It’s been quite the week…I’ve learned a tremendous amount and am moving right along. I am grateful to be a part of two such loving, welcoming Parish Families. I wanted to share with you a couple of thoughts for this week.
I’ve been a priest 20 years now and one of the most important things happened to me about 11 years ago.
I was in a spot where I was really struggling with the demands: trying hard to keep up and get everything done that was asked of me and I found that, no matter how hard I pushed, I was perpetually behind.
I went to the Cathedral in Lansing to take some time to pray and saw that there were priests hearing confessions and I went in. Fr. Jeff Njus was there and, as I shared my sins, I also poured out my sorrow to him; my frustrations, my limitations, etc.
He spoke very gently, but very clearly to me and reminded me of a simple truth: as a priest, I have one job that supersedes all others and that job is to be holy. He reminded me of that beautiful, simple truth that Jesus gave us in Matthew: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all other things will be added to you.”
I’ve never forgotten that and try very hard to live it with all my sinfulness and struggles: Be holy. Grow closer to Jesus everyday. Listen to the Lord, follow Him and God will lead me in what I need to do and not do.
The gift that Fr. Njus gave me, I now give to you with a full heart: be holy and let God take care of the rest.
By holy, I mean to be close to Jesus and the joy that He offers. Pray every chance you get and see every irritation as an invitation to pray.
We’ve got so many wonderful things to experience together…I just can’t wait.
As space allows, I try to remind people of upcoming saints, so I’ll do that here.
This week, we celebrate St. Ignatius of Loyola on Tuesday and St. John Vianney on Saturday. These are two extraordinary saints and I recommend you get some info on them. I’ll close with one of my favorite St. John Vianney quotes: “If when I die, I find that God does not exist, I will have been well-fooled. But I would still not regret having spent my life believing in love.”
God bless you all. Thank you for letting me be your priest.
fjk