"After you are ordained, turn around and let the people love you." I could hear Father Kevin Bradt's voice in my head as I lay face down on the cool marble floor of the cathedral. Ordination was a long, beautiful, complicated liturgy, and, though we had been rehearsed by Father Bradt, I was not sure what came next.
Except that at some point we would turn around, be presented to the people and let them love us. Whatever that meant. And we were to just stand there and accept it. After 10 years of Jesuit formation, after 23 years of classes and after 42 years of life, I was supposed to "turn around and let the people love me." Fifteen years later, this advice still calls me forward, challenges me and feeds me.
Read Full Article »