We belong to Christ, not ourselves - Fr Patrick McInerney
"Christi simus, non nostri"
I can explain in one word why I am a Columban – that word is “Jesus” – but it would take a lifetime to spell out the implications of that one word.
I am intrigued by Jesus. He lived most of his life in obscurity, enjoyed a brief surge of popularity when he spoke compellingly of God’s love, told stories that transformed lives, performed miraculous healings, and provided food and wine. People experienced freedom and “came alive” in his presence in ways they hardly dared dream … but ultimately his way was rejected as being too dangerous, too risky and he was executed as a criminal and a blasphemer … yet still he lives and continues to inspire people around the world.
This Jesus fascinates me, and I am willingly enthralled by him who spent himself to the utmost for God and others, and dares me to do likewise.
Just as the body is made up of many parts, all Christians embody Jesus in different ways. Among this variety, priests act in the name of his person. I am humbled whenever I proclaim the words of consecration and absolution and anointing - “my body given for you …” “my blood poured out for you …” “I forgive you …” “I anoint you …” Ministering to others in this way in the first person is an extraordinary privilege that continually draws me deeper into the mystery of Jesus – that is why I am a priest.
This mystery of Jesus is so deep and rich and broad and high that it is relevant to all peoples of all times and all places, and to all the issues that we face – the search for meaning, the desire for freedom, the thirst for justice, the poverty of two thirds of the world’s peoples, the hunger for reconciliation between peoples and religions, the challenge of the environmental crisis. Leaving the security of the familiar, reaching out to other peoples in other countries, standing in solidarity with them, identifying the mystery of Christ crucified in their sufferings, and with them discovering paths to new life for our one world – that is why I am a missionary.
No matter how far I reach into the depths of the mystery of Jesus there is always more to discover, more to learn, more to savor. Because he is so crucial for me and for the world, no achievement will ever exhaust his mystery, and no other person and certainly no other thing matters quite so much. So I readily dedicate my whole self and my whole life to continue to plumb the depths of his all-consuming mystery. I cannot marry since I am already wholly given over to him who first gave himself wholly to me, and in him and with him I am given in service to others - and that is why I am celibate.
Fr Patrick McInerney SSC is the Co-odinator of the Centre for Christian Muslim Relations and Columban Vocations.
