I am going to be very open and share something pretty personal, but with the sole intention of glorifying Our Lord and as a testament to the good things He has done in me and for me. I recently was blessed to be able to share the gift of life with my parish priest. I was baptized in the Catholic Church, then my parents separated when I was very young. Over the years I drifted far from Our Father. I was blessedly watched over by the prayers of my brothers and sisters in Christ, my guardian angel, and all the saints and martyrs who prayed for me. I began my journey to rejoin the One True Church almost two years ago now, and when my wife and I were OCIA, we became aware through social media of a great need of our priest. He was in need of a kidney transplant, and had been on home dialysis for a few years. I prayed about it, and talked about it with my wife and our two children. We decided that I would begin match testing. There were two different ways I could have helped our priest. One was a voucher program, where I would donate a kidney and he would receive a voucher to use. The second was that I would be a match: tissue, blood type, and antibodies. As I was going through testing, I was feeling unsure if I was following my own will, or the will of Our Lord; so I prayed for further guidance. I prayed to God that if this be His will, I would know it through being a direct transplant match. Well, The Lord Our God does not answer halfway, or with uncertainty. I found out that I was a direct match, and my family decided that we would put my kidney up as an offering to God. I felt such a peace about the whole process, and it has been difficult explain how right I know this was. We told our priest right before thanksgiving, when we had a confirmed donation date. It was such a blessed gift to see the light of joy on his face as he realized it was us and what we were able to share with him. Then last Friday 12/05/2025 the Lord Our God blessed us and our families both with the tremendous gift of life, love, and mercy. Our parish community have been so supportive and the outpouring of love has been so incredible. I have the felt the grace from their prayers in my soul, and the touch of Christ on my body. Our collective recovery is going so well. I was blessed to go home the next day, and our priest is going home today – two days early! That’s exactly how good Our God is! He will lead us in His mercy to dwell in His goodness. Praise God for all things, and by the power of the Holy Spirit may we be made worthy of the promises of Our Savior Jesus Christ! All of this is to say If you have a way to offer up anything to Our Lord, anything at at all: our talent, our treasure, our time, our lives, our bodies, our work, or anything at all. We should do it, and we should praise God for the gifts that we can give to him out of love, and that by the mercy of Jesus Christ and his pascal sacrifice our own in kind sacrifices be pleasing and holy to God Our Father. Love each other as Christ first loved us, and let’s live our faith with the hope of the world to come!
