Apex and Nadir

 

Seeing how Jesus is present in highs and lows

05-20-2026

John 17:11b-19 Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying: “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”

My first pastor, whom I worked with as his associate, was Msgr. J. Gaston Hebert. He was the pastor of Christ the King in Little Rock, and the lessons I learned from him could fill the encyclopedia Brittanica. Once when I returned from a small vacation, he asked me, “Well, John, what was the apex and the nadir of your little vacation?”

Before I answered, I had to run and look up what the word “nadir” meant. Basically, he asked what was the best and worst experiences of my vacation. What a great way to analyze any experience: a vacation, a school year, a marriage, the priesthood. What was the apex and the nadir?

As I stand on the cusp of my 30th anniversary of priestly ordination would you mind if I shared the apex and nadir of the past 30 years as an ordained Catholic priest? Of course, it’s hard to pick one apex because I have enjoyed many mountain top experiences.

They are like the peaks of the Himalayan mountain range as they pierce the bright blue Tibetan skyline. But undeniably the day of my ordination would rise at the Mt. Everest among all the other apexes. As Psalm 110:4 says, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” And by “forever” the psalmist means also in heaven.

A few days ago Dc. Christhoper asked if I remembered the homily from my ordination Mass. And surprisingly, I did. Bishop Andrew McDonald spoke eloquently about how my parents were like the wise men who came from the East (India), bringing gifts.

My parents did not deliver gold, frankincense, or myrrh, but their three children: Paul, John, and Mary. Indeed, what better gifts can anyone give to the world than their own children, who will live forever and change the world in unimaginable ways? Every child is not only “God’s gift to humanity,” but also every parent’s gift to humanity.

On the flip-side of the nadirs, I have to admit there have been likewise plenty of deep valleys and ravines to pick from. But perhaps the darkest valley of all was when my nephew Noah died on February 3, 2017. Next February 3, 2027 will mark his 10year anniversary.

But I can recount the dreadful moments when we heard the news and how the shockwaves swept over my family, and we still feel its unsettling reverberations. Just like there is no greater joy than the birth of a child, there is not deeper despair than the death of a child. Surely, every parent’s apex and nadir, and priest-uncle’s too.

Today we hear the second installment of John 17, known traditionally as Jesus’ high priestly prayer. And in a sense, our Lord, too, reflects on the apex and nadir of his life and ministry as the Messiah. Among the apexes of his 33 years on earth, he lists his apostles, his spiritual sons.

Jesus would give his blessed boys to the world like my parents gave their 3 children to the world. And perhaps Jesus’ nadir would be Judas, who betrayed him, whom he refers to ominously as “the son of destruction.” Just as Jesus has spiritual sons, so the devil produces spiritual progeny.

As we enter more profoundly into Jesus’ high priestly prayer today, and await the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, perhaps you can spend a few moments and follow Msgr. Hebert’s advice. What would you consider the apex and nadir of your life? Of all the highlights of your life what stands tallest as the Mt. Everest?

Of all the lowlights what would constitute the nadir, the valley of tears for you? But more importantly, try to see how God’s hand guided you and his grace sustained you through it all. You were never alone: neither when you stood on the mountain nor when you trudged through the valley.

When I was ordained on May 25, 1996, I had a little holy card made to remember the occasion. On the front of the card was a black-and-white pencil sketch of a bishop ordaining a priest. But Jesus was standing behind the bishop, and of course he was the One who truly ordained.

And the words on the bottom conveyed a message that still inspires me to this day: “Great is this mystery, and great the dignity of priests, to whom that is given, which is not granted to angels.” Surely with an apex like that, we should be able to handle all the nadirs that come along.

Praised be Jesus Christ!