One Down, Countless More to Go

Today is the one year anniversary of my priestly ordination, so blessings on my classmates and fellow priests celebrating this day! A Mass has been offered for you all. What a gift to have so many memories of God's blessing on me and the people of Holy Mother Church.

At a recent ordination, a newly ordained priest asked for advice for the first year. All I could come up with was:

• Buy some good insoles for your shoes. You're going to be standing up and talking with people. A lot.
• Get an iPod or smartphone that will play podcasts in the car. The countless hours spent shuttling around will become fruitful opportunities for education, enrichment, and prayer.
• Don't make any plans, and get used to improvising on the spot. There's very little you can do to anticipate anything that will be expected of you. Just do it as best you can and take notes for the next time.
• As George MacDonald once put it, one of the most dangerous things for the spiritual life is handling the outside of sacred things. Boredom is inevitable. What's important is having a plan to prevent it from sucking the life out of everything!

Thanks to all who have been very supportive (and forgiving) this first year, especially the pastor of Most Pure Heart of Mary. Here's to many more.

totus  +  amdg  +  tuus