One man’s road to the priesthood: “I fell in love”

From my blogging friend and neighbor, Fr. Michael Duffy, heres’s great testimony on his own vocation, over at the USCCB blog:

When people ask how I knew in that moment that I wanted to be a priest and I simply tell them I fell in love. In an instant I fell in love with the priesthood, with the Church, with Jesus Christ. That love has since developed into a deeper and more fruitful relationship than I ever could have imagined.

  Since ordination eight months ago my life has been a whirlwind.  Priesthood has been everything I ever hoped it to be and more. I was assigned to the parish of St. Kilian, in Farmingdale, New York, and have found parish life has been the most exciting and challenging thing I’ve ever done. Priesthood is an honor for both my family and me, but even more than an honor, it is the most humbling of callings.

    In the last eight months I’ve encountered people in intimate of ways. I’ve been present at the beginning and the end of parishioners’ lives. I’ve witnessed young men and women giving themselves to each other in Matrimony. To stand at the altar and to speak the words of consecration continues to be the most profound moment of each day. Every time I raise my hand to offer the loving mercy of absolution in the Sacrament of Penance I am both moved and reminded of my priesthood.  It can still shock me that everything I’ve ever wanted from that moment thirteen years ago onward has come to fruition.

Read it all.