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Pivotal point in pastor’s journey came after high school
EDMOND — EDITOR’S NOTE: This month, each of our four local pastors are writing on a unified topic — their personal Christian pilgrimage.
This month I have been invited to share a little about my faith journey. My case is similar to the little boy who was asked why he believed in Jesus. His response was, “I guess it just runs in my family.”
I grew up in a family that believed in Jesus and went to church faithfully, something that I took for granted as a child. I assumed that everyone believed in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I thought that everyone knew that God is with us.
A pivotal point in my journey occurred just after I graduated from high school in Joplin, Mo. The bishop spoke to me at my graduation and asked whether I had ever considered priesthood. I told him that I had when I was younger, but I was planning to attend the University of Missouri with plans to go to law school eventually. The bishop encouraged me to pray about God’s will for my life. As I was doing so before going to bed a few weeks later, I felt the conviction that God was calling me to be a priest. There were no bright lights or celestial choirs, but I felt sure that God wanted me to give priesthood a try. I talked to my parents and my pastor and two months later I was in the seminary. After eight years of prayer and discernment, I was ordained a priest on May 29, 1982.
After all those years of study, I thought I knew what priesthood was all about. I was wrong. In every assignment I have learned from God’s people and from the experience of ministry. As is true with many professions, school provided the foundation, but there was still much to learn.
During the last 27 years I have served churches in Oklahoma City, Norman, Altus, Hollis and Edmond. They have each provided unique opportunities and challenges, and I have witnessed the goodness of God in many ways. A priest has the opportunity to share people’s lives at critical moments: At Mass, at baptisms, weddings and funerals, at moments of crisis and moments of great joy. What a privilege that is!
I have had the great pleasure of seeing God at work in the lives of many people. I have been blessedly surrounded by dedicated men and women committed to the Gospel. From time to time, someone will thank me for something I have done. At such moments I am increasingly aware that I am simply an instrument of God’s goodness. As the Letter to the Ephesians proclaims, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him.” (Ephesians 1:3-4)
I am grateful for God’s call in my life and for the opportunity to share the Good News I find in my own relationship with Christ. Today I hope that you also believe that you are called to a holy life, a joy-filled life, made possible by the grace our loving God offers to us all.
JOHN METZINGER is senior pastor at the Catholic Church of St. John the Baptist. He may be reached at metzinger@stjohn-catholic.org.
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