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Reflection on my 28th anniversary of Priesthood 5th July 1992

Thursday, July 2, 2020 10:48

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Reflection on my 28^thanniversary of Priesthood 5^th July 1992

Combining a nod to memory of football and my younger days, while discerning a call to the priesthood, in the midst of leaving school and starting work. This is my reflection on my call.

I Arrived a Young Man with Lofty Ideals and I Left an Older, Streetwise One.

Present day

Today, the rain is falling, as the housework is calling.

Rain, it is indiscriminate, it covers, saturates, seeps into the fabric of living

Some say it refreshes, brings life, while others contemplate being swamped under its force

A deluge from the heavens, so welcome or unwelcome, depending on where you live of course

This earth is vast its needs are simple.

Perspective is key, and from my perspective,

let it rain, and when the rain stops, may I be grateful, never resentful.

Days Gone by

I loved watching big Cyrille Regis in the claret and blue.

His bustling sprints forwards, scoring goals for fun in the Holte End

before him, Laurie Cunningham at West Brom, he caught my eye too.

As a kid I never saw their colour or asked for their creed.

I saw them on a football pitch, and marvelled at their skill, their speed

I was young then, and the world was an exciting place, with so much potential

School was comprehensive, playing football got me through to the closing bell

I left school, ready for work, and left my first factory job after just half a day.

Sweeping the factory floor, hearing them old un’s shout “Oi kid…”

and making tea, I decided rather swiftly, that there had to be another way!

I applied for other jobs, I found one in the Royal Mail, I became a Postal Cadet, until turning eighteen I was granted the title Postman, with this a uniform was given, flared trousers, with strict instructions they were not to be turned in!

You see drainpipe leggings they were the fashion, but I wore colourful jumpers back then, fashion was not my thing, yet I had found a purpose, a wage, I was laughing, working and earning money, I had a most satisfied grin.

Mind you, the district office was crazy, it had its scary moments with unhinged characters of long standing who ruthlessly ruled the working day, one word out of line to the wrong un and you could end up bundled onto the back of a van, on the way to central Brum!

Riding in a mail sack in the back of a post office truck was not the greatest fun, so I am told, as I was a good and a quiet un!

Life was simple back in the day, and people were the same as they are now, it’s me that’s changed, I see that now.

I saw people, and never thought they could be anything but friends, but not everyone thinks the same, and not everything can be changed, or solved with a smile or a kind word, and so I looked for meaning in a preacher I had once vaguely heard, convinced he would show me how.

I am a Catholic, I sought a meaning, a way for life, I did not want to follow the herd.

Then a journey ahead beckoned, a call if you like, not a voice in the darkness, but a voice in the stillness, where love can still be heard.

So, I applied to be a priest, deciding to answer that call.

The sky above me was perfect blue, with an orange glow from a setting sun, I often recall

I was walking out of Oscott, that house on the hill, to the north east of Brum

I had been interviewed by four wise men, bishops and important men too, I was accepted for a stint at the seminary

I remember those vivid colours of the sky, that day, it stayed with me on the bus ride home and I remember it these days as I stand at a graveside and pray with grieving families, and while standing at the altar, that sky floods into my conscious thought, it seemed to say back then and still says today, I, the Christ, am with you today and will enfold you every step of the priestly way.

On my interview day on the way home I stopped for a Macdonald’s; fries and a Big Mac with a strawberry shake, before announcing the result to my Mum when I arrived back home. I am not sure if she was happy or fearful, but she has been supportive and kind.

Most Catholics are supportive and generous too, praying for me daily, and grateful for my vocation, I find.

I never saw colour in another person until my childhood had past,

And then quickly growing up, I was confronted by hatred and prejudice, I prayed for hatred to evaporate and disappear fast.

It was a sobering reality of life growing older in a multicultural society, a melting pot of culture.

I like big Cyrille, even more now, and I lament at what he and so many have had to overcome, I pray today for tolerance, that justice, respect and love will win the arguments, tearing down racism and not just toppling the statue or the sculpture.

I never saw life as anything but uncomplicated, but seminary left its mark upon me, I applaud that I discovered the best of me, and I acknowledge that I found the worst of me too, I was quite glad when I was finally set free and I could be gone.

I arrived a young man with lofty ideals, and I left an older, streetwise one.

Looking back after 28 years walking along the priestly journey, I still love the silence and thankfully feel Christ’s presence surrounding me still,

I hear within that persuasive voice, that once said come follow me, and I happily do and pray I always will!

A Day in the future

The rain has stopped, the sun is peering through the cloud, a tint of blue returns, there is an orange glow too, as a beautiful sunset attaches itself to the ending day.

I am tired, but content, my ageing eyes close softly upon the journey that was my priestly way.

Source: http://humblepiety.blogspot.com/2020/07/reflection-on-my-28th-anniversary-of.html

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