For me, how do I measure this man’s influence in my life? He ordained me. He assigned me to various parishes in the Anchorage Archdiocese. He came to help me in some moments of crisis, which all priests go through. And he eventually blessed “the call within the call” of my priesthood to come here to Far East Siberia and pray in the former Communist prison camps.
The challenge is to show Muslims the real Jesus, not the version presented by the Qur’an, but Jesus as he is revealed in the Gospels. Most Muslims are convinced that Christians falsified their Scriptures regarding the truth of Jesus. This presents a real problem when it comes to sharing passages of Sacred Scripture with them. Yet I do, and I show where our Scriptures are consistent and where Jesus himself proclaims his divinity. I show them where the Scriptures teach that Jesus was really crucified and died. Muslims are taught that Jesus didn’t really die on the cross.
I travel a lot for my mission in Magadan, Russia, always wearing my religious habit or a clerical cassock to identify me as a priest. Exceptional encounters and conversations arise that would not otherwise happen if people didn’t know I was a priest. I jokingly say that I witness many conversions on plane trips as I walk down the aisle looking for my seat. I can see the fear in the eyes of many who are quietly praying, “Please God, don’t let that religious fanatic sit next to me.”
I know some people find it difficult to believe that bread and wine change and become the Body and Blood of Jesus. In fact recent polls indicate that more than 35 percent of practicing Catholics do not believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. I can understand their doubts. It goes against our logic to believe that here before me is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ — God’s only begotten Son and my savior. But anyone schooled in logic will tell you that it is not enough to say I don’t understand it therefore I won’t believe it.
After we finished that first holy hour of prayer, one of the men had a shocked expression on his face and asked me what this was all about. I explained that we had been praying before the Lord Jesus Christ in his sacramental form — the Holy Eucharist.
When I first began my ministry in Russia 20 some years ago I recognized two subjects were off limits for me to speak of with my parishioners — alcoholism and abortion. Although most of the parishioners were affected by the disease of alcoholism either though a spouse, a relative, neighbor or friend no one wanted to talk about what to do. I knew that most every woman sitting before me every Sunday had undergone an abortion — and most likely numerous abortions. And the men as well sitting before me probably played a major role in those decisions.
Some may point out that the number of American polygamists is so small that changing the law won’t impact the wider culture or the vast majority who support traditional marriage. So what real difference does it make when a society redefines marriage to fit a new cultural norm? Well it certainly impacts what is taught in schools and promoted and enforced by law.
So where is the good news? The secular west is dying by its own hands. Same-sex marriage doesn’t produce children. Abortion and contraception have reduced the west to a graying population.
For the first time in human history, we live in a culture that says we can create our own meaning of life apart from God — a culture that denies all absolutes or norms. It says we can make up our own purpose in life, a self defined purpose.
Some believe it is arrogant to say that Jesus is the Savior of the world — the only name by which any can be saved. Such statements are narrow and dangerous, we are told, and they offend and alienate others. Past generations might have held such a view but we live in the modern world in which our neighbors are secular or Muslims or from various faith or non-faith backgrounds.