Celebrating the sacraments: Relationships matter

By Father Wilmer Todd
Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux

My name is Father Willie Todd, and I have been a priest for the past 57 years. I am 82 years old and am still active in the priesthood. Presently, I am taking the pastor’s place in Grand Isle, Louisiana, while he is on sabbatical. 

I really love being a priest, not for all the fringe benefits that the priesthood affords, but for the opportunity we priests have to change lives and to change our world.

I love liturgy. I try to get the congregation involved in the greatest mystery in the world – the Paschal Mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Liturgy can be dynamic and meaningful if the priest makes the liturgy dynamic and meaningful. I try to take the Gospel and apply it to people’s everyday lives. It is very rewarding for someone to come up to me after Mass and ask for a copy of my homily because it touched them in a very special way.

As a priest, I have the opportunity of celebrating the high points and low points of people’s lives. 

In baptism, we bring a child (or adult) into the family of God. Wow! What a privilege!

In the marriage rite, we are the church’s official witness to the vows the couple pledges to each other.

In the anointing of the sick, the church has given us the power to heal both spiritually and physically. 

At funerals, we have the opportunity to help people deal with their grief and to understand that we are all pilgrims on our way to our Father’s home. 

I love challenging people in confession to look at what is behind the sin. It’s not so much the “what” but the “why.” If people can get in touch with the why of their actions (what is going on inside them), they will have a better chance of conquering the sin.

A professor on one of my sabbaticals said that religion was all about relationships – the relationship of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; the relationship we have with our God; our relationship with each other; and our relationship with our world. I have tried to help people establish real relationships in their lives so that people can experience religion not as something we do but as the realization of whose we are. 

Christianity does not mean knowing about Christ; it means knowing Christ. To do that requires not earthly wisdom but heavenly grace.

Many things have changed in the church since I was ordained in 1963. Back then we were still celebrating the Mass in Latin. Many people did not understand what was going on because the priest had his back to the congregation and spoke in a low voice. Some people used the Mass as a time to meditate. Most people did not go to Communion. 

Thank God that things have changed. People can now use their baptismal priesthood to offer with the ordained priest the sacrifice of Jesus to the Father. What a privilege!

I feel very blessed and privileged that God called me to be part of Jesus’ priesthood.

Father Wilmer Todd is a priest of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux.