A long time ago someone asked me, tactlessly, whether those of us whose career is the priesthood are able to retire when we get old. And since I gave him no answer, he persisted with his impertinent question.

—Then an answer came to me which, I thought, is indisputable. “The priesthood”, I told him, “is not a career: it is an apostolate.”

—That’s how I feel about it. And I wanted to put it down in these notes so that — with God’s help — none of us may ever forget the difference.