Priesthood: A sweeter and a lighter yoke

This week, we the Clergy of the Diocese of Georgetown will be attending our annual Clergy Conference with the theme, ‘…and God saw that it was good.” As I ask your prayers for all the priests in the Diocese who are serving God’s Church in different corners of Guyana, I also request you to know other priests of the diocese. It has been a blessed time for me last three months in the parish.

Priesthood is not easy and not difficult but challenging. After vesting the newly ordained priest at the Ordination, Bishop goes on to say these words, “Take the yoke of the Lord, for His yoke is sweet and His burden light.” This is true in the life a priest, sometimes it is a heavy yoke, meaning to say, challenges in life a robust and enchanting, if one is not rooted in Christ, can easily fall into the trap of the enchanter. It is a yoke given by the Lord, so it has to be sweet and light. Through prayer and Lord’s assistance, a priest can make the yoke lighter and sweeter.

St. John Vianney in his catechism on the Priesthood says, “If I were to meet a priest and an angel, I should salute the priest before I saluted the angel. The latter is the friend of God; but the priest holds His place. St. Teresa kissed the ground where a priest had passed. When you see a priest, you should say, "There is he who made me a child of God, and opened Heaven to me by holy Baptism; he who purified me after I had sinned; who gives nourishment to my soul. " At the sight of a church tower, you may say, "What is there in that place?" "The Body of Our Lord. " "Why is He there?" "Because a priest has been there, and has said holy Mass. "

Ordaining me to the diaconate Archbishop of Southwark Peter Smith said, “you are ordained priest to yourself and the people of God, hence you have dual role.” I had to shed lot of my own inclinations, ideas, opinions, interests, family, friends, hobbies, manner of life, and so on for the sake of the flock that God has entrusted me with. I would like to end with words of Blessed Mother Teresa, “A sacrifice to be real, must be real, must hurt and must empty oneself.”