Anniversary of Ordination

Reflection on One-Year Anniversary of Ordination
By Rev. Robert Johnnene OFA
Mission Saints Sergius and Bacchus
www.Missionstsergius.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EverlastingLoveOfChristMinistry
On the eve of the first anniversary of my ordination as a priest, August 15th, I thought I might reflect back on the past year and on what my feelings are on the blessed opportunity and challenge Almighty God has bestowed upon me.
“Your are a priest forever like Melchizedek of Old”, with these words a person goes from being a simple follower of Jesus Christ to an individual whose live is now dedicated completely to serve God. As His servant you have the awesome responsibility of shepherding all God’s children. As a priest you become the hands, feet, mouth, heart and human voice of Almighty God here on earth. You need to be there to give solace and comfort to those in pain. You need to remember to always affirm God’s love, mercy and forgiveness to all His children. You are called to be uplifting and positive toward all even when you yourself do not feel that good. These responsibilities are not to be limited to just those who are a part of the Faith Community you have been called to serve but to every child of God that you encounter as you go about your daily life. You need to stop thinking about yourself and your desires and focus on the needs of the children of God all over the globe, especially those who feel unwanted, rejected or that are in pain in their hearts or in need of comfort and affirmation.
In a world that appears to be increasingly more self centered and absorbed in the material things of life, less interested in the needs of others. In a world that uses violence to settle disputes and differences instead of common sense, it is deeply disturbing and the challenges seem to overwhelm you.
I have to admit that my heart becomes heavy when I see and hear children of God being turned away from participating in giving God glory and praise with a faith community and being denied God’s gift to us of His body and blood, the bread of life, in the Eucharist because they are divorced or have been created by Almighty God with a same sex orientation.
Sadness fills me when I see dedicated men and women being denied the opportunity to serve God because they are married, or worse still, just because their gender is female.
The priest becomes the human instrument through which Almighty God transforms the simple bread and wine offered by the faithful into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. God does the transubstantiation the priest is the conduit. Why should a person who is dedicated and has the necessary education and training and hears God calling them to serve Him, be refused service to God because of their marital state or sexual orientation just as long as they are willing to live their life in a way that would not dishonor Almighty God. Some who have been allowed to accept the call to the priesthood and some of the hierarchy have forgotten their duty and responsibility to God and have done some serious damage. Many good priests have been hurt by their actions and even more of God’s children have become disillusioned because of what was allowed to happen.
A priest’s first and primary duty and responsibility is to serve God and His children, as servant of the Lord here on earth. By accepting that responsibility we need to put ourselves last before the needs of God’s flock we have been given stewardship of.
All the titles and wealth of the world cannot raise a person any higher in the eyes of God than being a good and faithful humble servant as a priest. We need to care for God‘s people as Christ would have cared for them. At times this can become overwhelming especially when you are handicapped by the resources you have. So much is needed, to do all that is necessary, and I myself find it difficult to solicit funding but rather choose to put my faith in God that He will provide what is needed when it is needed.
I find it strange, when God has chosen to communicate with us here on earth either as himself or in the person of our Blessed mother, that He rarely makes himself known to the ones with titles and in positions of power. Rather He chooses the simple individual, usually among the poorest of His Children, who truly believe and love Him deeply and who have put their faith in Him.
St. Francis was a soldier, St. Joan a simple maiden, Juan Diego a peasant Indian, Padre Pio a simple priest, St. Bernadette a simple school girl. None of these were among the hierarchy. When they went to those in charge telling them what God directed them to do, they were ridiculed, scorned, persecuted and even in some cases put to death.
Why is it that God did not go directly to those in the hierarchy? Could it be that they, with their lofty titles and grandiose life styles have lost sight of God’s original intent? Could it be that they chose to use their positions of power to decipher the word of God to suite their own self interests?
I have pondered this often and I am beginning to believe that this is the case.
To have been called by God to be a priest is a tremendous and overwhelming responsibility which I pray daily I am able to live up to. I am sure that God has called me for a special mission at this late stage of my life. I find His choice of me to be surprising and heady, filled with many roadblocks but I willing to accept His call knowing that if it is His will, He would give me the necessary things to do the task.
This first year has been a most humbling experience. Some of my family and friends and neighbors have become less responsive toward me and a few have even rejected me because I do not tow the accepted rules they believe are from God but actually man made and have nothing to do with the teachings of Christ. At other times the experience has been spiritually uplifting and humbling to know you might have made a tiny difference when you receive notes of thanks for “being there in my time of crisis” and you receive an email that says “Because of your reflections and affirming statement I have gone back to church after many years away”
I am constantly asking Almighty God to inspire me and guide my every action so that I may only bring honor and Glory to Him. I pray constantly that I can make a difference in the lives of those who come to me and bring them into a closer relationship with Almighty God. That is my only desire and prayer.
I recently said in one of my reflections that we have to give ourselves over completely to the will of God subverting our own personal desires and putting our total lives in God’s hands. I believe that this is the only way that we can honestly and fully serve God. Even Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane cried out "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.". In this simple plea, Jesus showed us that we should give ourselves over totally to Almighty God and be willing to accept all that he calls us to do in His name even when it is not what you would want to do.
When I was called to be a priest, after many years of desiring to be so called, and believing deep in my heart I was being called, but after being denied so many times because I had been married or because I was too old I began to think it was not God’s will. When, at age 71, I received the acceptance into the Franciscans and was informed that after checking all my credentials and references I would be accepted not as a deacon which I had been ordained as in 1980 but that I would be ordained as a priest. I accepted the call with the full knowledge that my life, as I had lived it and known, was over and I was to begin a new life, whose only purpose was to serve God with complete and total being.
I ask God to constantly lead me to where He wants me to go. I pray he will give me the strength, health, wisdom, means and courage to accept all that I need to do.
During this weekend while I am visiting the Benedictine Monastery in Weston Vermont, implore each of you to pray for the ministry and me that God will provide me with the tools necessary to reach out to all those for whom this ministry is intended to reach and guide me by the gifts of The Holy Spirit to always know His will and to accept and do His will for as long as He chooses to allow me to be His humble and simple servant. AMEN
Rev. Robert Johnnene OFA
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EverlastingLoveOfChristMinistry
www.missionstsergius.org