Father Jeremy was a parish priest who was obsessed with playing golf.
He would be at a country club playing golf at every opportunity he got. It was a passion for him.
One summer Sunday the weather was absolutely glorious and he realised it was such a perfect day to play golf. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the temperature was really very pleasant.
“Days are rarely better than this for playing golf”, Father Jeremy thought to himself.
This left him with a dilemma. For him Sunday was a working day of course but perhaps he could report in sick and then play golf at the country club in the next town?
Well, his passion for golf got the better of him and he phoned the curate to tell him he was sick and would not be able to take mass that day.
He then packed his clubs into his car and drove two hours to a country club where he was confident he would not be recognized.
By mid-morning Father Jeremy was standing at the first tee ready to play 18 holes.
Well, the Lord works in mysterious ways and the angels are his eyes and ears. And as Father Jeremy was ready to tee off one angel was watching him with concern.
The angel then went to God and said, “Look at that parish priest. He should be preaching to his congregation today, not playing golf.”
God frowned at the angel and agreed that this was not what he’d expect from a parish priest on a Sunday.
“Leave it to me,” said God.
At this point, Father Jeremy teed up on the first hole. He swung at the ball and it glided effortlessly through the air and landed right in the cup 250 yards away. It was a perfect hole-in-one.
Never before had Father Jeremy achieved such golfing perfection, so naturally, he was both amazed and very excited.
The angel looked on from above and he was shocked. He turned to God and said, “Lord, I’m sorry but I thought you said you were going to punish him.“
“I have”, said God.
“How?” the angel responded.
God smiled and said, “Think about it. Who can he possibly tell about this now?“
