The Happy Priest: Celebrating the Gift of Priesthood

12/23/2012

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affirms to Saint Timothy to "preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching" (2 Timothy 4: 2).

My prayer is that I may persevere until that day when the Lord, who called me to follow him as his priest, calls me to be with him in eternal rest. On that day, I too wish to proclaim with Saint Paul: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4: 7).

Twenty five years of priesthood have been filled with many consolations. The greatest of all of them all has been the loving presence of Mary, the Mother of Jesus.

Through all these years, Mary has always been there to comfort me and to urge me on to fulfill my mission until the end. I long to see her one day in heaven. When we embrace and kiss, the suffering of the cross will give way to the bliss of the resurrection.

Twenty five years ago I stood before the beautiful image of Our Lady of Guadalupe to receive the indescribable gift of the Catholic priesthood. Twenty five years later, I stand once again before Our Lady of Guadalupe to praise God with a prayer of thanksgiving for these amazing years as a Catholic priest.

"To fall in love with God is the greatest of romances, to seek him the greatest adventure, to find him the greatest human achievement."

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Father James Farfaglia is a contributing writer for Catholic Online and author of Get Serious! - A Survival Guide for Serious Catholics. He is the pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church located in Corpus Christi, TX. You can visit him on the web at www.fatherjames.org.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Catholic priesthood, ordination, vocation, father james farfaglia

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1 - 5 of 5 Comments

jh
4 months ago
Congratulations and best wishes, Father.
Robert Burford
4 months ago
Loved the quote 2 Timothy 4:3-4. Never worry about sinners with itching ears. Every generation has them. We all have to focus on the Truth. Ezekiel 33: 7-9 says that we all have a duty to tell those with itching ears that they are going the wrong way. Trouble is that we are all sinners in the long run but as you said God is love and he does love us. Praise God for your ministry and may His Love and the truth flow through you.
Madonna
4 months ago
Thank you so much Father for your story. Thank you so much for saying YES to Our Lord when He said to you, "Come Follow Me." God bless all you priests.
Andrew M. Greenwell
4 months ago
This was a beautiful paean of praise for your vocation and the priesthood and the love of God and His Church. Your ministry has touched many, with me among the many. I thank God for you and for your marked fidelity to your calling. You are an honor to the Catholic priesthood, and one of God's shock troopers. Serva Fidem!
JanetKeating
4 months ago
Although I am not a priest, I am a child of god. I feel the same as you! The greatest love we
Can find is that of Jesus our lord and savior. He is amazing and I cannot describe how much I love our lord and what he does for us... There is nothing greater than having him in our life.
I will just let him lead the way... I have nothing but faith. Nothing or no one could ever take that away because he is the truth, there is no greater reality than him, and there is no reality without him.

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