YOUNG MISSION
Vol. XV
No. 11
December 2003
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Having It All
by Fr. Rico A. Nobleza
Take me for a seminarian or a priest - it doesn’t matter. But…many charming girls have time and again asked me this question: “Rico, why did you enter the seminary?” To this I could only answer with a shy smile on my lips… or a deep blush on my face.
Finding reasons
If you promise you can keep a secret, right now I shall tell you one. Believe it or not, but… every time I go out for a walk, I notice that the ladies giggle, and the gentlemen sneer or just stare at me. And the old folks reverently adore me. And the children literally mob me. I don’t know if I am simply flattered, or simply popular. But the fact is, I am the most-watched person.
The ladies exclaim: “Sayang! He is so cute! Why did he ever become a priest?” The gentlemen say: “If he isn’t a sissy, he must be a broken-hearted guy. That’s why he desperately thought of becoming a priest.” And the old folks say: “Oh yes, he became a priest because he is really very pious. And besides, he was once an altar boy.” The children are more sensible and practical. They don’t care to know why I took up priesthood. But yes, they care to know if I have candies, chocolates or medals.
Well, everyone seems to know why I took up priesthood. maybe those reasons are right, or…they may be wrong.
In Christ’s place
Now hear my story - the truth behind my becoming a priest. Look at me very well. I am neither tall nor short, neither dark nor fair. But yes… I am handsome, too - says my mother. Perhaps I could have been another Keanu Reeves, or another Cesar Montano.
For one thing, I wanted to become an actor - and to be just that - to play a role. And for all you know, I am to play the most important role. For a priest is another Christ. He is the head, the arms, the mouth, the ears and the heart of Christ. Christ absolves you through the priest. He gives himself to you as food in the Eucharist, not by himself alone, … but through the hands of the priest.
Engineer and physician
They told me that I could be an engineer in the future. And certainly, why not? After all, “figures” are my first love - mathematical figures, that is. Yet, I chose to become a priest. Yes, a priest who is nonetheless, an architect, an engineer of the spiritual order - to build for you a bridge that will link time and eternity, a bridge that will span the yawning gap between this cursed, exiled world and that blessed abode above, a bridge that will bring you home safely to that spiritual mansion called heaven.
They told me that it is much better to be a physician. Yet, I chose to be the Divine Physician’s chosen one in His line. Certainly, it is noble for a young man to become a dedicated doctor - to spend his life healing the physical ailments of mortals and lessening the pains and sufferings in this miserable world, arresting humanity’s undue haste toward its grave.
But as a priest, I can do more, even much for you. Through my God-given powers, I can prescribe for you a spiritual Aspirin that will soothe your remorse of conscience. I can diagnose and cure you of that deadly cancer of sin. I can give you a heavenly sedative that will calm down your raging passion, or lull you to slumber in the peace of the Lord at that inevitable hour when the medical power of a physician simply ends, and mine only begins.
Real treasures
Thanks to the Divine Providence, He had not approved of my becoming a lawyer… although I could have been a clever, though an expensive, one. My youthful ambition of making a fame in the political arena could have shaped me into another moneyed, professional politician.
But if I am a priest, I am not only privileged to dispense Divine Justice, but what seems far greater, to bestow Divine Mercy. I have not only the God-given powers to fight by your side against the unscrupulous and rascal “Officials of Hell”, but also to defend you from the charges leveled against you.
Yes, I could be a successful businessman in the future, a top economist, an expert banker of our country, and could have raked more money in. And yet, I shied away from such glamorous opportunities… simply because I chose to be… what I am now - God’s spiritual banker who can hoard and “lay up treasures for you in heaven, where neither moth nor rust can consume, nor thieves break through” (Mt. 6:20).
Being loved
Frankly, I chose priesthood because I was and am simply a helpless victim of that often misunderstood thing called Divine Love. In fact, it was this love that struck and really crushed my heart… upon the awful sight of this world, shocked and shattered by its countless broken men and women, nursing desperately their sin-broken hearts. Yes, it was this very love that made me resolve to bid goodbye to my own father, mother, brothers, sisters and “loved” ones - for the sake of loving even more the many homeless, unloved souls. And it is this love of God that gives me the heart to console the inconsolable, the power to absolve and the charity to forgive even the humanly unforgivable, the generosity to give divine riches even to those who may have nothing to give in return.
Now that you know why Priesthood is my chosen career, will you still call me a fool, a sissy, or brokenhearted?<WM
Copyright©2003 World Mission Magazine