#{I'm going with liver transplant and difficult to secure for the priest considering the long list of people waiting for transplants.}

[shiftingmuse]

Uncertainty Verse; Father MacAvoy

Joseph MacAvoy was very young when he thought to become a priest. His mother, of course, had raised him Catholic in the beginning, and his father gave him the choice of continuing. After the death of his mother, his father found faith in the bottle, and Joseph found him in God. Most of his life he spent without a real ideal home once his father became too ill to help himself. He spent a lot of his youth living with family members, and his one constant was the Lord. 

There were many times when his faith was tested; he had come close to marrying in his days at university. The woman he had been close to left him for someone better suited for her life than a man of God, as well as the idea of desiring people who did not suit the Catholic faith's image, 

It took MacAvoy a few years to be chosen for his studies, and then five years of study in both philosophy and theology. Even before he could work as a deacon in the church before his ordainment.

Father Joseph MacAvoy had been a priest for roughly ten years of his life when his faith began to break down. His father died when he was 35, just five years after he had his first parish. At that point, the priest had a troubling time with his faith. The reality that he was the only child and only son to be able to pass on his family name hit him harder than it should. Being a priest had meant so much to him in his younger days that finally having it all made him feel as if it was all for nothing. 

Joseph clung to his parish at the beginning of his descent; he had created a well-enough support group at his church without anyone realizing the truth. It wasn't until he was shifted to Middleburgh that everything became more of a hindrance. He had taken to drinking when he was alone, questioning God's plan for him and his own identity.

When the tournament happened, he was 42 and five years into his worst habits. He had taken up drinking, even at the desire of other people when it called for it. Most of the town looked down on the priest, considering his actions, but none seemed to try and understand why he was as he was. The priest had awakened in the pub on the worst day of his life, when hell itself came to earth. Only to end the day with blood on his hands and a woman's life hanging in the balance. 

Three years later, when he believed the worst of his days were behind him, A sober man stood before his church in a state of uncertainty. "As you all know, I am three years sober, and this will be my last year here." He began with a solemn tone of voice. "When it is time to take my leave, I may not go with a place to land, and this is darkening words for me to say. Though I will be leaving to work alongside another, I have a confession." Joseph gripped his blazer with an uneasy thought.

"I do not have a long time left on this earth. It would seem I am ill, and it hurts me to inform you all that I am dying. I do not have a great chance of having a successful recovery considering my condition. I must accept the Lord's good grace and my doctor's words about everything. If a transplant can occur, it will more than likely be further off than I would hope for." The members of the church were shocked but also understanding. It was not easy for the man to stand there and let them know he was not long for the world.

"With this confession, I would like to pray, not for my recovery but for all of your understanding and support over the past few years. It has meant a lot to me." 

…and they would pray, and Father MacAvoy would break all over again.