Fr. Haggerty’s Most Memorable Advice

On the day I was ordained to the priesthood, a single statement remained engraved in my memory. Now, years later, I realize it was a hint of the great offering that must be chosen repeatedly in life. The statement did not come from the homily of John Cardinal O’Connor, nor was it any words of my loving parents. After the ordination Mass at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City and a period of blessings at side altars, I ventured outside to the sidewalk to find a ride to the seminary in Yonkers, where a luncheon would take place. An older New York priest in his seventies, stocky and short, walked up briskly toward me with his hand extended. I expected a congratulations and a request for a first blessing. He took my hand and gripped it tightly and pulled me down toward himself as he spoke words that have been etched for years now in my memory. “You have just given yourself entirely to God. Now don’t spend the rest of your life taking that back.” Nothing more, and then he walked away. I am still grateful to hear those words repeated. But they have a different meaning now, years later. An entire offering is a demand whose magnitude I did not see until much later in time. (120, Conversion).