This post on one priest’s busy day off generated some comments and e-mails, including the one below, from Fr. Austin Murphy, an FOB who runs the always-engaging blog Jesus Goes to Disney World. (He has posted the e-mail there, along with a few more thoughts on the topic. Check it out.)

But take a look at this:

Dear Greg,

This morning I was reading your post about the priest’s “day off,” and all the commentary that went with it. I think it is important for parishioners to know and appreciate that their priests, more than often these days, do get caught up in some sort of work on their day off. We need to be better stewards of our time in that regard and see that day as a necessary part of the week. The commentary about prayer was particularly interesting to me. I have found that if I don’t make time in the morning for that special time with God, I often lose it altogether. Today, actually, was one of those days. I toted my breviary along to the office, having woken up late, with the intention that I would “pray at the office.” As I dragged my sleep-deprived body into my desk chair, a man who had visited the Newman Center where I work two weeks ago came in. He had visited before looking for assistance for his teenage daughter who was dying of sickle-cell anemia. Today, he came with the sad news that she passed away on Saturday.

“Have a seat,” I told him, gesturing to my easy chair in the office. “I am so sorry.”

He told me of the generosity of the sickle-cell community here in Baltimore (which had brought him and his daughter to Baltimore in the first place a month and a half ago). He had questions about the permissibility of cremation (which was barely all he could afford). Then he told me of the new-found faith that he and his daughter had here in Baltimore. You see, they had been both Jehovah’s Witnesses, and they were told that they were excluded from “salvation” if she got a blood transfusion. “I love my daughter, Father,” he told me through tears. Now, she told him, “without Jesus there is no grace, and without grace there is no salvation.” Her faith made him a believer.

He misses his daughter, but he also rejoices that she had the chance to find Jesus before she met him finally. I told him that her prayers for her mother’s conversion were all the more powerful now, and that we would remember her at Mass this Sunday. Her name is Jasmine.

I tell you all this, Greg, because this is so often the life of the pastor – of the priest, deacon and pastoral staff worker. Moments where (often despite us) God breaks through the plans, the bureaucracy, and our laziness, and He reveals the purpose for all that we do. We are connected – to God and to one another. The “business” of the parish life is not the “demon” (as one commenter called it). Rather, the demon is one of forgetfulness – losing sight of the fact that God is there – in the meeting, in the encounters that you don’t schedule, in the work – and yes, in the day off! Thank you for pointing out that priests are busy.

What is more important, though, is that we remember Whose work we are doing.

Your fellow worker,

Fr Austin

PS – I’m off to pray now!

Pray for me, Austin! 🙂