heart is full of joy’ Reflections on 20th anniversary as a priest

Iam often asked, especially by my college students, why I became a priest. I’d usually say: to serve and to save! And they’d say, “What?”

I guess you could say it’s easy to lose sight of dates on the calendar, as important as those milestones are, when your eyes and heart are focused on the Lord – my relationship with Him, as well as the day-to-day effort to live the faith as a parish family, with the myriad of experiences and encounters each day brings).

Thirty years ago, I was privileged to have been ordained and to offer my first Mass of Thanksgiving in New Jersey. In the intervening years, there have been changes in parish assignments, and even a change in state (goodbye, New Jersey!). Those years have seen tremendous joys, blessings, laughter and even some adventures along the way, along with a share of challenges, sorrows and loss. I have witnessed many changes in the world around us as we face new situations and challenges – both inside and outside the Church. Through it all, there has remained one constant: the Lord. I am tremendously thankful to Him and to all those who have sacrificed and prayed for me since that Ordination Day 30 years ago. Oremus pro invicem.

So I’d explain further: To serve God and to help save souls for the Kingdom! As easy as that sounds, it is quite deep and tough. When I look back and remember how my priestly journey began in Lagos, Nigeria having worked briefly at a parish before becoming the Secretary to the Cardinal and the Archdiocesan Master of Ceremonies, I never imagined in my wildest dreams that someday I’d be ministering to parishioners and college students on the other side of the Atlantic, approximately 5,500 miles away from home. I guess it is part of the calling to serve and to save!

After my ordination and first Mass, the only thing that I could think about was how blessed I am. Yes indeed, God has been so good to me, and I am continually amazed at how the Lord has continued to bless me in ways that I never thought possible. Over the past few days, I have had the opportunity to look back and reflect on what this past twenty years have been like. I keep coming back to the sentence: “My heart is full of joy.”

Celebrating the sacraments with the people and for the people has been a cause of great joy for me. While working temporarily at a parish in the Archdiocese of New York while I did my graduate studies at Fordham University, and now journeying with college students in my current assignment, has been an immense blessing for me as I am continually energized when I see my young friends who are trying to work through a very difficult stage in life. There is a great zeal and heart in these students as they wrestle with life’s big questions and challenges and figure out how they can reflect Christ to the whole world. I am so Impressed and amazed with all they do on these campuses and for themselves. Again, my heart is full of joy. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen wrote, “A priest is not his own.” This phrase does not merely give reference to the ministerial life of a priest but to the joys and sorrows of his whole life. A priest is a public person and thus needs to be aware that a certain vulnerability is necessary for the life of the people to shape him and to help him grow as the man of God our Lord called him to be. I thank my students for helping to shape me into a better priest so I can continue to serve and to save!

Finally, thank you all for your prayers, your support, your sacrifice, and your love as you continue to inspire me to be the best priest that God has called me to be. Know that you reflect the love of Christ and for that, my heart is full of joy.