December 4, 2024

Wednesday Word . . . Holy Conversations

As a priest, I have been blessed to have many conversations with many people over the years.  Time spent with the sick and dying, the grieving, and the sorrowful have all been holy times and holy conversations.  But those times aren’t limited to the downcast.  I’ve also had those times with joyful first-time parents, with couples preparing for marriage, and with students celebrating an accomplishment.  They have included the formal confessions of parishioners who come to me seeking absolution for sins both great and small.  And more often than not, they are accidental.

At the morning prayer group led by Joan Smith this past Monday, she asked those of us gathered something along the lines of, “What are you thankful for this past year?”

When I interviewed with the two churches I eventually ended up serving in Montana, I was asked if I would be willing to visit the local bars while wearing my collar.  And that was the beginning of my monthly bar visits.  Over the course of my time in Oregon and Maryland, bar visits just weren’t the same.  I think a lot of that had to do with the size of the city, as well as my personality.  But when I arrived here in Buffalo, I returned to the local bars. 

My answer to Joan’s question was, “I’m thankful to be back in the bars.”

Holy conversations aren’t limited to hospitals, funerals, or the confessional.  Sometimes a holy conversation finds its way into the local bar, transforming it into one of the most holy places in town.

So yes, I’m thankful to be back in the bars and I’m thankful for people willing to have a holy conversation in a holy place with a guy they normally wouldn’t talk to.

We can’t make a conversation holy; but we can keep our eyes and ears open for the presence of God that will infuse a conversation with holiness.

Blessings,