A Day of Sacraments

Last summer Pope Benedict declared that this year would be the year of the priest.  It’s my hope that this blog will help people come to understand what we priests do in any given day.  The life of the priest consists of patterns and random acts.  Today seemed like a day of the sacraments.  I started off the day with my normal prayer routine at home.  Came to celebrate the 8am Mass here at the Church, then visited with folks after Mass.  Next I went to visit people who cannot come to Mass and bring them the sacrament of anointing along with a lay minister who brought the Eucharist to give to those same people.  After that I celebrated Mass at Jennings and about twenty people came.  During the Mass I anointed them also.  I proceeded toward Hillsboro where I spoke with Fr. Peter about our parish swap weekend and got things cleared up with him.  Next I went to lunch with a friend, then headed off to the SSMO to plan the alumni Mass (Dec. 11^th @ 6pm in the Chapel) with the sisters.  I came back to the parish to meet with a people and set up for the Thanksgiving Day Mass.  Once I finished getting ready for tomorrows Mass I made some phone calls and did some office business.  All this in the life of a priest: 2 masses, 17 people received the anointing of the sick, 3 meetings, and some time for phone calls and office work.  Mostly today was a day of sacraments in the life of the priest.