Rev. Robert Ketcham

If you are reading this blog and you are not a young man, please invite the nearest young man to read it either with you or after you are done.  If there is no young man next to you, then email this to your friends who know, have, or are themselves young men.   

As far as I can tell, there are three reasons why every young man should seriously consider the priesthood.  Now, when I say “consider” I mean truly pray and discern as to whether God is calling him.  I do not mean that he is to wait until he “wants” to become a priest, since no man takes the priesthood upon himself (cf. Heb 5:1).  I mean that he should ask God in prayer [the Rosary before the Tabernacle] if he is being called.  And as he prays, let him consider the following:    

[1] THE EUCHARIST:   The Eucharist is truly the body and blood of Jesus Christ and only the priest can bring the Eucharist to the Church and to the world (CCC 1566).  Without the priest, man would be cut off from the Body of Christ; without the Body of Christ, man would be cut off from God.  Therefore, the priest consecrates the entire world to God whenever he says Mass (cf. Jn 6:51).   

[2] THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS:  The Sacrament of Confession, which flows from the grace of the Eucharist, is the only way to have mortal sins forgiven (CCC 1395).  Christ gave Peter (the first Pope) the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven who gives them to his Bishops (CCC 1444).  The priest receives them from his Bishop and so shares in Christ’s power to forgive sins.      

[3] THE ANOINTING OF THE SICK:  The Anointing of the Sick, since it contains a particular gift of the Holy Spirit that includes the forgiveness of sins, can only be administered by a priest (CCC 1520, 1516).  For man, this Sacrament fortifies the end of his earthly life and is a preparation for his final journey home (CCC 1523).              

To quote my pastor, who is sitting next to me as I write this: “The priesthood matters”.                  

If you have questions about the priesthood, go to www.longislandpriest.com and click on the videos you find there.  And remember: there are many things worth living for, but only Heaven is worth dying for.  Even the virtuous man who sacrifices himself for his country or his family is able to because he knows that something greater awaits him.  The question is, will you give your life for the Church?  

 - in Jesus and Mary
Father Robert