{"id":564,"date":"2009-06-11T21:49:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-11T21:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/06\/remembering-ordination-day-it-was-like-heaven.html"},"modified":"2009-06-11T21:49:00","modified_gmt":"2009-06-11T21:49:00","slug":"remembering-ordination-day-it-was-like-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/06\/remembering-ordination-day-it-was-like-heaven.html","title":{"rendered":"Remembering ordination day: “It was like heaven”"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the middle of ordination season, we should not forget it’s also the middle of anniversaries<\/i> of ordination season. And Fr. James Martin is having fond memories<\/a> of his own, a decade ago: <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Ten years ago today (that is, June 12, 1999) along with five other good Jesuit friends (they\u2019re good Jesuits and good friends), I was ordained to the priesthood during a Mass at church (called\u2014surprise\u2014St. Ignatius Loyola) in Chestnut Hill, Mass., right near the campus of Boston College. I am tempted to say it was the greatest day of my life, and why not? There are other days that certainly come close\u2014the day I was accepted into the Jesuits; the day I entered the Jesuit novitiate; the day that a little shop where I worked in Nairobi opened its doors for the first time; the day I met my two new nephews. So let\u2019s just say it was one of the greatest.<\/p>\n

I had been waiting for ordination for many years, having seen, since before entering the novitiate in 1988, many of my \u201colder\u201d Jesuit brothers ordained over the years, and realizing, with each group of men moving into Holy Orders, that my \u201cclass\u201d was getting closer. Every year until then, I was amazed to find myself weeping at the Litany of the Saints, when the congregation calls on all the saints\u2014from age to age–to pray for the ordinandi, the men being ordained. And I rushed to receive my friends\u2019 \u201cfirst blessing,\u201d which they always did tentatively but confidently, if you know what I mean, as if they had never done this before but had been born for it–and of course they were.<\/p>\n

Actually, I almost didn\u2019t make my own ordination. The week before I caught a horrible flu, and one of the older Jesuits with whom I lived, named Vin, generously rushed me to the emergency room here in New York. I was angry! How could God do this to me the week before my ordination\u2014what if I weren\u2019t able to go? I said to the older Jesuit, \u201cI have to ask you this\u2014why is God doing this?\u201d Vin looked at me with mock seriousness and said, \u201cIn punishment for your sins!\u201d And we both laughed. What a ridiculous question. God wasn\u2019t doing anything. I was just sick.<\/p>\n

But when I walked up the aisle on June 12, that scare magnified my gratitude. How good it was to be there.<\/p>\n

After the Mass, when we walked onto the steps of the church, we were surrounded by our Jesuit brothers, who, clad in their albs or wearing their clerics or, for the younger ones, just a suit and tie, hugged us tightly and congratulated us, teased us and were happy for us. And\u2014behold, as the Bible would say\u2014a few steps down the stairs were my mother and father, my sister and her husband and new baby, the rest of family and friends, friends, friends from all parts of my life. It was like heaven.<\/p>\n

Anyway, since that day, I\u2019ve loved being a priest.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read on<\/a> to find out the reasons why. And ad multos annos<\/i>, Jim!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the middle of ordination season, we should not forget it’s also the middle of anniversaries of ordination season. And Fr. 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