Shortly after I posted this item, soliciting feedback about how Jesus has changed your life, I read this piece that illustrated it, through the profound heroism and stoicism of one ordinary priest:

Father Tom is one of the sweetest and holiest men I have ever known: a thoroughly priestly man with a profound sense of his vocation, a deep love for the poor, a beautiful humility, and a sheer radiant goodness.

He is also dying of esophageal cancer that has metastasized. We’ve been praying for him for months, but God has made it clear that He picks the fruit when it is ripe. So Father Tom ended his chemotherapy some weeks back, went to Spokane to say goodbye to his loved ones, and returned to us at Blessed Sacrament to spend his last days surrounded by brother priests in the rectory — and to say goodbye to all of us.

After the homily, Father Daniel Syverstad, our pastor, had to give a brief report on financial matters, but then he gave (as he had done at all the previous Masses) a report on Father Tom. He was as astonished and moved as the rest of us to see Father Tom there, so much so that his normally dry and imperturbable Norwegian demeanor was shaken, as were we all. His voice trembled a couple of times and he said the beautiful truth about Father Tom: that he was one of the finest and most beloved priests Blessed Sacrament has ever had (which is saying a lot, because we’ve been blessed with extraordinary men, some of whom I believe will be canonized someday). Father Tom, with typical humility, cried as the people spontaneously applauded him. Well done, thou good and faithful!

But that was not all. This supremely loving man who could barely sit up through the Mass actually stood and assisted at the consecration. You could barely hear his voice — a thin, papery whisper that demanded everything of him (the cancer has spread to his lungs). But he did it, gripping a chair to keep his balance and then leaning on the altar itself.

“Through Him, with Him, in Him.” I’ve never seen the meaning of the priesthood so clearly incarnated before my eyes. Alter Christus. Priest. Victim. Sacrifice.

Read the rest. And please keep this man, and all priests, in your prayers.

UPDATE: I received the following e-mail from a Dominican friar Thursday afternoon:

I am not a big one for leaving comments, but I thought I would mention that (Fr. Tom) died this morning at 10am. In your mercy, please pray for the repose of his soul.

May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Amen.