"Keeping busy."

I find that tends to be my normal response to, "How are you doing?" or "How have you been?"

Keeping busy.

I don't like it.

That phrase seems to imply that I'm just filling up time, when the reality is far more beautiful.

This past Saturday stands out in my mind as one of the best days of my priesthood. It was also one of the busiest.

That morning I had a funeral here at St. Mary's. It was made slightly more complicated by our construction project, but everything worked out. After the Mass I went to the cemetery and then came back to pray before the luncheon in our hall.

I didn't stick around for lunch because that day was Homecoming for the high school where I serve as chaplain and I wanted to make it to at least part of the football game to see who was crowned Homecoming Queen and play music with the alumni band.

I did make it to the game for part of halftime and the second half. After it was over, I stopped by the high school to organize a few things for the Freshmen Class Retreat that was going to take place on Monday.

Then, back to the parish to change and make sure I had some semblance of a homily in my mind. I much prefer to write out a full text here on the blog, but there just wasn't any time in the days before the weekend.

This weekend was one where I was "subbing" for a brother priest who was out of town, so I drove out to St. Frances Cabrini in Colerain for the vigil Mass. As I've written before, it's always an interesting experience to serve in a parish other than your own. The people were very welcoming and, though I always miss being at my parish, it's enjoyable to celebrate with people of the diocese.

Mass celebrated, I headed back to the high school to help chaperone our homecoming dance. For me, this means mostly hanging around to help where I can and a another chance to interact with the students. I want them to know me and know they can always talk to me. I got to do a little of that.

But, early on in the evening, my pastor called to let me know that one of our parishioners was in the hospital nearby and to see if I could anoint him. I left the dance and found the man in the ER with his wife. I'm glad that I was not far away and able to give him the sacrament quickly because he passed away about half an hour after I arrived.

I stayed with the man's wife until she left for home, and then grabbed some late dinner on the way back to the dance - and got there just in time to run into someone who wanted to go to confession.

It was a busy day.

But, it was full with far more than just a bunch of events and tasks that occupied my time. It was full of God - God in action among his people. When I come to the end of a day like that, I often feel overwhelmed and humbled. God is real. He still acts in his Church and I get the great privilege of witnessing that.

So, "keeping busy," may be an accurate description of a priest's life, but it doesn't come close to describing the beauty, holiness, and faith that we get to witness. I'm sure that many other priests would agree with me that it is precisely our busiest days that are often the ones that make us remember what a tremendous grace it is to be a priest.