Let's start with being human

A few months after my ordination to the priesthood, I was home for a day off.  My youngest brother, then a senior in high school, kept looking at me funny, in a puzzled sort of way.  I said to him, “What’s wrong?”  He said, “Frank, I know what you do on Sunday.  What do you do the rest of the week?”

That question regularly comes up, either directly or indirectly, from all sorts of people I meet and interact with.  In a sense, the question also asks, “Are you a human being, or an alien from outer space?”  My humanity is evident to me every minute of my waking life.  But I guess it is not evident to some.

So this blog is one priest’s attempt to share stories, incidents and reflections from a human life full of gifts.  Most of these gifts are given graciously and in abundance by the loving God.  Many come through friends, parishioners, co-workers in the vineyard of the Lord, brother priests, and even an “enemy” or two.  I’d like to think that I also give gifts too. 

For those who are students of the bible, you’ll see the blog title in 1Peter 4:10, Acts 20:35, and Matthew 10:8.   For those who are not, I hope you’ll see the theme in what follows.