Thank you from Father John

It is by the grace of God I am filled with a joy that can only come from Him.  From novenas and holy hours to Masses said throughout the world, my life was lifted up by grace.  I am grateful, humbled and filled with a new joy.  The surgery went well, the transplant required 20 stitches and now the long recovery is set forth into motion.  Each stitch heals individually and must be taken out over time.  The process lasts 8 to 12 months.  My sight will not settle down until then.  But by all accounts, the journey started long before surgery and has had the best result so far.  I have the reassurance that healing and goodness will find my sight, no matter what.  My doctor spent the week before surgery doing mission work in Panama. He is a good Catholic invested in his faith.  With that confidence and the joy of coming out of the anesthesia with a clear mind, I am anxious to allow this new part of my body –t he left cornea — to get acquainted with a body that is foreign to it.  It already has a history of giving sight to someone else.  It has gone places I’ll never know.  And now it will be my turn to give it new life and take it to the vision of God found in the Breaking of the Bread.  I look forward to introducing it to the sacramental life that fills my soul.

All of this finds peace because of your outpouring of prayers.  All of this takes place because of your devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, St. Lucy, St. John Paul II and the many monasteries and religious communities who were solicited to lift me up.  Lifted up I was.  “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior”.  It was present at the day of my ordination and it is now.  I realize my future of driving is far off and there will be many bumps in the road, yet I promise to do all that the doctor asks of me.  This transplant is a gift and I have a new appreciation of just how amazing is medicine and technology. Once again, thank you, thank you, thank you!

I would also like to thank the staff who are working extra hard to free me from stress by taking on the task of organizing me to complete only essential ministry and leaving the non-essentials behind.  We are very blessed to have each and every one of them here at St. Anne. I am confident in the months ahead our reliance on God, prayer and one another will draw us closer to the grace He longs to bestow upon each and every one of us.

Fr. John