How can priests be so darn *smart*? :)

  • Thread starter Thread starter twosweetgirls
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
T

twosweetgirls

Guest
And I say that with the greatest admiration, too! I mean, I know their wisdom and knowledge comes from our Eucharistic Lord, in addition to other sources–their own mentors, having lived longer lives, etc.–but man, some of the things they come up with are just amazing.

So when my priest said something to me in the confessional, I dropped my jaw. Still do. May I share?

I was confessing a deep anger and hate towards my husband, who was making it impossible for me to attend Mass (among other things). After some talking with my priest, he said something that I totally wasn’t expecting. He said, very simply, “Pray for your captor.” It takes a lot to make me speechless, and that certainly did.

Has your priest ever said anything to you that made you go “WHOA”. . . ? 🙂
 
I went to confession last weekend, and I left thinking, “He’s pretty smart.” I’ve felt kind of snippy and just aggravated wtih people in general the past month or so, so that was what I went with. Sometimes I can see where the aggravation is coming from, but sometimes not. Father so kindly reminded me that we have been through a lot of stress in the past few months with the start of school (I teach and have kids) and back-to-back hurricanes (Gustav & Ike). Honestly, that stress was a cause had never crossed my mind. He also gave me some good advice on how to deal with it. 🙂

I had another experience over a year ago. Things had gotten very ugly between me and the principal of my kids’ school. I finally asked my pastor to sit down with me and sort through all the emails and letters and hard feelings and to share his wisdom with me. He did and he so delicately walked through the minefield. He never told me that I was wrong and never blamed the other party. But he did tell me that if I wanted to work with this person, I was going to need to “eat crow” and apologize. He pointed out a lot of things that could have been done differently, shared examples from his own life, and validated some of my concerns.

It surely wasn’t the advice I was looking for, but I left his office with such a sense of peace knowing that it was inspired advice. I just shook my head wondering “How did he do that??” 🤷

I emailed the principal that afternoon and asked to meet with him. We met a couple of days later, I apologized, and I joke now that he is my “new best friend”.

(I have two sweet boys!)
 
Another story:

While in the hospital for SweetGirlTwo, I talked with the priest about an issue of impurity I’d been struggling with, and how it made me feel like I couldn’t even wear my scapular (which was laying on my bedside tray). He listened with the greatest compassion, then told me my penance was to–as he gently reached for my scapular–wear it with love. The impurity hasn’t been an issue since. 😉
 
What a kind priest! There are so many!

When I apologized to the principal at my kids’ school, I was doing so merely to build a bridge. I still wasn’t feeling too kindly towards him, and figured he had some apologizing to do, too (which never happened). About a month later his mother passed away, so I figured it was a chance to do the “right” thing. I got a card and had a Mass said for his mom at the church near our school on a school day so he could go if he wanted. Weeks later, he thanked me, saying he had really “needed” to go to Mass that day.

I sometimes wonder if that apology has sowed seeds for others. Last year, I totally lost it with one of the middle schoolers in my class. He has used up my last ounce of patience and I let him have it! In some ways he had it coming, but being the adult and all, I should have done a little better of holding it together. When I was done, I left the class with my teacher assistant and left the room. That was a Friday and I felt bad all weekend. I knew I needed to apologize to him (and the others in the class) which I did on Monday. It was tricky not to validate his bad behavior, yet to apologize for mine, but Jesus sent the right words, I think. You could feel the tension in the room disappear.

I have this same student again this year, and the other day he bounced into class, so proud of himself because he had apologized to a classmate he had offended (and to the others in the class).

Coincidence?
 
twosweetgirls said:
And I say that with the greatest admiration, too! I mean, I know their wisdom and knowledge comes from our Eucharistic Lord, in addition to other sources–their own mentors, having lived longer lives, etc.–but man, some of the things they come up with are just amazing.

So when my priest said something to me in the confessional, I dropped my jaw. Still do. May I share?

I was confessing a deep anger and hate towards my husband, who was making it impossible for me to attend Mass (among other things). After some talking with my priest, he said something that I totally wasn’t expecting. He said, very simply, “Pray for your captor.” It takes a lot to make me speechless, and that certainly did.

Has your priest ever said anything to you that made you go “WHOA”. . . ? 🙂
Click to expand...
It may not have been your priest speaking to you!
 
twosweetgirls said:
And I say that with the greatest admiration, too! I mean, I know their wisdom and knowledge comes from our Eucharistic Lord, in addition to other sources–their own mentors, having lived longer lives, etc.–but man, some of the things they come up with are just amazing.

So when my priest said something to me in the confessional, I dropped my jaw. Still do. May I share?

I was confessing a deep anger and hate towards my husband, who was making it impossible for me to attend Mass (among other things). After some talking with my priest, he said something that I totally wasn’t expecting. He said, very simply, “Pray for your captor.” It takes a lot to make me speechless, and that certainly did.

Has your priest ever said anything to you that made you go “WHOA”. . . ? 🙂
Click to expand...
Yes, and the penance he gave me dropped my jaw, too. He told me that I take life and myself too seriously and that for my penance I was to find a friend and go out and have some good clean fun. Which, BTW, was exactly what I needed to do, and it did a world of good for me. I reflected on what he said, and am learning to lighten up.

BTW, my friend and I had a lovely fun day, we talked and laughed and she was all too happy to help me fulfill my penance.😃
 
Br.Rich_SFO said:
It may not have been your priest speaking to you!
Click to expand...
…:thumbsup:Well said! …

…Our priests can be positively charismatic even prophetic…I can find this entirely disconcerting!!!😃 …and I think as another poster said that it is the Grace of Holy Orders and an awesome matter…
A priest said something to me once, which bowled me over and when it came to pass it bowled me over twice again totally stunned and awed…
And another time I had suffered badly from scruples for years and once again going into the Confessional with my dreadful list, long and laboured, when leaving the Confessional, Father said to me simply “Be happy!” and I thought he was just being nice and thanked him, but at that very moment I felt literally as if a weight was off me and I lost my scruples completely from that moment and never to suffer with them again. When I walked out of Confessional light and colour too seemed totally different to me, as if a cloudy veil was lifted from them…
Our priests can be totally awesome!
 
Br.Rich_SFO said:
It may not have been your priest speaking to you!
Click to expand...
Yup. 😉

From St. Faustina’s Diary:
Our Lord said “When you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from My Heart always flows down upon your soul…” and “Every time you go to confession, immerse yourself entirely in My mercy with great trust, so that I may pour the bounty of My grace upon your soul. When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I Myself act in your soul. Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy” (1602) Make your confession before Me. The person of the priest is… only a screen. Never analyze what sort of a priest that I am making use of; open your soul in confession to Me, and I will fill it with My light." (1725)
Click to expand...
:love: :bowdown: :heaven:
 
I find it very facinating that Priests are smart, but they did not get that way over night, and for that we have to thank GOD for.

One thing that made my draw drop is the when I got my first penance, but I did with eagerness and did not worry about it, I guess the priest knew what I did was bad enough to give me one so that is what happened.:o
 
One time I accidentally took something from a store without paying for it (what happened was, I took a card and mailed it to someone in the in-store post office, without remembering to pay for it at the check-out) and I didn’t know what to do.

The priest said, go back right away to the same store, buy another card of the same price, and then when they are not looking, go and put it back on the shelf. Their accounts will balance and they will never know that anything happened. 😃

This is not something that would have ever occurred to me to do in a million years, and yet, it is so very simple - so I did that, and it worked out just fine. 🙂
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top