When I was in Yr 9/10 or thereabouts I remember my geography teacher saying to me "You are going to be one of two things, a Nun or a Mother". Two vocations that on paper seem too black and white to mix, however I think I might just have found the grey area. I am a Mother, of that there is no doubt. But a Nun, not quite. The reality is that I am married to a newly Priested Priest, my life is centred around the Church and Prayer. The grey area.
It was said to me by someone on Saturday evening, the big change was the one last year this one will be nothing. I simply replied that on the contrary this year is everything! For my husband it is a journey travelled for at least fifteen years, quite possibly longer. It is a search for who you are and what God's purpose for you is. For some the purpose is complete at the Diaconate, for others it takes this step further. To take the extra step, is not a non-step. It is the big giant step to the rest of your life and beyond. You are a Priest, ontologically changed forever, your identity invisibly altered by the sacrament of Ordination by the grace of God. It is no small step.
So on Saturday night we gathered friends, family and parish, to witness this wonderful and moving occasion. For those of you who read this blog regularly, I am sure the question on your lips is did you cry? Yes, of course I did. It was truly moving, to watch my husband be zappped (my children's description not mine) by a Bishop and have important Priests from his journey lay their hands on him. He has become part of an apostolic line of succession. From the time of St Peter through to today and on into the future. A truly humbling thought when you consider the vastness of what he has taken on. If anyone says ontological change is not real, they should have seen my husband this weekend. There is a transformation within him, that can only be described as the Grace of God at work. He seems more himself than he ever has, so completely at home bringing Christ into our lives.
To kick start this fantastic journey of ministry, we invited friends to partake in his first Mass. Friends from the three major back steps in this journey, some from Chelmsford, some from Durham and finally from Oxford to. These three elements combined are what have produced the Priest the Church has now. I may be more than slightly biased but I believe he is gift to the Church and a good gift at that. I would like to gratefully thank all who have had a part in forming who he is today. You are part of that gift, you have given him the skills, the knowledge and the doctrine to enable him to minister in the Church.
Vocations to the Priesthood are a rare and should be a most valued gift not just by the Parish to which they serve but to the wider Church. Without them we would be but lost sheep with no Shepherd. So I would like to thank all those who are prepared to sacrifice so much, that are souls may not wander down the path to damnation. For all those ordained Deacon and for those Priested, you have my prayers. They are long days ahead, but they are days full of Christ and his work.
As for me and my Geography teachers assessment of my vocation, he was right in a way. I am called to a life in service to God, but that of being in service to a Priest and my children. My life centred on prayer, inspired and guided by prayer, that I may be all these four people need in order to go out and fulfil their vocations to. This is who I am, and this is what I am most happiest doing.
So for all that is past and all that is yet to come, Deo Gratias.
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