I Fell in Love

I enjoy the SpiderMan films of the recent years. I think that they illustrate a real struggle in identity for anyone who follows a vocation - a call to be who they are, be it a religious or married vocation. For Peter Parker, the question is "Can he embrace his identity as SpiderMan and live that fully, or does he give himself half and half to that and to Mary Jane?" It's a difficult choice - especially in a culture that says you can have both. In actuality, he'd have neither, unless he falls in love with one.

That's what priestly life is like for me. Certainly, as a human being - as a man - I am torn at times between my vocation to serve and a desire to have a family and feel the love that way. These feelings come and go; they are stronger sometimes more than others. However, the reality is that I do what I do - and I think any priest does - because I have fallen in love. Love is the key to any vocation. It is for love that anyone makes the sacrifices that solidify any vocation. St. Paul reminds us, in a reading so often read at weddings, that "Love never fails." Even when our humanity can, love never fails. Remembering that I have fallen in love helps me to remain faithful.

Love is what lends force to celibacy. That might seem odd in today's culture, which looks at celibacy as a "turning off" of one's sexuality, but truly, one cannot be celibate unless one is in love. Now, some priests will tell you that it is a gift that God gives, and others will say it is a discipline that we just "do." I'd say that it is both. However, without love it cannot be lived as either.

We need to pray for those who have fallen in love - and that more people do. This is not the "love" that we see on TV or in the movies. That has very little to do with a vocation. Rather, we need to pray that more people find the true Source of Love and embrace it. Only then does God catch us in His web and set us on fire with the strength to truly be who we are made to be.