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%u00a9Jack Fritscher, Ph.D., All Rights ReservedHOW TO LEGALLY QUOTE FROM THIS BOOKWhat They Did to the Kid 41At the altar each day we behold them, and the hands of a king on his throneare not equal to them in their greatness.Their dignity stands all alone.And when we are tempted and wanderto pathways of shame and of sin,it%u2019s the hands of a priest will absolve us%u2013not once, but again and again.And when we are taking life%u2019s partner,other hands may prepare us a feast,but the hands that will bless and unite usare the beautiful hands of a priest.God bless them and keep them all holyfor the Host which their fingers caress.When can a poor sinner do betterthan to ask Him to guide thee and bless?When the hour of death comes upon us,may our courage and strength be increasedby seeing raised over us in blessingthe beautiful hands of a priest!My father had said, %u201cRyan, never touch my tools. Be careful of your hands. You can%u2019t work on the car with me. You can%u2019t lose your hands and lose your vocation.%u201d My father looked forward to my Ordination Day. My Uncle Les and Father Gerber both had instructed him that Canon Law decreed that a boy with damaged hands could never have those hands anointed for the priesthood. I couldn%u2019t touch pliers or saws or car parts.The very first days at Misericordia I had wanted to obey everything the priests told me, so I could learn the priestly mystery and feel the chill go down my back every morning when as a priest I would say the words of consecration, %u201cHoc est Corpus Meum, This is My Body,%u201d and hold Jesus in my hands.%u201cThe sophomores,%u201d Father Gunn said, motioning to the sixty-three second-year boys drawn up in shorter aisles at the rear of our large study hall, %u201chave stepped one year closer to the priesthood by one-hundredpercent keeping their part of their deal with God.%u201dHe wanted all of us to be fine-looking, broad-shouldered young priests marching out to all the people in the world who were sinning and dying and who would fall like starlings to the oil fires of hell if we didn%u2019t learn to save them.