Called By Name

With the memories of a very difficult funeral still fresh in my mind, I had to do a somewhat quick turn around to do a "Called By Name" project. This project is a way of getting the names of people that Catholics believe would make good priests, brothers, and sisters. I didn't have my usual energy at first. I kept forgetting to include details like, "It's possible to be happy as a priest" and "It's okay to be thinking about marriage while you are thinking about becoming a priest." But, by the end, I had attained my pep and I think, in looking at the names given to us, it was successful. I returned home after my last mass and was ready for a nap. While throwing some ingredients for ham soup in a crock-pot, the phone rang. It was a family that asked that I come to pray with them. Their mother died. I drove out and spent some time with them before returning home and getting my nap. I think the hardest part of being a priest is the public nature in which everyone expects you to respond in a certain way. The newly engaged couple wants me to be joyful and celebratory. The sick person, on the other hand, wants me to listen and by sympathetic. Sometimes I encounter these two scenarios within a five-minute period. It's at these times that I wonder if Christ went through the same quick turn around in his ministry. I realize that, above the happiness and sadness, the reality is that this is a good job. I'm doing good work by spreading the good news.