A Short Advisory Epistle to our Priests and Religious

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By Ogiri John Ogiri.

My dear hardworking Priests and Religious, 

I hope this finds you in good shape. Let me begin my letter with an appreciation of your painstaking sacrifices for God, man and Church. I do know that most of those sacrifices of yours are not celebrated because they are mostly done off camera and public viewership. People are quick to publicize your scandals but too slow to generously publicize your sacrifices. But those of us who had desired to become priests but could not achieve the desire; those of us who are still very close to some of you are aware of these sacrifices. You are doing well. I do not suppose that you have no errors, I choose to focus only on your strengths because I am aware that some of those errors are characteristics of human frailty. I do not expect you to be perfect either; I expect you to just be enough; just be yourselves.


Having said this, I would like to remind you that, as humans with all the essential characteristics of living things, you matter too. Please, in your daily sacrifices for God and man, do not forget to take care of yourselves. You are human beings first before anything. Take care of your body too. Take a break whenever you can. Go on holidays, have fun, unwind and return to work with a rejuvenated mind, body and soul. Only the living serve God and man; the dead cannot lay claim to such a glorious privilege. If you are not comfortable, happy, fit and relaxed in body, mind and soul, you cannot serve God and man well. It is common knowledge that a troubled priest can beget a troubled Church. So, stay alive for us. It is good to be holy and spiritual but I do not support an unbalanced life of spirituality that can lead you to anxiety, unhappiness, depression and eventually death. So, create a balance between your spiritual life and social life. Do not allow what people will say, ( and they will always say) deny you of the beauty of life. 

Do whatever satisfies you but love God and humanity.Do you know why? It is because it is not easy to be a priest, a seminarian or a religious. Even those who badmouth you whenever you try to be yourselves are aware of this fact. So please, take care of yourselves so that the Church too can be fine. Just be enough. Be yourselves. Do not kill yourselves to become who people think you should be. Be who you are. After all, there is no saint without a stain. 


May God help you to be better servants!

May God bless your sacrifices particularly those uncelebrated ones! Amen.


© Ogiri John Ogiri.


#religion 

#christianity 

#catholicchurch 

#priests

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