Prayers

June 2, 2022

You know how something you never thought of before will suddenly jump up in your face and startle you? That happened to me yesterday.

I read a short article about a priest in Uvalde, Texas, who will officiating at twelve – 12 – funerals in these coming two weeks (this and next week). Fr. Eduardo Morales is a Roman Catholic priest in Uvalde and he and his people have been preparing for what must surely be the saddest and most heart-wrenching event of their lives.

As the national news made us aware of the situation in Texas, we all immediately said our prayers in our hearts for all the affected families while we struggled to understand this latest horrific account. But I never thought about the priests in these heart-crushing events until I read that article.

Sometimes people think that priests have fairly cushy jobs and should live in poverty. What other ‘profession’ requires ‘on-call duty’ 24/7/365? Even bigger than that, what other profession assumes responsibility for the souls of those over which they preside? There is no other such profession.

Fr. Morales must be Jesus’ agent to all the families and friends of those poor little people who now are in the arms of Jesus. He must find the words, the actions, the means with which to reach out and salve those broken hearts. Their faith is being tested. Our faith is being tested. And Fr. Morales must find a way to reassure all those who will be in attendance or who will call him in desperation and staggering sorrow. I am afraid that, were he to speak about it openly, he would say that he, too, is being tested. Priests are as human as all the rest of us; they have times of doubt and times of elevated joy and certainty just like the rest of us. All the seminary classes and all the sermons and all the Masses of a priest’s life can hardly be considered preparation for a time such as now.

As you continue to pray for Uvalde, please remember Fr. Morales in your prayers. Pray that God gives him strength equal to this challenge; pray the Holy Spirit gives him the words that will calm and heal the broken hearts; pray that Jesus will continue to walk beside him as he faces the sad days ahead.

Amen.

Advertisement