Reflection by Fr. Chris

This past week I celebrated my fourth anniversary of priesthood. Yes, I would say that my priesthood has not been quite what I thought it would be when I entered the seminary in 2013. However, I do not say that to complain. The reality is that I’m sure that all of us who have discovered our vocations, quickly discovered it is not what we thought it would be. To quote the philosopher Farris Bueller, “Life comes at you pretty fast.” To live is to change and adapt. All of us have been faced in our lives with realities that we did not expect, it can be related to interpersonal relationships, finances, health, or it can be something we never even thought of. When these events take place, it is more important than ever to make time for prayer. Things have been moving quickly in our parishes and the diocese (not to mention the world in general). It can be easy to become overwhelmed. When we are overwhelmed, we sometimes can neglect our spiritual lives because we think that other things are more time sensitive. This is exactly when we need to pray even more. We continue our journey though life may not be exactly as we expected it to go. We must have trust that God is calling each one of us to this time. 

In the Gospel this week, Jesus tells His disciples, “Whoever receives one child such as this in My name, receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but the One who sent Me.” Children offer us such a great model for our faith lives, for a number of reasons, one of them being that children are dependent on their parents (and they know this reality). Let’s remember that no matter what any of us are going through, our Heavenly Father is near and desires to help us. We do not have to think that we must do everything on our own. We are never alone, we have our friends, family, Church, and our God to come to our aid. We will be surprised what we can accomplish when we grow in this truth.