An Awesome Gift

As a priest I’m allowed to share in some extraordinary events in people’s lives. Perhaps there are times when I take for granted the extraordinariness of these events. But every now and then something comes along to give me a reality jolt and remind me of the sacredness of the trust people bestow on me and I feel in awe of the way people include me in their lives as well as in awe of the priesthood in which I participate. Tonight was one such occasion.

I was invited to dinner by a couple whose two sons I have had the honour of baptising. What was different about this dinner was that I’d been invited to get to know in a small way their youngest son, Ethan, who is dying of leukemia. The don’t want just any priest burying their son, and they want the priest who does bury him to at least be able to say I knew him and be able to talk about him from personal experience. Ethan is a delightful child, just eighteen months old. His older brother, Declan, is four years of age. Declan has been to hell and back with this illness that ravages his tiny body. He is very thin; but boy is he bright, and he has a mischievous smile!

It’s not known how long Ethan has in this world – it could be weeks, months, or perhaps a few years. With advances in medicine, who knows how long he will be with us. I would like to get to know this boy better; but I know that in doing so I am setting myself up to be just as distraught at his death as will be his parents. That’s the price you pay for being involved with people; that’s the tremendous reward you pay for being asked into the inner sanctum of people’s lives, hearts, and souls. I’m not sure I’m always worthy of that gift, but I know it is given with love.