"Your latest project of compiling our personal reflections and experiences into one book to help, encourage and enrich our younger confreres who are newly-assigned, or to be assigned soon to a parish, is indeed a very laudable one. May the Holy Spirit, in union with Mary, the Seat of Wisdom, continue to inspire you in accomplishing your mission for His greater glory, for more souls to be saved, and for more priests to be Christ-like.”
These simple words summarize the intent and content of Dear Father Mike. “We Salesians did not undergo any training for the
mission assigned to us in the parishes. Sometimes we feel so inadequate; we have to learn the ropes by ourselves.” Dear Father Mike is an attempt to fill in somehow this real and pressing need. Self-perception shapes subsequent actions. The identity and mission of the priest were reflected upon during the monthly gatherings of our Salesians working in the parishes. The reactions to the talks given were very favorable. These talks which first appeared in a booklet Priest Forever are now included in these pages.
“But who among us is qualified or has the time to compile a manual for parish priests?”
The enthusiasm of our confreres working in the parishes is most admirable. The faith, the hope, the love and all the effort generously shared must have created an invisible yet palpable cauldron of wisdom which prodded their hearts, and could serve as fitting inspiration for those who will take up the cudgels from them. Their spirits are the eternal springs of wisdom. Their lives are the open books.
Do we really need an oom-pah-pah one-two-three list of dos and don’ts? The sharing of our own personal experiences and insights weigh a lot more than a string of rules to follow. “We possess a tremendous spiritual wealth; and these are real. Let’s write them down.” Verba volant. Scripta manent. Let Dear Father Mike speak for itself.
Father A, SDB
May 24, 2015
Spiritual Direction - Formation