First Year Anniversary of Priestly Ordination of FR. Mina George

Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Matthew 19:21

29th June 2020

Dear brothers and sisters,

May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Today marks the first-year anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood of Christ. On this day last year, I accepted whole heartedly the gift of priesthood that our Lord Himself established, along with that I accepted the many challenges that the priesthood comes with, life separated from the secular world being able to minister the sacraments of the church, and finally for once encounted divine peace that I had never experienced before in my life after all the challenges I had faced during my times of troubles and discernment. On this day my life changed, and I began to know that I will remain for the rest of my life serving the altar of our Lord if God wills it, I accept that with all my heart.

I want to take this time to thank all of my family, who have been there at all times, during my good times and tough times, thank you for supporting me until this very day. Thank you to all of my friends who have been good to me and did not dissolve our friendship and who have been loyal, you have proven that with all your heart you serve the Lord and you desire to remain in him. Thank you to those friends who are in America and Europe for always showing support and remining in contact. Thank you to those priests who always remain in touch with me and show support and offer their endless help. Thank you to those who are always honest and who want to strive to be good Christians it is people like you who help me get closer to Christ through serving you all, whether it is blessing your house, preaching to you, attending to your sick family members and to your spiritual needs or assisting you in personal matters.
The constant joy I experience form celebrating the Holy Eucharist weekly remains in me always, the joy is indescribable, and I wish I could explain it even in a few words, but I cannot. Every mass I say I treat it as if it will be my last, by doing this I am able to offer my mind completely to God so that I may not be tempted to sin and that the devil does not attack while I am standing there in the presence of God offering the sacrifice. The happiness I experience when blessing a house remains in me, the smile and happiness of people encourages me to do greater things using the gifts God has gifted me with, Glory be to God. Throughout this year I have grown with God and I have formed in ways I didn’t expect but most importantly God has proven His love for me each day and I truly say I am not worthy of all He has given me. My goal in life was not to just become a priest, but rather my goal is to reach closer to Jesus and live my life as closely as I can according to His teachings. If my goal was only to become a priest then after reaching that goal, I then have nothing else to work towards, but In striving to reach my ultimate goal in life, that being wanting to imitate Jesus and gaining eternal life I then have a long path to walk in the years which through my priesthood I can strive to reach it and fulfil my goal. God had plans, and this was His plan for me, through His priesthood gifted to me I can at least by that, work to become a better Christian and fulfil my desire to be united with Jesus and to obtain holiness. I wished for nothing more but to be a good priest and to serve passionately my Lord no matter what obstacle I face and no matter how much I am persecuted by this world, the evil in it and its people.

During my ordination this time last year, there was a lot of confusion which now I believe that confusion is no longer present for some, other than those who cannot or do not wish to process the truth regarding my ordination, and by whom I was ordained which is of no question now since I have clarified this on multiple occasions. This time last year I received so much hatred from people who seemed to be so holy but during the week before my ordination they proved who they really were. I constantly received calls and text messages people swearing at me and calling me names. I was made into a clown and laughed at, many rumours and erroneous statements and comments were made against me which I just accepted with a with an open and courage’s heart. I certainly knew those people did not know what they were doing and were driven by bad influence’s, but I knew God would intervene at some stage in His own time, eventually everything settled, and I had been certain it was God.

Many could not accept the fact I was moving on with my life and going to finally continue the journey I had started with Christ after it was interrupted by some vile act that was committed against me. May God have mercy on that priest, I have forgiven him for what he has done to me, and Many did not want to see me continue my vocation, they just wanted to see me suffering while they were out seeking their own platform for the wrong reasons and misunderstanding that what they do, is not for them to gain glory but that glory should in fact be given to God. All that was said to me and done against me and my ordination last year, all of the hate spread towards me, all of the comments and assumptions that are null and void were very unchristian not very Christ like at all, and it showed how we can at times judge innocent people without knowing the truth and intervening with people’s lives when we shouldn’t which is a constant problem we have in our community. I can say I forgive you all and I thank those who did wrong towards me because you have all made me even stronger and made me come closer to the Lord and to love him more deeply. “Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets”. Luke 6: 22-23
Priesthood is not for an individual to create a platform for himself, it is not for priests to seek glory for themselves and it is not a game and certainly it’s not about hijacking Christs church. Unfortunately, in this day we have many unholy priests who have caused great damage to the church and have impacted Her with their unholy actions and deeds. Many priests have used the priesthood to gain nothing but self-glory and money, building houses and buying the latest cars and enjoying a luxurious life while not caring about their flock. Their actions have caused many to leave the church and never to return, they have hurt families and congregations and cared less about their unjust actions. Most have made a mockery out of Christ and have thrown Jesus out from his own church. This is not priesthood this is in fact the influence of evil and temptation, greediness, pride and carelessness. Priesthood is Holy, priesthood is pure, priesthood is a gift and that gift should be used to glorify Jesus at all times and to build Gods kingdom and to lead all the faithful to the kingdom of heaven. Each priest should remember the great good God did for him by making him a priest of the church because very few are chosen to work in the vineyard of Christ. Priesthood is to minister the sacraments of the church to believers so by those sacraments they may inherit the kingdom and salvation. On the other hand, I must say there is so many great priests in the church who serve God and His church with all their heart, they have made a difference in the life of the church by all of their great works and holiness. Yes, priests are human, but the church certainly needs more holy and great priests to overcome all of the evil which is bringing down the churches reputation because of some clergy and hierarchy’s actions. Good priests will always remain close to God and to the people of God, nothing can change that. They portray the real image of Jesus Christ and the church to those who are stuck and trapped on the dark. Good priests will always fight for the truth and preach the truth because it’s the truth that sets us free. They will not fear any hierarchy who threaten to shackle them when they speak the truth they do not fear men because they only fear God, and God only. They accept the consequence’s they face when punished for being honest, pious and good priests.
That is why I have vowed to live my priesthood in faithfulness to Christ all my life to the best I can without looking back ever and allowing anything to stop me. I am capable of living my priesthood faithfully, why should I allow the devil to destroy this gift of priesthood that’s been entrusted to me so easily? I do not want anything of this world, the only thing I wish to have and see is the happiness of those who I serve through the strength given to me by God and I hope to bring many close to our Lord and to salvation. I want to make clear that it is not an easy path, but it is by the grace and strength of God I can overcome all of the obstacles like I have done so in the past. I truly say no money, no glory, no fame, no person and no material object can give me the happiness and the strength I need to serve God and His chosen path for me other than Him. I belong to God and all that I have is not mine, I wish to be always close and united with Jesus Christ today, tomorrow and until the end of my life.
I thank the Lord and His most ever beautiful Mother; Our Lady of Perpetual help thank you for all you do and thank you for leading me closer to your beloved Son.
I pray my brothers and sisters, you all remain faithful to Jesus always and do not abandon Him, He has great plans for you.
I ask the Lord to strengthen me so that I may continue to server His altar until the end. Pray for me.
May the feasts of St. Peter and St. Paul be blessed to you all and happy to all those priests celebrating their ordination today.

I remain your brother in Christ,

Fr. Mina George