Jay Biedenharn, the curate at Saint John’s, will be ordained to the Sacred Order of Priest this Saturday at 10:30 in the morning.  I always think of the day, December 15, 1981, I was ordained a priest. Never, since that day, have I been the same as before. Often, often I am aware of an additional energy, a small voice of encouragement or a prompting of inner wisdom that surprises, yet delights, my soul.

I do not know what I would have done without the grace given me that day, in that enabling sacrament.  The outward sign is the laying on of hands by the bishop and other priest.  Bishop Stough, of blessed memory, pressed down with his full weight on my head to, as he said, have, “the weight of the tradition on me.”