PUTTING THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE
Every time I get overwhelmed and start feeling sorry for myself in ministry, I think of Father Elisha John Durbin who attended my home congregation of St. Theresa for seven years when it was only one of the many mission churches he served in three states.
In fact, only two years ordained and twenty-four years of age, he was the priest who started registering baptisms at the mission church of St. Theresa's in March of 1824. Before that, baptisms were registered in the parish where the missionary priests resided. He personally baptized one hundred and sixty-two persons at St. Theresa alone, his very first entry being a five-day old baby by the name of George Greenwell!
All I have to do, when I am overwhelmed by ministry, is walk over to St. Louis Cemetery, near my condo, and read his tombstone. It puts my problems in perspective in short order.
Just imagine the dangers he faced riding 500,000 miles on horseback over the hills and through the woods into three states!
He was ordained at age 22 (so young that he had to get a dispensation from Rome to be ordained). He served as a priest for 65 years, dying when he was 87 years old!
The next time you wake up and think that it is just too much trouble to go to Sunday Mass, think of Father Durbin and the scattered Catholics he served! That should be it in perspective!
Father Elisha John Durbin
1800-1887
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