This year, I will celebrate 35 years of my priestly ministry – a service to the Gospel – in the Catholic Church. On May 25, 1991, I was ordained a priest at the cathedral in Wloclawek, Poland, my native diocese. On that day, together with 34 other newly ordained priests, I celebrated my first Mass. This cathedral was consecrated in the year 1411, and the nearby theological seminary where I studied for six years was created in 1569. They both gave me an additional understanding that as a priest, I joined a special project – a divine project – established by Jesus Christ himself two millennia earlier. I decided to join this project with an open heart fulfilling a special role, not only as a member of the Church, but as a presbyter, a priest, a recipient of one of the seven sacraments – Holy Orders. This sacrament enables me to celebrate other sacraments, spread the Gospel, be a spiritual leader and adviser to many people, and care for the material and spiritual goods of the Church.
During the ordination Mass, it is a tradition that all other priests present kiss the palms of the newly ordained priest. It was something really moving and amazing for me to witness, that priests three times my age were reverently kissing my palms. I understood this then, and even more now, since it was a sign of an extraordinary respect for Jesus. My hands anointed by the bishop in the Rite of Ordination have been an instrument for celebrating the Eucharist and for celebrating other sacraments – not on my behalf but on the behalf of Jesus Christ himself. This gesture of showing respect to Jesus by kissing my palms was repeated the following day when I celebrated my first Mass in my native parish. The entire congregation also kissed my palms after I gave them individual blessings.
After 35 years of serving as a priest, I can say without hesitation that I am so happy that God called me to the priesthood. I am so grateful to all the people who were influential in the process of my discernment and spiritual formation during my childhood, high school, and in the seminary. As a priest, I have had quite rich and diverse pastoral experiences. I have served in many parishes in Poland, Canada, England and the USA; studied philosophy, legal ethics and spiritual theology in the university. I have also taught catechesis in public elementary and high schools. For the last 12 years, I have served here at Corpus Christi Church.
After being a priest for 35 years and turning 60 years old, I can define my life, somewhat humorously, in the following way: for the first 25 years of my life, I was not a priest. Yes, that is true – but in fact, my entire adult life has revolved around and has been connected with the Gospel.
On my ordination day card, I chose a passage from Psalm 37: “Commit your way to the Lord and trust in Him: He Himself will act.” Thirty-five years ago, I did not fully know why I chose this verse and now I understand. For I have not the slightest doubt – and the events of my life confirm it – that God has guided me. He guided me first as a child, in high school, in the seminary, and later as a priest. God guides every person, but I know that He guides with strength to those who fully recognize this guidance and strive to trust Him even in difficult moments. As a believer, I affirm that the relationship contained in the above-mentioned psalm, “Trust in God, and He Himself will act” is not merely a beautiful play on words, but this is indeed how God works.
Over my 35 years of service as a presbyter of the Church, I have heard confessions of thousands of people, administered the sacraments countless times, accompanied and listened spiritually to hundreds of people. In the United States, I preach homilies every Sunday and every day. It is easy to calculate that in the last 27 years alone, I have delivered nearly 10,000 homilies – longer or shorter, better or worse, more or less inspiring. That is an enormous number. However, it is not about the numbers. Something else is more important here. Namely, I timidly trust that God will recognize that everything I did, even the small things, and done imperfectly, I did with heart and with deep devotion. This is the devotion that God deserves – someone Who loves us with such great love and with such fervor.
I am a priest, but I am woven from the same threads as everyone else. All these threads make up the richness of one’s personality. This very personality – multicolored and multidimensional – is harnessed to the mission of proclaiming the Gospel and serves to make this mission authentic and fruitful.
May God be praised!
Fr. Mark Jurzyk