THE YEAR OF THE PRIEST: 3RD POSTER

This drawing is of my very dear friend, Father Gregory Plow, T.O.R. and is intended for use in my newest "Year of the Priest" poster. Father Gregory and I have been best friends since my Sophomore year of college, when we met each other at a time when both of us were experiencing a conversion back to the faiths in which we were raised. Father Gregory was raised a Catholic, and I was raised in the Southern Baptist tradition. What endeared Father Gregory to me, then, as now, was his absolute genuineness, generosity, and contagious enthusiasm. When I met him, I could easily have said "Here is an Israelite in whom there is no guile." He is a man, now a Priest, who is alive with the Joy of the Holy Spirit. He has been that way as long as I have known him.

There were many roads which carried me towards the Catholic faith: Art, History, Scripture, Tradition, etc... But of all the things that God used to give me this precious gift, our friendship and spiritual brotherhood were the most vital. Years later, when I finally made the decision to come into the Church, I was also diagnosed with cancer. Father Gregory and his mother Jean were my co-sponsors, and were present when I was confirmed in my hospital bed by a local Priest. Over the next nine months, they came to the hospital and brought communion whenever I was inpatient, and took turns taking me to daily Mass when I was at home. This is only one of the examples of why I am so indebted to the generosity and friendship that Father Gregory extends to everyone he meets. He is a Priest's Priest, and he was meant to be a Priest. I chose to use his image in this new poster because Father Gregory is the perfect "poster boy" for the Priesthood.

Frank Bua took the photo that this drawing was rendered from. Frank caught this shot of Father Gregory at his "Mass of Thanksgiving," that is, his first Mass as a Priest. The image portrays Father incensing the Gospel before proclaiming its message to the People of God. I was immediately struck by the grace and symmetry of the image. Frank has a great eye, and Father Gregory's manner of offering Mass (with the order and precision of a mathematician - he is one) lends itself to this type of image. It is interesting that the poster focuses on the mandate by Christ to "preach the Gospel to every creature," because Father Gregory is a Franciscan of the Third Order Regular, and Saint Francis is famous, among other things, for preaching to creatures (birds) when humans wouldn't listen, and for his oft quoted line "preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary."

The image can be seen as an icon of the intense relationship which exists between the Priest and the Gospels. The Priest is commissioned by Christ to embrace the Gospels, and to open Christ's words to us in their proclamation and also in his preaching. The Proclamation of the Gospel is so sacred that incense is used. I found an excerpt from a website authored by the Abbot of a Monastery. His description of this rite is very beautiful, and explains well the significance of incense in the context of the Mass, especially with reference to the Gospels:

"What are we expressing with this incensing of the Gospel Book? It is a sign of devotion toward these holy words of and about our Savior, which have been preserved for nearly 2000 years, in reverence and love. As the sweet smoke (always first blessed by the priest) rises toward and surrounds the holy book, we are acknowledging: these are the words that God spoke when He became man and walked on this earth; this is the story of our salvation; here is the promise of everlasting life; here is the testimony of God’s love for us."

You can find the entire article at:

http://wordincarnate.wordpress.com/2009/

01/08/incense/

God send us Holy Priests!