What a wonderful weekend.
God has called another young man to be a friar-priest and he (Fr. Peter) has had the courage to respond to God’s call. Pray for God to send us more young men and women who are willing to place their life at the service of the Church. Whenever I go to an ordination, I always reflect on my own vocation as a friar priest and how I live it. To be honest, I have never felt worthy of my vocation and I am still in awe of God’s most generous call. When I was ordained 29 years ago, a high school friend gave me a small plaque with the following poem written on it. When I celebrated my 25th Anniversary of Priesthood, another family gave me the same plaque. I know that I haven’t always lived up to its sentiments, but every time I read them I want to be a better priest. On this occasion of Fr. Peter’s ordination to the Priesthood of Jesus Christ I offer it to you.
To live in the midst of the world with no
desire for its pleasures;
to be a member of every family, yet
belonging to none;
to share all sufferings;
to penetrate all secrets,
to heal all wounds;
to daily go from men to God to offer Him their
homage and petitions;
to return from God to men to bring them His
pardon and hope;
to have a heart of fire for charity and a heart
of bronze for chastity;
to bless and to be blest forever.
O God, what a life, and it is yours,
O Priest of Jesus Christ!
Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire, O.P. (1802-1861)
As we all reflect on the gift of the priesthood, I beg you to pray for your friars and to pray for your priests. No one in our parish can be surprised at how much we need your prayers and support. Please pray for your priests, your holy priests and your lukewarm priests; your priests who preach well and your priests who ramble on; your merciful priests and your priests who find it hard to show mercy; your loud priests and your shy priests; your priests who are good administrators and your priests who mess up everything they touch; your priests who mean well and your priests who don’t; your priests who are filled with zeal and your priests who are just burned out; priests with lots of friends and your priests who are just plain lonely; your priests who find consolation in prayer and your priests who find it hard to pray at all; your priests who are angry and your priests who are calm. Pray for us. Please pray for us always. I know we can count on you..
A special thank you to everyone who made this weekend possible.