With a brisk walk through the corridor, he was quickly outside and, in his car,
he glimpsed at his watch it was 6:00am, perfect timing he said to himself, Father John taught the 7am class at seminary school.
He got to the classroom like always a little bit early, some students also arrived early they said good morning and entered the classroom after him, they sat down very orderly, all new faces happy and eager to start, most of the seminarians had not arrived yet so they started chatting,
The one question that they always ask
- father, how did you know you wanted to be a priest?
- you just know
the student replied,
- how did you know?
-everyone knows in a different way it comes from within, it was everything, I wanted to dedicate my life to serve God in every respect, not only to show others how to worship but to believe in God, have faith in God, that he exists, that he is with us always.
- didn't you want to get married have a family?
-no, I wanted to be a priest ever since I can remember, my mother was very involved in the church, I always formed part of the church, I always wanted to be a priest.
-you never fell in love?
-no, I was lucky, I knew I wanted to be a priest maybe that's the reason I never fell in love, I never let my feelings grow for a woman, I never let myself get close to one emotionally, everyone has his path, a doctor, a lawyer, architect, for me a priest
-any regrets? If you knew you were going to die next week, what would you do, would you do something different?
-If God sed to me right now, "do you need something? anything that you want I can give it to you as a gift right now, no questions asked... or do you want to come to my kingdom right now?", I wouldn't think about it, in an instant I'd say "take me with you", and not because I'm sad, I love my life, I love what I do, to be here at this moment talking to you, another generation, to me you are not only my students but my new friends, my new family, it makes me very happy when I see one of you and you are 10 or 15 years older and you don't look sad after those 10 or 15 years on the contrary whenever I see one of you, you look smarter, knowledgeable, happier, why? because you are doing what God wants you to do, God wants us to be happy, everyone that is doing what God wants of them they are happy.
By now all of the seminarians were in the classroom, so he started the class.
-Good morning, I'm Father John Harris, I welcome you to seminary school, we will begin with a great class, Theology.
Father Billy new all the students from catholic retreats, he poked half of his body inside the semi-closed door, and wave saying hello, they all returned a very happy smiling face and hand wave, he closed the door with a smile
Father John is known throughout the church, he is well liked but you addressed him with respect, with a good morning father and a tilt of your head, that's the way he approached people with a good morning and a slight tilt of the head, he wasn't the type to be of a warm nature like father Billy that was always, always, always with a big smile on his face and with a quick, "hi how are you" and extended his hand that was always warm and he lightly press your hand with his other hand on top like a little quick hug hello, accompanied by small talk, about how is the family, he knew everyone by name, everyone spoke and confided there big and tiny problems to him, he was very understanding, you never thought that father Billy and father John were good friends but they were good friends ever since seminary school.
Father John is always busy, he also studied computer science, he is very good at it, after his 7 and 8 o'clock teaching class he was at his office at the bishopric then gave the 12 o'clock mass then back to the bishopric, he has another office where he lives, he's there every evening working late.
One would think that a priest just prays, worships, celebrates mass and receives confessions, nooooo sir it's a whole world of appointments, meetings, sessions, events, teaching classes, taking courses, most of all charity work.
Father John is an early riser, always leaves the kitchen before anyone else comes down in the morning, he also is the last to enter and leave the kitchen late at night, he drinks strong black coffee in the morning and decaffeinated with milk at night after working in his home office, that night father Billy was also up, he glanced towards the kitchen
-good night, John
-good night, Billy
Father John washed his coffee mug and went to his room,
When he was going up the stair's he was remembering Father Louis, he lived with them, a few years back they moved his room downstairs because he couldn't go up the stairs anymore, very nice elderly gentlemen, he passed away a couple of weeks before.
Every night John prayed, gave thanks to God for all his blessings and for the past weeks he added that if his mission in this world has been completed, he was ready to enter his kingdom.