Reflection by Rev. Msgr. Joseph Reilly, S.T.L., Ph.D.
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For some time now I have been trying to recover my habit of walking every day. After the Camino last year, I kept it up for some time, but gradually it disappeared. Though it’s still more on again off again than habitual, I’m still putting in some good and well-intended effort!
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Last week I was out walking one day early in the morning. My normal route takes me past our local parish church. As I was walking by, a young kid was riding his bike on the way to school, backpack, and all, and he whisked by. I looked over at him and caught his gesture as he passed in front of the church. He slowed down, stopped pedaling, turned his head towards the church and blessed himself by making the sign of the cross with his right hand. He proceeded along and turned left at the next side street.
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I was surprised and delighted by his simple gesture. Made me think of how and why he got into this practice. He must have seen his parents do the same. Or perhaps, as a family, they had spoken about the importance of God’s house and maybe even of the Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
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The word that kept coming to my head was witness. The power of witness. And then my mind went to my pastor when I was a kid. I remember him driving up to the parish for the first time in a big old Buick LeSabre. I knew he was arriving that day. My friend and I were walking home from school and saw his car drive into the Rectory parking lot. My home parish at the time was not the best place to be. There was a great deal of division and discouragement. I’m sure looking back he was asked to take the parish. And he accepted.
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Monsignor Pollard spent the first year simply listening. He invited whoever wanted to come to visit him in the rectory and speak about their problems. Over time, his patience, faith, lively humor, and good example helped to heal this difficult and divided community. His Christlike witness as a priest made a tremendous impact.
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By the time, Monsignor Pollard retired, three of us young men from the parish had been ordained priests, and one young woman had entered religious life. The power of witness to Jesus Christ is real. I saw it. I felt it. I try to live it out.
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I believe that’s one of the powerful lessons of this Lenten season that we are called to embrace. When you and I witness to Jesus Christ, it has an effect on other people. When our faces radiate Jesus Christ, others are drawn into communion with him. Perhaps today we could renew our commitment to give genuine witness to Jesus Christ by the manner in which we comport ourselves, by the words that we speak, and by the way our faces radiate His presence to others.
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God only knows the healing power such witness will have on someone in difficulty or distress!
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Rev. Msgr. Joseph Reilly, S.T.L., Ph.D., Vice Provost for Academics and Catholic Identity Seton Hall University and Rector/Dean Emeritus, Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology. He holds a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, a licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) from Pontificio Istituto Teresianum, Rome, and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from Fordham University. He has served as a member of the Archdiocesan Priest Personnel Board, the Advisory Committee on Continuing Education and Ongoing Formation of Priests, the Archdiocesan Vocations Board, and the Board of Trustees of Seton Hall University. Pope John Paul II named him a Chaplain to His Holiness in 2005, with the title of Reverend Monsignor. In 2016 during the Holy Year of Mercy, the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization sought priests who were living signs "of the Father's welcome to all those in search of His forgiveness." He was the only priest from the Archdiocese of Newark formally commissioned as a Missionary of Mercy by Pope Francis.
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