Just me, in the doorway, after having offered Holy Mass. In front of me is the Parish Priest, the great Father John O’Neill, who famously said that the best way to be a priest is to get out of the way of Jesus, being faithful in all things. The highest concentration of vocations in all of Australia comes from his parish, that is, Jesus’ parish in which he has the privilege to serve.
Jesus is the one and only priest. When one of us lowly knuckleheads is ordained, he’s ordered to, that is, appropriated by our Lord in such a way that Jesus’ own priesthood works through us in the sacraments regardless of whether we are faithful or not. We are simply available for His use. Hopefully, as one great priest-friend put it, hopefully we get out of the way and let His priesthood shine through us.
- It’s not my parish. It’s Jesus’ parish.
- It’s not my Mass. It’s Jesus’ Mass.
- It’s not my priesthood. It’s Jesus’ priesthood.
The other year, I wrote this little litany of thanksgiving:
For my baptism flourishing in the priesthood… Thank you, Jesus. For the times I’ve baptized others… Thank you, Jesus.
For the sins you’ve forgiven me… Thank you, Jesus. For the sins you’ve forgiven others through me… Thank you, Jesus.
For the times I’ve been anointed at the point of death… Thank you, Jesus. For the times you’ve anointed others through me… Thank you, Jesus.
For my confirmation flourishing in the priesthood… Thank you, Jesus. For the times I’ve confirmed others… Thank you, Jesus.
For the times I’ve received you under my roof… Thank you, Jesus. For the times I’ve given your Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity to others… Thank you, Jesus.
For the times I’ve witnessed the marriage of others… Thank you, Jesus. For my marriage with the Church through the Mass… Thank you, Jesus.
For your constant priestly ministry for me… Thank you, Jesus. For your priestly ministry to others through me… Thank you, Jesus.
* * *
Jesus, you who hung in bleeding shreds of flesh on the cross because of my sins… Thank you, Jesus. Jesus, you who said, as the Master, so the disciple… Thank you, Jesus.
Jesus, you who said that we would protest at going into heaven by saying that we only did what we absolutely had to do, thank you for letting me know through the years that — if there is anything good in my priesthood — it is you who were at work.
Accompany me, Father George David Byers, S.S.L., S.T.D., as I begin life as a Catholic Priest-Hermit by choice. Holy Souls Hermitage is dedicated to the sanctification of my fellow priests, bishops, deacons & seminarians going through the purgatory of this life or the next. Prayer and sacrifice go up, of course, for both Benedict XVI and the next Successor of Saint Peter. 
Happy Anniversary, Father! Thank you for saying yes to your vocation!
Just beautiful, Father. Thank you for your fidelity to your vocation.
I am reminded of the time my pastor was having a dreadful time with parishioners who believed that they had the right to order the priest around. I told him, this is not our parish. It is God’s. It is not our church. It is God’s. It is not our Mass to do whatever we wish with, but God’s Mass who tells us how He wants to be worshiped through liturgical law set by the Church. We are simply the stewards who must faithfully safeguard it all to be handed down to the next generation. Need I say that with the mind set of most parishioners today this perspective was viciously attacked? This dear priest was transferred out of the diocese and things went back to the laity running everything and an Alinsky type pastor who took over. I bless the good priest who did his utmost to show his people the right perspective.
Happy Anniversary, Father! May God bless and keep you always in the heart of Mary Immaculate.
Those of us who are lay people often have difficulty in imagining the feelings of a Priest after Ordination. Fr George’s litany certainly gives us an insight into the Priesthood. Simple yet profound.
I recently started re-reading a book I first read in 1963 and have read several times since. ‘A Priest Confesses’ by Jose Luis Martin Descalzo was written by a Spanish Priest (translated into English) and describes his time in the Seminary leading up to his Ordination and how he felt as the great day grew ever nearer. It was written in the first person though he acknowledges that the ‘I’ in the book is a product of memories of several seminarians.
The book gives the lay reader a wonderful insight into the mind of a Seminarian and later as a newly ordained Priest. And the description he gives of attending to the dead during a serious rail crash near Lyon in France in 1954 reduces me to tears each time I read it.
‘I looked at my hands… They are in heaven now…perhaps someone is in heaven now thanks to these hands. It was then when I knew what it was to confess, when the human part of me did not exist, when I was unable to say a word and it was Christ who was using my hands to forgive sins’
The book was given the Nihil Obstat, and the Imprimatur was from the Archbishop of Valladolid. It was originally published in 1956. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone wishing to understand the meaning of the Priesthood although I have no idea if it is still in print.
Thank you Father for your litany of thanksgiving As the one left behind after 62 yrs. of marriage I too have recited a very similar litany over the years, and once I understood God’s Will was at work in both “the better and the
worse, in sickness & in health” my “Yes” allowed joy to enter in, and make its home with me.
That sounds like a wonderful book by the Spanish priest. I’m going to look it up on Amazon.
And thank you for posting that picture. Even though the picture is not a close-up, I can see how hopeful you look for your new vocation. Very sweet!
Father, accept my belated anniversary good wishes. May the God who called you to Himself continue to uphold you in His service.