Twenty-Five

“Love seems swiftest, but it is the slowest of growths. No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century.”
-Mark Twain

Paul and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary last month.  Just writing that out makes me smile.  We've been married for exactly half of our lives.  It feels so comforting to know someone so well, to have traversed illness and health, joy and sorrow, struggles and ease, side by side with the same person who loves you even when sometimes they might not like you very much.

We spent quite a bit of time discussing how we might celebrate this milestone, and in the end decided that we would take a full week of vacation from work and spend each day doing some small, enjoyable activity together.  It was the first real, week-long vacation that we can remember taking in many, many years.  We rented bikes and went riding downtown, we walked in scenic parks and out on the pier of  Lake Michigan, we visited antique shops and my hometown of Manitowoc, and we loved every minute of it.  But the highlight of our anniversary week was when we traveled to Indiana for a short stay.

The morning of our anniversary I was as nervous as a new bride as we drove to meet our friend Bishop Don who said Mass for us and invited us to renew our vows. I was surprised to find that Paul was just as choked up and emotional as I was. Following a delicious Italian lunch we bid farewell to our friend and traveled to northern Indiana for an overnight stay at Serenity Springs, a resort with private cabins overlooking a small lake.  It was so peaceful and quiet.  The resort was definitely well named!  When we arrived we were taken by horse and carriage to our cabin.  I had to resist recreating a scene from my favorite movie, Barefoot in the Park.  I wanted to stand up and shout "We just got married!" but to Paul's relief, I refrained from embarrassing him.  We completed our vacation with a stop at Michigan City, an artistic little town with a sea glass jewelry store where I had my favorite piece of glass re-wired, and a nice hike in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.  I never wanted the anniversary week to end.

Serenity Springs horse and carriage ride

Serenity Springs

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore-half of the trail had been burned by the DNR

The burned forest-not exactly my kind of paradise; this sign made me laugh.

Now this looks a little more like a paradise valley.

And Lake Michigan must be pretty close to paradise!

A week later, we drove to Lake Villa, Illinois to bid farewell to our friends, The Handmaids of the Precious Blood, at a final Mass as they prepared to move to their motherhouse in Tennessee.  On that sunny afternoon we took the backroads instead of the freeway for the one hour trip and were treated to a delightfully scenic drive that included farms, horses, white fences and fresh spring flowers.  It felt like an anniversary vacation all over again!

That night I dreamed that Paul and I were in heaven, and the heaven of my dreams looked very similar to that drive to Illinois, only we were walking together instead of driving.  I do hope and pray that after at least twenty-five more years of wedded happiness, when the time arrives for Paul and I to leave this earthly life, we will truly be walking hand in hand together through paradise.

The Oblates of the Precious Blood Pay a Visit to the Handmaids and St. Maximilian Kolbe's Shrine

A little community of Oblates of the Precious Blood has been springing up in Milwaukee-we now number five!  So a visit to the Handmaids of the Precious Blood was certainly in order!  Plans were made and a date set and off we went!  My husband, Paul, had lovingly taken our car in for a tune-up, gave it a good cleaning and sweetly placed flowers in the pocket of the door for me as his way of wishing me love and safety on our drive to the Lake Villa, Illinois Priory.  A loving husband is a blessing from God! Although the sprig of Bridal Wreath carries no fragrance, a scent of love and goodness was definitely in the air!

When we arrived at the priory we were warmly welcomed by Sister Maristella and all of the Handmaids of the Precious Blood.  The first thing that Fr. Paul Schneider, one of our traveling companions, did upon our arrival, was to say Mass for all of us.  During his homily he spoke about Martha and Mary and Mary's better choice to sit at the feet of Christ .  He told us, "When we have a little bit of Jesus, we want more.  We want more.  We want more."  And he reminded us to "always hold close to the Mother of Christ, to put our hands in hers, and she will never fail to lead us to Jesus."

A Handmaid of the Precious Blood at prayer

Fr. Paul Schneider, OFM Conv. with the Handmaids of the Precious Blood

It was clear that the Handmaids were thrilled to see their dear friend Fr. Paul who is one of the original Oblates of the Precious Blood, having made his Solemn Resolution of Love nearly 30 years ago.  The Handmaids are cloistered nuns and yet we were able to visit with them without having to stay behind an enclosed grille, and, although they are committed to perpetual Eucharistic Adoration, a friend from the local community who comes to adore Christ each day at noon while the sisters take lunch, watched over Jesus in the chapel so that we could have a few precious minutes to visit with all of the small community of Handmaids in Lake Villa.  Each time I visit the Handmaids I marvel at the sweet joy that emanates from their souls.  They are, without a doubt, the warmest and most welcoming women, truly touched by the Heart of Christ and spreading that warm welcome to others so easily.

The conversation freely flowed with talk of the Handmaid's daily schedule, their garden, the upcoming Corpus Christi Procession that they will be hosting, their favorite recreational activities and games, as well as talk about the move coming up for the Handmaids at the Motherhouse in Tennessee.  The life of a Handmaid of the Precious Blood is busy and full, that's certain!  The moments of the day that surround the hours of prayer are never wasted!

The Handmaids had the honor of hosting an exhibit on the Shroud of Turin in one of their buildings and we were fortunate to be visiting them while the display was still on hand.  One of the most moving parts of the display was a crucifix that was created based upon the image on the Shroud.  Because it was so large, it didn't fit in the building with the rest of the Shroud exhibit and was displayed in the Handmaid's chapel.  It was impossible not to be moved by the depth of Our Lord's suffering while gazing upon the crucifix.

Crucifix based upon the image on the Shroud of Turin.

What love He has for us!

To learn more about the Handmaids and Oblates of the Precious Blood, visit this link.  And please remember the Handmaids of the Precious Blood in your prayers, and pray for an increase in vocations to their order, especially this June as prayer for vocations is Pope Francis' evangelization intention for the month.

Following our visit to the Handmaids, we traveled to Marytown, The National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe where Fr. Paul gave us a beautiful history lesson on St. Maximilian, who was martyred in Auschwitz during World War II, offering to take the place of a prisoner who was spared for his family.    Fr. Paul explained that St. Maximilian was the last of ten prisoners in his starvation cell who was still living, and his joyful, hope-filled attitude despite his starvation made the Nazis furious, so they hastened his death with an injection of carbolic acid.  Because of that injection with a deadly drug, St. Maximilian is known as the patron saint of those who are chemically addicted.

A replica of the cell that St. Maximilian Kolbe and nine other prisoners were held in while being starved to death.

Following the fatal injection, St. Maximilian was cremated so there were no bones available from which to create relics.  So how is it that Marytown has a relic of St. Maximilian?  Fr. Paul shared a fascinating story about a barber, a fellow Conventual Franciscan, who was certain that the holy Fr. Maximilian was destined for sainthood, and so, when he finished cutting Fr. Maximilian's hair following his time as a missionary in Japan, he swept it into a bag to save it.  When Fr. Maximilian learned that the barber was saving his hair, he told him to throw it out, but the barber disobeyed, and because of his disobedience, we have relics of St. Maximilian Kolbe's hair.

St. Maximilian Kolbe relic and barbed wire from Auschwitz

Strands of St. Maximilian Kolbe's hair.

To learn more about St. Maximilian Kolbe, visit the Marytown link here.  Hover over the name "Kolbe" to find additional links.

Funeral for a Priest

As an Oblate of the Precious Blood, I feel compelled to pray, not only for living priests, but for the souls of deceased priests as well.  Last May I attended a funeral for a good and holy priest, Fr. Joseph Baran.  According to his long-time friend, Fr. Norbert Kieferle from Indiana, "Fr. Baran was the oldest Polish priest in the Badger State.  He was 92 years old when he died from a sudden heart attack, although he didn't have heart disease, and his mind remained sharp until the end."  The funeral Mass was sparsely attended which made me sad.  I've always imagined that people would be spilling out of the church at the funerals of priests as a witness to all of the lives that they have touched, but perhaps, due to his advanced age at passing, most of the lives he had touched had gone before him.  Hopefully the few people there prayed all the more for Fr. Baran's soul and made up in fervor for what was lacking in physical presence.

I didn't know Fr. Baran personally, although he had sent me a letter with a donation for Roses for Our Lady a few years previously.  His letter and donation gave me great encouragement in my work with Roses for Our Lady. When I heard of his passing I wanted to pray for him at his funeral in gratitude for his kindness to me and the organization that is so dear to my heart.

Fr. Baran had pre-planned his funeral and chose his friend, Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz from Nebraska, to preside and preach.  Bishop Bruskewitz drove through the night to reach Milwaukee in time for the Mass as his flight had been canceled.  He gave a beautiful and brilliant homily.  He said, "We're not here to canonize Fr. Baran, but we are here to pray for him, to shorten his time in purgatory.  Any dust that has collected on his garments through the years, any mud that gathered on his shoes, we are to pray that clean so he may hurry to the moment when Christ will meet him and say ''Well done my good and faithful servant.'"  He spoke about the dignity of the priesthood and the great role that the humble parish priest has in the lives of his parishioners, and then shared just a few memories of the great friendship that he shared with Fr. Baran when the bishop was still a priest in Milwaukee.

I was especially grateful for Bishop Bruskewitz's comments about purgatory and the necessity of praying for Fr. Baran's soul.  In the words of the Purgatory Lady, Susan Tassone, "No one is more dead than a dead priest because no one prays for him.  We tend to leave off too soon praying for our deceased priests and religious. We tend to "canonize" our clergy and loved ones immediately after death. They are the most abandoned souls in purgatory including those souls whose families do not believe in the doctrine of purgatory and  our protestant brothers and sisters.  We say  they have suffered enough, they are in Heaven. We determine the state of their soul at death. Only God can judge their souls. If they are in Heaven, praise God! Our prayers are never wasted.

There is a great shortage of priests. We do not know whether we will have the privilege of having a priest at our side at the hour of our death. Pray for our deceased priests in purgatory. Beg them to intercede to grant the grace of final repentance for you and your whole family and all future generations until the end of time and in exchange you will pray for them. At the hour of your death, you will be surrounded by all the priests for whom you opened the door to Heaven.  

In turn, they will escort you to the heavenly banquet."

Not only did I pray for Fr. Baran at his funeral and continue to pray for his soul daily, but I also pray to him, certain that he now has a special place in the heart of God and can intercede ever more strongly for those who pray to him.  On the Feast of St. John Vianney, patron of priests, won't you join me in praying, not only for living priests, but for the souls of all of those priests who have passed this earthly realm, as well as to ask for their intercession on your own behalf and on the behalf of your loved ones?

The Holy Cure of Ars by E. Cabuchet

A Prayer For Priests  from the Sanctuaire D'Ars-www.arsnet.org
(my words in italics)

Lord Jesus, with Saint Jean-Marie Vianney, we entrust to your care all the priests we know, those we have met, those that have helped us, those you give to us today as fathers, and those who have passed from this life.

You have called each by name.  For each one, we praise you and we beseech you:  keep them faithful to your Name.  For you consecrated them so that, in your Name, they might be our pastors.  Give them strength, confidence and joy in accomplishing their mission.

May the Eucharist that they celebrate nourish them and give them courage to offer themselves with you on behalf of the lambs that we are.  Plunge them into your heart of Mercy, so that they always bear witness to your forgiveness.  May they be true worshippers of the Father, so that they teach us the true path to holiness.

Father, with them we offer ourselves to Christ for the Church:  may She be a missionary Church moved by your Spirit.  Teach us quite simply to love our priests, to respect them and to receive them as a gift that comes from your hand, so that together we accomplish better your work for the salvation of all.

Amen.

A Prayer for Deceased Priests (source)

O God, you raised Your servant, 

to the sacred priesthood of Jesus Christ, 

according to the Order of Melchisedech, 

giving him the sublime power to offer the Eternal Sacrifice, 

to bring the Body and Blood of Your Son Jesus Christ down upon the altar, 

and to absolve the sins of men in Your own Holy Name. 

We beseech You to reward his faithfulness and to forget his faults, 

admitting him speedily into Your Holy Presence, 

there to enjoy forever the recompense of his labors. 

This we ask through Jesus Christ Your Son, our Lord. 

Amen.

Secret Sorrows/Prayers for Priests

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."  ~Ian MacLaren

Each day on my lunch break, I walk a few short blocks from the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) Clinic where I work, to the Marquette University Campus, while praying the rosary.  The campus setting is so park-like and beautiful, and as I pass all of the college students cheerfully talking to each other, or texting on their cell phones, or slumped under the weight of their backpacks, it occurs to me that despite their carefree outward appearance, each and every person I pass is carrying a hidden sorrow in their heart.  I pray the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary and I think about how each of these students re-live our Lord's sorrows in their own mysterious ways of which others may never know.  We all have our secret sorrow.

Today I was carrying my own sorrow, deep within my heart.  It was announced at Sunday Mass that a local priest, Fr. Quintin Heck, had taken his own life.  My heart broke right open upon hearing this tragic news, and I could not keep from crying during the remainder of the Mass no matter how much I tried to remain stoic.  I didn't know Fr. Quintin, but my heart grieves for him as if he were my closest friend.

"In strengthening the priest, you strengthen the whole Church...Strengthen the priest and you strengthen the whole foundation, you strengthen everything in the Church."  
~Fr. Gerald Fitzgerald, sP, Founder of the Handmaids of the Precious Blood

It's unfathomable to me how a priest, beloved by God and by the Church, his family, a man who promotes the Catholic value of dignity and sanctity for all life, a man who transforms an ordinary piece of bread into the very Body of our Lord within his very hands, a man whose life is committed to saving souls, could take his very own life, that indescribably precious gift from God. Depression is a dark, tormenting and deadly disease, to be sure, and it does not care whose life it takes.  But it seems that beyond the disease of depression, there is an evil that is lurking within the Church, wreaking havoc and causing distress beyond measure.  Considering that Fr. Quintin is the second priest in Milwaukee who has taken his own life in the past month, it appears that our Church, and especially our priests, are under attack and we are all suffering victims in this battle.

"This kind can only come out by prayer and fasting."  Mark 9:29

For me, as an Oblate of the Precious Blood and the organizer of the Monthly Prayer Request for Priests calendar for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, I take this tragic news very personally and easily become discouraged, as if the many hours I spend in prayer for priests has been for naught.  But deep down I know that all prayer is fruitful, that my words uttered to the Lord within the silence of my heart on behalf of the priests of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee do somehow help them to cope and to thrive, as they tremulously balance upon the straight and narrow path, duty-bound to God despite the tremendous difficulties that they may encounter in the spiritual battle for heaven.  God always wins, after all, and the demons of depression and suicide are not the end of the story.  It's vital that we remain strong, especially on behalf of our priests whose shoulders are burdened with not only their own crosses, but also those of all the Catholics who depend upon them to be a witness of strong faith, as well as the source of the Sacraments in which we meet Christ.

Handmaid of the Precious Blood

Today I implore you to please visit the Monthly Prayer Request for Priests website and bookmark the page or print out the calendars, keeping our Milwaukee priests in your daily prayers.  If you do not have a Monthly Prayer Request for Priests within your own diocese, please consider starting one.  I will gladly help you get started-it's not terribly difficult or time-consuming.  If you feel called to do even more, visit the Handmaids of the Precious Blood and spiritually adopt a priest, or prayerfully consider whether or not God might be calling you to look into becoming an Oblate of the Precious Blood, or to a religious vocation as a Handmaid of the Precious Blood.

"Be close to your priests with your affection and with your prayers that they may always be shepherds according to God's heart."  ~Pope Francis

Our priests deserve our attention, encouragement, gratitude, support, love and prayers.  Let's give them our heartfelt and faithful daily prayers which, through the grace of God, will hold them up when they grow weak and weary.  And please, remember the souls of our deceased priests within your prayers as well.

Eternal rest grant unto Fr. Quintin Heck, and all of our deceased priests, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.  Amen.

A PRAYER FOR PRIESTS

By the late John J Cardinal Carberry

Keep them; I pray Thee, dearest Lord.

Keep them, for they are Thine 

The priests whose lives burn out before

Thy consecrated shrine.

Keep them, for they are in the world,

Though from the world apart.

When earthly pleasures tempt, allure --

Shelter them in Thy heart.

Keep them and comfort them in hours

Of loneliness and pain,

When all their life of sacrifice

For souls seems but in vain.

Keep them and  remember, Lord,

they have no one but Thee.

Yet, they have only human hearts,

With human frailty.

Keep them as spotless as the Host,

That daily they caress;

Their every thought and word and deed,

Deign, dearest Lord, to bless.

Daily Prayer For Priests (St. Therese of Lisieux)

O Jesus,
I pray for your faithful and fervent priests;
for your unfaithful and tepid priests;
for your priests laboring at home or abroad in distant mission fields.
for your tempted priests;
for your lonely and desolate priests;
For your young priests;
for your dying priests;
for the souls of your priests in Purgatory.
But above all, I recommend to you the priests dearest to me:
the priest who baptized me;
the priests who absolved me from my sins;
the priests at whose Masses I assisted and who gave me Your Body and Blood in Holy Communion;
the priests who taught and instructed me;
all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way
(especially …).
O Jesus, keep them all close to your heart,
and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity.
Amen

Fr. Jan Kieliszewski-Rest in Peace

Last week, on a day with particularly beautiful weather, I decided to hang the wash on the line in the backyard.  For some reason, as I was pinning the clothes to the line, I was overcome with melancholy, a deep sadness that was very familiar to me from my past experience with depression.  The sorrow seared deep within me and I had no idea where it came from or what it was about.  There was absolutely no reason on earth why I should be feeling so down at that particular moment.  I went inside and wrote an email to a friend asking for prayers.

As I hit the "send" button, my daughter Mary came downstairs, and with her 12 years of sweetness, she threw her arms around my neck and embraced me for the longest time.  I asked her how she knew that I needed a hug at that particular moment and she simply said, "I could just feel it."  I knew that my daughter and her loving, impulsive action was an immediate answer to that prayer request I sent out.  My daughter is a joyful Godsend in my life.  But not everyone is blessed with a daughter who intuitively knows when they are needing a little extra love.

Last year in my candidacy for the Oblates of the Precious Blood, I corresponded monthly with Mother Marietta from the Handmaids of the Precious Blood.  In one particular letter she told me that if I ever feel tempted to something that was very unusual for me, I could know that at that particular moment, a priest somewhere in the world was being tempted with the same thing, and I should pray for him.  My struggling to overcome the things that tempt me can help priests in their temptations.  That's a powerful thought; that I could help a priest that I may never know to grow in holiness by offering up my sacrifices for him.

Last weekend, just before Sunday Mass was to begin, Fr. Jan Kieliszewski, a priest whom I did not know here in Milwaukee, committed suicide in his church.  No one in the Archdiocese can offer any explanation as to why this man, in his mid-sixties, who gave his life over to the service of the Lord and His Church, would have taken his life.  It was shocking and deeply sad news that has rocked our already distressed Archdiocese.

I can't help but wonder if I had offered up my melancholy on that recent laundry day if it would it have helped this priest in some way?  What if, in that moment when sorrow hit me hard, I would have remembered to tell God, "I give you this pain for the priest who most needs your help at this moment, for a priest who is feeling the pangs of despair" if that might have prompted Fr. Jan to reach out for help and thereby find a way to stay alive until God naturally called him home?

Of course, I'll never know the answer to that question.  But as an Oblate of the Precious Blood, I am committed to praying for priests, to offering all that I am for their sanctity, and if I didn't pray enough for priests before Fr. Jan's suicide, I am committed to praying for them more than ever now.  And I am committed to lightening their load by offering them loving encouragement and gratitude, and helping them in their valuable and necessary work in any small or large way that I can.

Fr. Jan's name was on the Monthly Prayer Request for Priests calendar on June 18th, and all of Milwaukee was asked to pray for him on that day.  My family and I did our part and we prayed for him, as we pray daily for every priest on the calendar when we gather as a family for dinner.  And now, I will be praying for Fr. Jan's soul every day for the rest of my life, as well as for the souls of all priests, those living, as well as those deceased.  Will you join me, and pray for priests as well?  May Fr. Jan, through the mercy of God, rest in peace, eternally embraced in the ever-loving arms of his Father.

St. Mary Magdalene

The feast of St. Mary Magdalene is one of my favorites.  I've always wanted to model my life after this beautiful and holy woman; that is, I want to love much.  I recently learned that during the course of the last seventy years, it was realized that the seven demons that Jesus cast out from St. Mary Magdalene was actually referring to His curing her depression and anxiety, not the prostitution that is usually attributed to her. As one who has deeply struggled with those same mental illnesses, the knowledge that we have this commonality makes me love her even more.

Here's a treat from my favorite local poet, Jessica Powers, aka Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit, OCD, in honor of this special Feast Day:

God is a Strange Lover

God is the strangest of all lovers;

His ways are past explaining.

He sets His heart on a soul:  He says to Himself, “Here will I rest my love.”

But he does not woo her with flowers or jewels or words that are set to music,

No names endearing, no kindled praise His heart, direction prove.

His jealousy is an infinite thing, He stalks the soul with sorrow;

He tramples the bloom; He blots the sun that could make her vision dim.

He robs and breaks and destroys-there is nothing at last but her own shame, her own affliction,

And then He comes and there is nothing in the vast world but Him and her love of Him.

Not till the great rebellions die and her will is safe in His hands forever

Does He open the door of light and His tenderness fall,

And then for what is seen in the soul’s virgin places,

For what is heard in the heart, there is no speech at all.

God is a strange lover; the story of His love is most surprising,

There is no proud queen in her cloth of gold; over and over again.

There is only, deep in the soul, a poor dishelved woman weeping….

For those who have need of a picture and words:  the Magdalen.

And something I've shared before from Fr. Gerald Fitzgerald, sP, the founder of the Handmaids of the Precious Blood, and my spiritual father:

To Saint Mary Magdalene

You claimed
the false
until you found
the True;
your beauty
wounded
until Beauty
wounded you,
and plunged your soul
into a spring so sweet
your tears
fell as chaste pearls
at Mercy's
feet.

The Ordination of Fr. Paul Schneider, OFM Conv.

The Basilica of St. Josephat  (for more photos visit this link)

Heaven came down to earth this past weekend, of that I am certain.  My friend, Fr. Paul Schneider, OFM Conv. was ordained to the priesthood at the Basilica of St. Josephat by Bishop William Callahan and it was one of the most perfect, magnificent, holy and beautiful experiences I have ever known.  There is nothing more beautiful than watching a man lay down his life for the Lord, but to witness an ordination in the grandeur of the Basilica, with a choir of what sounded like angels accompanied by trumpets and strings and drums, praying in the company of the sweetest, most wonderful and most joyful of all nuns-The Handmaids of the Precious Blood, whose purpose is to pray for priests, and watching the new priest, in beautiful Marian vestments shed tears of joy while celebrating his first Mass and presenting his mother with a long-awaited maniturgia (Fr. Paul is a late vocation),  all amounted to holy perfection, and I was so blessed to be a humble witness and participant of it all.  I smiled until I thought my face would break and cried until I thought my heart would melt-it was all so incredibly wondrous.

Fr. Paul and I met in the noon hour confessional line at the Church of the Gesu in downtown Milwaukee  in November of 2011.  I had recognized him from my visits to St. Francis de Sales Seminary where he had spent some time studying, and so I introduced myself.  He told me that he had less than two years left before ordination to the priesthood and he asked me to pray for him.  What he didn't know was that very night I was to be enrolled as a candidate for the Oblates of the Precious Blood and would be committing my life to praying for priests along with the Handmaids of the Precious Blood.  I took his request for prayer as a sign from God that what I was about to do was indeed His will for me.  The next month, in a Christmas letter from the Handmaids, I discovered Fr. Paul's picture and learned that he, too, was an Oblate of the Precious Blood!  Since then, Fr. Paul has been a wonderful friend, helping with events for Roses for Our Lady, an organization with which I am involved, and being a confidant and advisor in some of my personal faith issues as well.  Being invited to his ordination was a joy of the greatest magnitude.

Every single part of Fr. Paul's ordination-from the lovely image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the invitation, the order of worship and his holy card, the quiet prayerfulness of the holy hour on the eve of ordination (see Fr. Alejandro Castro's fabulous priestly reflection with personal stories of Fr. Paul's life based on Luke 9 below), having the opportunity to sit next to and pray with the Handmaids of the Precious Blood,  who, although they are cloistered,  were given special permission to attend his ordination,  and the joyful smile and easy approachability of Bishop Callahan, who had formerly been the rector and pastor of the Basilica and who was the bishop who ordained Fr. Paul, to the choir resounding magnificent hymns of praise (a video follows-or visit this link- not of the actual choir but a perfect likeness in sound of the offertory song, Let All the World), to the sweet sight of Fr. Paul bringing flowers to the altar of Our Lady during the Ave Maria-every moment was a treasure I will never forget.

Fr. Paul with my husband and I from my Solemn Resolution of Love as an Oblate of the Precious Blood last October

I praise God for Fr. Paul Schneider, OFM Conv. and I pray that the love and joy that filled his heart on his ordination day and during his beautiful first Mass will remain with him forever as he journeys to his first assignment in Peoria, Illinois, and wherever the Lord may call him to serve in the years to come.

**********************************************

Enjoy this touching reflection on the priesthood based on Luke 9, graciously shared by Fr. Alejandro Lopez OFM Conv.:

Perhaps it was the preaching

of a particularly inspiring, Cuban priest.

            Or a documentary on Mother Teresa or St. Maximilian Kolbe.

Or a rerun on EWTN

of some mutton-chop, side-burned fellow

on fire for the Lord.

Or a pilgrimage or two, to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe…

            Whatever…the Lord uses the moment to kick-started your vocation.

Kick you in the rear.

And suddenly…all those reasons why you’re “not enough”

            don’t seem to amount to a hill of beans.

And you think maybe he does want me!

Maybe he really does want me!

         As incredible as that may seem!

And off you go running…as if in love for the first time!

But then…there’s a stumble.

A trip up that comes…perhaps many years later.

When in the midst of your studies. Or as a deacon.

            After years of running well.

When the old, familiar doubts creep back in

like a homeless Gila monster.

 “I’m not smart enough.”

“I can’t sing well enough!”

“I’m certainly not holy enough.”

“I tried before and it didn’t work out.”

            “I’m too old, now.”

And you admit to Jesus in prayer,

            “Dismiss the crowds,

for it’s a deserted place here.”

What you’re saying is what you think you know:

            “I don’t have enough for so many!

            I barely have enough for myself!”

But Jesus challenges,

“Give them some food, yourself.”

And this will be your vocation.

As a deacon, you already know this.

As a deacon you’ve already been “preparing meals.”

Not from some “five ingredient”

crockpot cookbook!

But in and through the Holy Spirit.

            At work in and through your life.

Helping you to break open the Word.

            And feed crowds at Mass!

To be an instrument of peace in your friary.

To open doors in the dark

and be a brother to a stranger

whose mind swims with his own alcohol-fed fears.

Tomorrow, and for the rest of your life,

            Jesus will encourage you to make him present to others:

“Give them some food yourself.”

And his command may haunt you!

            If you take your vocation seriously,

I think it must scare you at some time in your priesthood!

For you will fear

that God’s people will go hungry.

            Because you failed to find them some food!

“But five loaves and two fish are all I have!”

Thankfully, Jesus understands!

And he has a plan!

A plan that includes poor priests and their poverty!

That takes into account our pitiful and small humanity

and makes it part of the Feast!

He teaches us by example that life isn’t a solo act.

Insisting that his disciples help.

And in today’s Gospel, the Lord takes what they bring

and gives it right back…to them…to us.

Tonight I’m thinking how he gives us, priests,

the Food that will nourish.

How our consecrated lives are part of the meal.

As our Lord takes us and blesses us.

And allows even our doubts and fears to break us open.

            And then gives our lives away.

All the while letting us have the places of honor!

            Letting us appear to be heroes!

Humbly letting folk imagine

we walk a tightrope gloriously without a net.

 (The secret is we don’t!)

For each, alone, is never enough to feed so many!

Yet neither were we, priests, meant to be the meal!

Not by ourselves.

We’re served, by the Grace of God,

            with his Body and Blood!

And we must never forget that!

            Father Paul, you must never forget that!

Each and every day of your life, as a priest,

the Lord will remind you

that you are not the main course!

At this altar…but also in the nursing home…

Or in a parishioner’s home…

Or in your office…or friary.

Or in the back of church after Mass.

As the People of God, the Body of Christ,

lift you up when you are down,

like a consecrated Host!

Helping make your priestly vocation holy!

And when you are proud,

whenever you imagine you can feed them by yourself,

the People of God, the Body of Christ,

will humble you, too.

Helping make your priestly vocation holy!

Paul, tonight we gather with the Lord,

            to pray for you.

Not because we know your musical skills.

            Or how old you are.

Or how much you like “Fiddle Faddle,”

or a trip to Leon’s every now and then.

We pray for you because we know you’re human.

            And we know you are called

to a special role in his Church!

We know that Christ plans to make of you

something new and wonderful…and holy.

And we pray for you because we know

God answers every prayer.

            And will help you…even in your fears.

Way back in the beginning of Genesis

            God beat back the first fear.

The Lord told Adam, wounded by sin,  

            “Who told you that you were naked?”

In other words, “Enough with ‘not enough!’”

And maybe that’s what he says to us.

As we gaze upon him.

            And adore him in the Eucharist.

Mysteriously appearing

in his Glorified, Risen Body and Blood

as something so lowly as a piece of bread.

Something that to our senses seems

“not enough” to satisfy even one little child!

By his Grace…By the power of his Holy Spirit…

By His Glorified, Risen and Ascended Body and Blood

present in the Eucharist…

You, and every other priest called to follow him,

will be more than enough!

Tonight we gaze upon the Sacrament of the Mystery of God’s Love.

            In the silence we pray that it will transform you!

See what you are…become what you receive!

            Allow the Lord to consecrate you in your priesthood

as his Body and Blood for the salvation of all the World!

Three Reasons I Love Catholicism

I discovered a link-up where bloggers are invited to write about their three favorite aspects of Catholicism and I just love that idea!  The hardest part is limiting it to only three reasons because I could probably come up with thousands of them.  The host of the link-up is Micaela at California to Korea.  Thanks for the great idea, Micaela!  Here's my attempt to limit my love for this amazing, beautiful, fabulous, awesome, marvelous (I could go on and on) Catholic faith of ours.  Visit Micaela for more thoughts from other bloggers and feel free to join in with your own list of three reasons why you love being Catholic.

1)  Most likely number one on every Catholic's list is the EUCHARIST.  My source, substance and greatest desire is to dine daily on the Bread of Heaven, His most Sacred Heart in the form of food, full of love and freely given to me,  from which all graces flow.  It is the one thing about Catholicism that I love the most and for which I am most grateful.  I just can't live without the Precious Body and Blood of my Lord.  On the night of the Last Supper when He instituted this gift, Jesus was well aware that this soul-sustaining food was the only necessary thing that can carry us through each and every day of life straight to the gates of heaven.  So with gratitude I receive the Body and the Blood of my Lord each morning and then, well nourished, I carry Him out into the world in which I live to share Him with others through the words and actions of my day.  This prayer of thanksgiving from the Handmaids of the Precious Blood prayer book sums my feelings up so nicely:

Offering of Holy Communion as Viaticum

O my God, if I am to die today or suddenly at any time, I wish to receive this Communion as my Viaticum.  I desire that my last food may be the Body and Blood of my Savior and Redeemer; my last words, Jesus, Mary and Joseph; my last affection, an act of pure love of God and of perfect contrition for my sins; my last consolation, to die in Your holy grace and in Your holy love.  Amen.

2)  In my life I have been greatly blessed to have the love and friendship of so many holy priests who selflessly share their lives for the good of others.  So the HOLY PRIESTHOOD is definitely at the top of my list of favorite things about the Catholic Church.  It is only the priest who can take the simple elements of bread and wine and have them transformed into the living Body and Blood of my Lord within their very hands.  It is only the priest who can patiently listen to my monotonous litany of sins and then absolve me, freeing me to enjoy the state of grace within my soul until, in my weakness, I stumble into sin once again.  It is only the priest who serves not only as my earthly father, but as my mother, my brother, my teacher and my most treasured friend as well.  It is to him that I can take all of my joys and sorrows knowing that he will keep them in confidence and then will pray both with and for me, always having the sanctity of my soul as his highest priority.  It is my greatest honor and joy to love and to pray for the priests who have touched my life and who care for my soul.  Pray with me?

Prayer for Priests by Fr. William Doyle, SJ

O my God, pour out in abundance Thy spirit of sacrifice upon Thy priests. It is both their glory and their duty to become victims, to be burnt up for souls, to live without ordinary joys, to be often the objects of distrust, injustice, and persecution.

The words they say every day at the altar, "This is my Body, this is my Blood," grant them to apply to themselves: "I am no longer myself, I am Jesus, Jesus crucified. I am, like the bread and wine, a substance no longer itself, but by consecration another."

O my God, I burn with desire for the sanctification of Thy priests. I wish all the priestly hands which touch Thee were hands whose touch is gentle and pleasing to Thee, that all the mouths uttering such sublime words at the altar should never descend to speaking trivialities.

Let priests in all their person stay at the level of their lofty functions, let every man find them simple and great, like the Holy Eucharist, accessible to all yet above the rest of men. O my God, grant them to carry with them from the Mass of today, a thirst for the Mass of tomorrow, and grant them, ladened themselves with gifts, to share these abundantly with their fellow men. Amen.

3)  There is no one on earth who understands us like our earthly mother and so there is no one in heaven who understands us better than our heavenly mother, either.  My  BLESSED MOTHER MARY is crucial to my peace of mind and soul, so she is definitely one of my top three favorite parts about being Catholic.  She said "yes" to God, she allowed the Holy Spirit to penetrate her soul and she carried my Lord within her very womb.  She loves me, she understands me, she prays for me.  She asks, "I am not here; I who am your mother?  Are you not under the shadow of my protection?" She takes my concerns to her Son and begs Him to have mercy and clemency upon my soul.  She asks Him to give me all that I need to be joyful and holy.  She models the perfection of holiness for me so that I can follow her beautiful example.  How blessed we are as Catholics to have a Holy Mother who loves each and every one of us so much!  So we honor her with this prayer:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.  Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.  Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death.  Amen.

The Holy Face in the Way of the Cross XIV-Jesus is laid in the tomb

(The fourteenth  in a series of posts praying the Stations of the Cross...begin here and then follow along each day.)

Calm as a summer evening when no breezes are abroad, quiet as a noonday wood when all birds are songless, the Face of Jesus rests in death.  The Holy Countenance breathes by its very silence its last and final message:  "it is Consummated."  Not the malice of men, nor their ingratitude, is consummated, but the atonement for all human malice and ingratitude by the Sacrifice of that fair but now broken Humanity of God's Son.  With thoughtfulness too deep for words, with grief too deep for tears, the faithful disciples carry in tender haste the body of their Master to Joseph's tomb.

Jesus, because You were born in a cave and laid to rest in another man's tomb, I find courage to ask You to rest in this poor soul of mine.  It must have value in Your eyes, for You paid so readily a great price for its possession.  Take then, Jesus, what You have bought, and give me in return Your forgiveness and Your love.

Sorrowful Mother, rejoice with Jesus; He shall not have died in vain for me.

(From The Holy Face in the Way of the Cross with etchings by Hippolyte Lazerges and reflections by  Father Page, C.S.C. aka Fr. Gerald Fitzgerald, sP, the founder of the Handmaids of the Precious Blood, published by the St. Columban's Fathers Foreign Mission Society)