The basis if my priesthood is to give flesh to this great commandment, a reality that came home to me during pranzo (lunch). At the table behind me sat a familiar person in my life , a very important person: bishop Wilton Gregory, the very bishop who ordained me a priest over 29 years ago. I was the first person he ordained as priest since he, himself, had just been ordained bishop two months prior.
What a beautiful but very brief reunion. He us in Rome to work with ABC Network in its coverage of the conclave. I will always have a very special relationship with him even though we have lost contact. But I left this poignant reunion reflecting on the moment bishop Gregory ordained me a priest. And how I am living this gift of priesthood.
Talk about water under the bridge!!! Sometimes if feels like a peaceful stream flowing under the bridge ; at other times, a deluge that simply destroys the bridge, forcing me to pull a St. Peter: " Lord help me, I am sinking beneath these turbulent waters ." God always comes to the rescue with arm outstretched pulling me to safety and gently placing me on a new bridge. There gave been so many "new bridges" that I have lost count.
How am I living the great commandment to love as a man called by God to be a priest? Each one of us must ask that same gospel question, given our own unique calling in life. The very foundation of our lives is built on the reality of God's love for us. It us very difficult, if not impossible, to love another or even our own selves if we haven't let God love us first. I am convinced that most of us have not let God truly enter our hearts and love the deepest core of our beings. That's what is missing: the deep experience of God's love for us, an experience impeded by our belief that we are not worthy of God's love.
And yet we keep hoping and praying to let that deep Love penetrate our hearts, causing an ecstasy beyond compare. Just read the Song if Songs in the Old Testament and let the passionate and poetic words sink in. God IS Lover. Can you believe that? God so loved YOU that he came down, descended from majestic divinity , letting go of this majesty, becoming HUMAN, a true human being united in Divinity. One Person uniting human and divine and this Person is LOVE. He so loved YOU he descended and pitched his tent among us only to suffer rejection, a rejection of Love. Those who were threatened by Christ were ultimately threatened by His Love and what would happen to their lives and religion if they let Christ's Love inside their hearts. Yes , their worlds and lives would totally change. That's what happens to us when we let God's love in.
Have YOU experienced such ecstatic and life changing Love? My priesthood will have been fruitful to the extent that I have helped people ask .... And answer tat question.
Buen camino. Padre
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