Corpus Christi Blog

Many Reasons to Celebrate

10-01-2017Weekly ReflectionFr. Chad King

This week is one of my favorite weeks of the year. We celebrate two of my favorite Saints: St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the Little Flower, on October 1 (though this year it is trumped because it falls on a Sunday) and St. Francis of Assisi on October 4. Additionally, on September 29 we celebrated the Archangels and on my birthday, October 2, we’ll celebrate our Guardian Angels. Furthermore, my sister’s birthday is October 5.

Last week, if you remember, the Gospel was the Parable of the Landowner who hired workers to work in his vineyard at different times of the day, but paid each worker equally, no matter how long they worked. In his homily, Dcn. Chris Kellogg led us to reflect on the joy it is to be called to work in the Lord’s vineyard. For me personally, that truth has been resonating in my heart.

I mentioned that October 2 is my birthday, but I’m not going to tell you how old I am. What many of you might not know is that I was born three months early in a little town in Southeast Kansas called Pittsburg and weighed only 2 lbs. 2 oz. The hospital in Pittsburg didn’t have an incubator, so I had to travel by ambulance two hours north to Kansas City. Being born so early and not being fully developed, I didn’t know how to breathe normally, so my dad rode in the back of the ambulance and had to flick the soles of my feet to keep me awake and breathing for 100 miles. So Dad, I am forever grateful! And Mom, once again, I’m SO SORRY for causing so many difficulties and anxieties in the delivery and months after! And to my sister, I’m sorry for taking the focus of your birthday away from you and that you only had parties with your friends every other year while growing-up—you really do deserve a birth-week now, and not just a day!

While I am continually trying to make it up to my family for all that I put them through😊, I whole-heartedly owe my everything to God. At Franciscan University of Steubenville, I took an Embryology class. I learned that it is a true miracle that any baby develops and is born without any problems.Thus, it is even more of a miracle for a baby born three months early to live outside of the incubator; especially a boy (for some unknown reason, girls born three months early have a much higher success rate), and especially so many years ago without the modern technologies. God is the reason why any of us are alive, but in a special way, why I am alive and well. God worked a miracle for me to live. He allowed me to live for a reason, and that reason, I have come to believe, is so that I can work in His vineyard as a priest and help others come to know the love of God that I have come to know personally. He has given me life in so many ways, not just physically, but spiritually, and through countless blessings. Therefore, the least that I can do is to live my life, not for myself, but for Him who has given me life and so, I will gladly give my life for His purposes. What about you?

am so thankful to be called to work in our Lord’s vineyard. To truly live for Him gives meaning to my life. It’s amazing and convicting to think that all that I do, literally, has eternal consequences. Scripture says that a person who brings a sinner back to God cancels a multitude of his/her own sins—so personally, I will need to spend my entire life working in the vineyard. Therefore, I gladly re-commit to give my life for your sake. Please continue to pray for me, through the intercession of St. Thérèse, St. Francis, and our Guardian Angels, so that I can be the saint and servant that God has called me to be. And pray that I will be successful in giving my life wholly for His purposes, so that you can be the saint God is calling you to be.

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