of changing not only the physical appearance but the make up of the soul too. I have met good and bad people along this way, been surprised by people, disappointed too, but I have found great friendship and love that lasts. I am a very lucky man to be blessed with the priesthood, and be blessed with loving friendships too.

I am a realist, I think I am, some have said I was a cynic, I used to be I suppose, but then time moves on the spirit matures, grows and changes too. I am a realist, not a cynic, I am aware of my being a creature before the enormity of God, who has created me for some purpose, given me a task, has made me, as obstinate as I have been, a link in a chain!

I have come to realise that I cannot change or influence the entire world for the good, I cannot change hearts and minds with my argument, I am a weak, foolish at times, limited person who strives to co operate with God’s grace but who falls short many times of the person God wants me to be! But in saying that, I am happy, content, peaceful, moulded by the gift given to me of the Priesthood.

I am not worthy of being a priest, I am not fit to walk in the shoes of “the” High Priest Jesus Christ, but I find myself with the precious privilege of serving Christ in continuing his life through the Mass. I am blest by encountering Christ in the sacraments. I am at times immersed in his words that speak so deeply to my soul. I am indebted to the psalms that show me that I have a common experience with so many souls before me. I am buoyed by Christ’s ever abiding presence. I am encouraged by Christ’s ability to pick me up time and again from the dirt of the toil of fatigue, anxiety, worry, pain and struggle. He, Christ, has put a song of joy into my heart and when I am in tune with that song it is an uplifting song indeed!

The best advice I have been given is the phrase: “One day at a time!” Oh so true, so needed, because every day I am to look in the mirror and be the man I see there staring back and me….and being that man, I know I am loved… how do I know?…Ask God he will tell you too! The mirror never lies!