You're listening to Catholic Sprouts, the daily podcast for Catholic again. It's February 18th. It's a Tuesday. And I'm filling in for Nancy.

So last week, I talked a little bit about the priesthood and how I began to think about the priesthood.

And I mentioned that I didn't really know what the priest was or what the priest actually did.

And in order to help you understand a little bit more about what the priest does, I want to tell you a story.

This is a story about Tommy.

Every Sunday, Tommy's family drove to a funny looking building with a lowercase tea on the roof of it. Tommy knew it was a tea because he had just

finished first grade and he knew how to write and read all the letters. His teacher had told

his parents, Tommy is a very good speller and he has quite the letters. His teacher had told his parents, Tommy is a very good speller, and he has

quite the imagination. Perhaps he'll be a writer one day, but Tommy did not want to be a writer.

He wanted to be a superhero, or a ninja, or a knight. Tommy didn't necessarily like going to the

funny building with the tea on top, but one Sunday,

that all changed.

His family had arrived a little bit early, well, that is to say, they had actually arrived

on time for once, and that's when Tommy saw a man all dressed in black, like a ninja, enter into a special room he had never

seen before. Tommy wondered what he was doing in that room and wished that he could go inside

and see, but he knew he wasn't allowed. A few minutes later, the ninja left the room.

Or was this someone else?

He had the same face, but he was dressed completely different.

He was wearing all sorts of robes and strings and colors

and a cape that fluttered behind him as if there were a blowing breeze. He was a superhero.

Tommy began to wonder what sort of superpowers the superhero had. One simply does not dress like that without something to show for it.

Suddenly there was a blast of music from the organ. It was

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