37th Anniversary of Ordination

37th Anniversary of Ordination
(14 June 1981- 14 June 2018)
Michael A. Maginn,

Sleepily irritated
by the nurse’s cheery summons,

I celebrate with a call to the hospital
at 4.27am.

The morning is already fresh
with June light:

two magpies patrolling the lawn
in clerical livery.

BBC World Service
providing cold comfort:

sparse communion
with the growing dawn.

Deserted hospital road
and empty car-park,

metaphors
for the lost years.

Family members
gathered around the bed,

sleepless
and bleary-eyed.

Exchanging words
and shaking hands,

we greet
and pray.

And in that moment,
something makes sense,

as clear
as brightening day.

Somedays
looking back,

they seem
like wasted years:

but today
is not one of these.

.

Similar Posts

  • A Priest in the Family

    Blog
    5 Comments

    Stan Mellett, a Redemptorist with over 60 years priestly experience, gives his thoughts on the future of ministry.
    “… the point of departure is the sacrament of baptism. Everyone is priest, prophet and king; each one with different roles and gifts serves the whole People of God. Like Jesus who came not to be served but to serve and give His life for many.
    The ordained minister for today and tomorrow will need to have a mind set and attitudes whereby he/she is like the rest of men and women – not a person apart! Deeply prayerful with ‘the bible in one hand and the daily paper in the other’ at the service of all life and all creation!”

  • Rejuvenating Church ?

    Blog
    0 Comments

    The CDF has issued its first document, “Iuvenescit Ecclesia” or “the Church rejuvenates.” under Pope Francis.
    Can a leopard change its spots? Not according to some commentators;
    “Much of the text reads like the “desk-bound” or laboratory theology that the 79-year-old pope finds unhelpful.” commented Cindy Wooden, Rome bureau chief of Catholic News Service.

    Others such as Massimo Faggioli see it a little differently;
    “There is a very interesting admonition about ordained members of new movements that seek ordination to serve only their movement (par. 22) – a very well-known problem that so far has been officially denied by the Church leadership – and an interesting phrasing about the danger of having the movements creating a “parallel” path in the Church (par. 23). This is something that came up at the 1987 Synod, but no pope before Francis had the courage to talk about. There is also the clear intention of Francis not to create new precedents in the recognition process of new movements.”

  • The laity has spoken and the Church must learn

    Blog
    3 Comments

    The Catholic bishops of England and Wales have published an extraordinarily candid piece of criticism of the Church taken from a summary of responses to a consultation conducted in preparation for the forthcoming international synod of bishops in Rome next month, on the subject of marriage and family life.
    An editorial in The Tablet states that “they want a Church that engages with married life and its messy difficulties realistically and humanely, not one offering idealistic textbook answers.”
    One respondent is quoted as saying: “It would seem that right now the Church may well have more to learn from marriage and family life than to teach.”

One Comment

  1. James Mc Hugh says:

    Ad Multos Annos, Michael A.

    and maybe, just maybe, fewer nurse’s summons at 04.27 !

    Reply

Join the Discussion

Keep the following in mind when writing a comment

  • Your comment must include your full name, and email. (email will not be published). You may be contacted by email, and it is possible you might be requested to supply your postal address to verify your identity.
  • Be respectful. Do not attack the writer. Take on the idea, not the messenger. Comments containing vulgarities, personalised insults, slanders or accusations shall be deleted.
  • Keep to the point. Deliberate digressions don't aid the discussion.
  • Including multiple links or coding in your comment will increase the chances of it being automati cally marked as spam.
  • Posts that are merely links to other sites or lengthy quotes may not be published.
  • Brevity. Like homilies keep you comments as short as possible; continued repetitions of a point over various threads will not be published.
  • The decision to publish or not publish a comment is made by the site editor. It will not be possible to reply individually to those whose comments are not published.