"I say to myself, I will not mention His name, I will speak in His name no more. But then, it becomes like a fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones, I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it." Jeremiah 20:7-10
I've had the great honor of organizing the Monthly Prayer Request for Priests calendar for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee since September 2010. The calendars are arranged in alphabetical order, listing all of the active and retired priests of the Archdiocese as well as requesting prayer for the Archbishop, bishops, religious order priests, seminarians and those in discernment for the priesthood on days that are fitting to their particular vocation.
During the past four years I've taken occasional phone calls from priests and lay faithful with questions about how the calendar is organized. One such phone call was from Fr. Paul Weishar, a retired priest who, at the time of the phone call, was coming upon his 92nd birthday. He was wondering why his name wasn't listed on his birthday and when I explained the alphabetical listing of the calendars he remarked that retired priests are often forgotten and nobody seems to care about them anymore. How terribly heartbreaking! Since that phone call, I exchanged a few more phone calls and letters with Fr. Paul and forwarded his name to our Archdiocesan priest who ministers to the retired priests asking him to contact Fr. Paul and to pray for him.
Earlier this month, I heard that Fr. Paul had passed away. I was grateful that my supervisor allowed me to adjust my work schedule so that I could attend his funeral. When I arrived at the quaint, little church, I was so happy to see my friend, September S. and her lovely daughter, Lauren, already there. Like me, September feels it deeply in her heart to pray for deceased priests, whether she knew them well or not. And, it wasn't long afterward that our friend, Erin Berghouse, the founder of Ahava Productions, joined us in prayer as well. Sweet Erin had stopped at the parish to drop something off for the pastor, Fr. John Burns, who told her that a funeral was just about to begin for a priest. She said that as she was walking back to her car, she was struck by the fact that she just happened to stop at the parish immediately before a priest's funeral and decided that the Holy Spirit must have had something to do with that timing and she decided to stay and pray for him.
Following communion as we were kneeling in thanksgiving, I was overcome with the image of the Myrrh Bearing Women in my heart. I felt that here we were, modern-day Myrrh Bearing Women, offering the myrrh of our prayers at the tomb of an alter-Christus, Fr. Paul Weishar. My hope is that in the final years of his life, Fr. Paul could feel the prayers that were offered for him and that now, in his death, the prayers for his soul will continue. May we all offer the myrrh of our prayers for our priests both living and dead, for what would we be without them and the sacraments they so lovingly and willingly bring to us?
Eternal rest grant unto Fr. Paul Weishar, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and all of the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
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 Ladya 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.
In the middle of the night I lay awake, mind racing through the details of an extraordinarily wonderful weekend, wound up from the joy and beauty of it all. Six young men had been ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and a wonder like this doesn't happen every day! How could I possibly sleep when I had so much to thank God for? It would take a year of sleepless nights, I think, to properly pray all of the gratitude that was welling up within me. Through my prayerful attendance at these ordinations, I felt as though God had given me an opportunity to reach out and touch heaven.
six new priests: Fr. Nathan Miniatt, Fr. John Gibson, Fr. Justin Lopina,
Fr. Peter Patrick Kimani, Fr. Jose Mario Nieto Restrepo, Fr. Gideon Buya
Photo courtesy of Saint Francis de Sales Seminary
Ordination weekend began with a beautiful holy hour of intense prayer for the six men to be ordained. St. Robert's Church in Shorewood was filled with the strains of organ, flute and violin as attendees knelt in adoration of the Lord, begging for blessings upon the priesthood of the men who were about to conform their lives to Christ.
I've been blessed to have attended several ordinations in the past few years, but I've never seen the outpouring of joyful support that Fr. Peter Patrick Kimani from Kenya received from his family and friends who traveled to be with him on his ordination day. Following the ordination Mass, the above photo was taken, and then each of the six new priests scattered to various parts of the Cathedral to offer their first blessings. Fr. Peter Patrick was followed by a group of about 20 people who were singing, playing the tambourine and bongo drums and swaying in procession as they followed their new priest to the location of his blessings. Most of the singing was in Swahili with lots of ululations, but the English I was able to sing along with was "Thank you, Jesus!" St. John the Evangelist Cathedral was alive with happiness and praise for God! Later, I was curious about the Kenyan traditions regarding ordinations and so I looked for and found an ordination video online. What most impressed me in the video was the sight of the Bishop blessing the celebration cake and then feeding it to each of the new priests, much like a bride and groom feed the first piece of wedding cake to each other. How very fitting that is, since the priest is now married to the Church! You can watch that video here.
As I stood in line waiting for the blessings of the new priests, I noticed two nuns in habits that I had never seen before and I just had to meet them. I learned that they were Sister Margaret Mary and Sister Louise Marie, Sisters of Saint Benedict Center Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary from Still River, Massachusetts. They were both radiantly beautiful and friendly and it was as though we were old friends even though we had just met. We spoke about relics and saints and the beauty of several Milwaukee churches, and I look forward to corresponding with them both in the future. Upon a visit to their website, I learned that their order is committed to keeping the beautiful traditions of our Church alive and to living out their total devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. You can visit their website here to learn more about this beautiful order.
The first Mass for Fr. John Gibson, at St. Hedwig's Church on Milwaukee's East Side, was extraordinarily beautiful, and I cried through nearly the entire Mass. Fr. Luke Strand, the vocations director for Milwaukee, gave a beautiful homily reminding Fr. John that two of the most important things he will need to remain committed to in his priesthood will be constant prayer and devotion to the Blessed Mother. At the end of Mass, Fr. John presented his parents with the gifts of his maniturgia and stole.
There is no part of ordination that moves me more than watching the mothers of the new priests present the Archbishop and new priests with the offertory gifts, but then, to see the new priest present his parents with these unique gifts at his first Mass touches me even more deeply. The maniturgia is the towel that the new priest wipes his hands upon after the Archbishop anoints them with oil. The tradition is that when his mother passes from this life, she is buried with the towel, and when she reaches heaven, she presents it to God as a sign that she had given Him a priest, and as a result, she will be appointed a special place in heaven. How lovely!
You may be familiar with Fr. John Gibson as he is the priest dancing the Irish jig in the now-viral video of the dancing deacons at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. If you haven't seen it yet, or want to watch it again, you can find it here and at the end of this post.
Join me in praising God for six new priests in Milwaukee and please keep Fr. Nathan, Fr. John, Fr. Justin, Fr. Peter Patrick, Fr. Jose Mario and Fr. Gideon in your prayers, for through these men and their priesthood, we all are able to reach out and touch heaven when our time on earth is through!
The de Chantal Society of St. Francis de Sales Seminary, led by Lydia LoCoco and Bishop Donald Hying, is now into its third year of bringing women in the Archdiocese together for an evening or morning of quiet prayer and reflection followed by socialization, three times each year. The description found on the seminary website is quite lovely and enticing:
"We invite you to take a short respite that promises, like a breath of fresh air, to offer you silence, prayer, meditation and spiritual formation - time for you.
We are the de Chantal Society. Sponsored by Saint Francis de Sales Seminary and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee's Nazareth Project, our mission is to spiritually form and inspire Catholic women like St. Jane de Chantal, who are integral to our families, vocations and the Catholic Church.
We ask nothing of you (except prayer!). Our mission is to support you. Please choose the gathering that works best for you."
Attending the de Chantal Society is one of my very favorite things to do. Not only do I enjoy the quiet of silent prayer before our Eucharistic Lord, and the joy of fellowship with other Catholic women, but Bishop Hying never fails to inspire as he shares stories of the lives of women saints upon whom we can model our lives.
At the most recent de Chantal Society gathering, Bishop Hying shared the story of St. Catherine of Siena of whom I knew very little, so I took careful notes and am happy to review them and share the gist of his reflection here.
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Quotes from St. Catherine of Siena:
"Love transforms one into what one loves." "You are she who is not. I am He who is." "If you are what you should be, you will set the world on fire." "I am the fire and you are the sparks."
As far as saints are concerned, according to Bishop Hying, St. Catherine of Siena is in the stratosphere. She was a mystic, which means that she had a direct knowledge of God obtained through subjective experience. She knew God, not just through an intellectual belief, but through a real human experience. For St. Catherine, God was so real that she could actually reach out and touch Him, and then boldly act upon that vision.
Like many saints, St. Catherine of Siena only lived on this earth for a short time, dying at the age of 33. It was almost as if a fiery explosion propelled her into the world, and like a meteor she flew through the heavens and then sparked out. To be holy like St. Catherine and other saints who die young, Bishop Hying says it seems as if we have to "get it right quickly and then check out, because the longer we stay around, the more we mess it up."
She was born during the time of black death, on March 25th, 1347, was one of 22 children, many of whom died during infancy and childhood, and had a very strong will. She had her first vision of God when she was only five or six years old. She saw Christ seated in His glory. By age seven she vowed to give her whole life to God. It's as if God reaches down and chooses certain souls to show us who He is, and St. Catherine was one of them. There are two types of saints-those that are born holy and those who are wild and have a conversion. St. Catherine was clearly of the first type.
She didn't feel called to marriage or to religious life. In fact, when her sister died in childbirth, her family expected her to marry. She performed a massive fast to get her way and avoid marrying her sister's widower. Eventually she became a Dominican Tertiary which was a mendicant order, meaning she didn't live in a convent or monastery, but remained in the world. Most of the others in her order were older and lived in community, but she chose to live in a little shack in her parent's back yard. She learned to read and lived in silence and solitude. She demanded nothing for herself, rarely slept, and performed many long fasts often only eating the Eucharist.
At age 21 she had a mystical and emotional marriage with Jesus. She wore a ring on her finger that no one else could see. She took care of the poor in hospitals and homes. People would often gather around her and she gave communal spiritual direction. She was called to delve into the world as if God had pushed her to live an extension of His life. Like St. Catherine, we, too, are called to be in the world but not of the world, by living in deep union with Jesus.
She advocated for reform of the clergy. During her lifetime there was a schism in the Church with three separate popes. She felt empowered to go to the real pope and convince him to return from France to Rome. How many people can go to the pope, tell him what to do, receive a personal audience and then watch as he follows their advice? The fact that St. Catherine was able to achieve this shows that true power doesn't come from office, it comes from holiness.
She was taken by the transcendence and immanence of God-He's above us, but also has entered into our experience, close to us and within us. This is the amazing truth that before the world was created, each one of us was already loved in the mind and heart of God. We exist and that is the ultimate expression of His love for us. The trinity dwells in us through sanctifying grace; the astounding conviction that through the sacraments, God comes to live in us.
St. Catherine had a deep love for the Trinity and believed that heaven is standing at the heart of the Trinity. She knew that there is an overwhelming force of God's love for us to the point where we are moved to tears, where our head knowledge of God suddenly explodes in the heart. St. Catherine's lived experience of God changed everything. She said, "God pressed Himself into my being and that's who I am." She had ecstasies that took her out of herself and transported her into the heart of God. It is only for a few rare souls that this is possible on this side of death.
As a priest, Bishop Hying says that there are times during the elevation when the host is so light and times when it is heavy. There are moments when he is unmoved and then at other times he is deeply moved by the Real Presence. There are times when God seems close and other times when He seems far away. The moments of grace are the times when, in a profound and real way, we feel His overwhelming love for us. St. Catherine felt His overwhelming love all the time.
What matters for us today is that we take the things she teaches us and live them out. St. Catherine of Siena shows us that God's love for us is prodigal, infinite, unending, divine fire. We are to see ourselves as an extension of Jesus in the world. St. Catherine was so submerged in God that there was a fine line separating the two. Her divine power came from the Lord using her, but God is the one who is; she is the one who is not.
To read Catherine's works is daunting and overwhelming, but she has something to say to all of us, and that is that throughout her life she took the next step and stayed true to herself because she knew who she was in God's eyes. Holiness doesn't make us odd. Like St. Catherine of Siena, holiness makes us beautiful.
There is a scene in the movie The Nativity Story, with Keisha Castle-Hughes and Oscar Isaac, where, immediately following the birth of Christ, a joyous St. Joseph holds the infant within his hands, raising him high in the air.
In watching this, it occurred to me that St. Joseph was the first priest. I was struck by the similarities between St. Joseph in the manger and the priest at the altar, both holding the living Christ within their hands, faces joyfully exultant at the wonder of His beauty and the awesome privilege of holding our very Savior in the air. Without speaking a word, St. Joseph seems to say "Behold! Here is the Lamb!" These are the very words that the priest voices out loud at each and every Mass. St. Joseph was the first man to have the honor of holding Jesus close, to love and nurture Jesus within his own heart as the Catholic priest is called to do. St. Joseph shared Jesus with the shepherds and kings in the manger as the Catholic priest shares Him with the poor and the rich at Mass. How blessed we are by the holy, obedient, faith-filled, loving example of St. Joseph!
St. Joseph, the first priest, pray for us!
Prayer to St. Joseph over 1900 years old -from Pieta prayer book
O St. Joseph whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires. O St. Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, Our Lord; so that having engaged here below your Heavenly power I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the loving of Fathers. O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart. Press Him in my name and kiss His fine head for me, and ask Him to return the kiss when I draw My dying breath. St. Joseph, patron of departing souls, pray for us. Amen.
"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
Bythe 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
It was a little over four years when I put my fingers to the keyboard and wrote my first ever Imprisoned in My Bones blog post. And today, this very post that you are reading is post number 1000! Ta-da and woo-hoo!!!! Who would've guessed I had that many thoughts inside my head? (Ahem.) A lot of bloggers might celebrate this type of milestone by holding a give-away of some sort, but I thought, a give-away only benefits one person, the winner. I think that anybody who has been following this blog for any part of these past four years, or has taken the time to read or comment or offer a word of encouragement along the way, deserves some type of gift to show my gratitude.
So I thought that I would celebrate by thanking all of you, my dear readers, with a reward that will hopefully have everlasting benefits-the gift of prayer. I'm sure it's no surprise to you that I am deeply devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. So I have been praying the Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the sanctity, well-being and intentions of all of the Imprisoned in My Bones readers. On this Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus I hope that you can feel the benefit of my prayers for you.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in thee!
And could I ask for a present from you, my friends? Would you please offer a prayer today for all of the special priests who have touched your lives in any way, whether large or small, on this the World Day of Prayer for Priests? Perhaps you'd be willing to pray my favorite prayer for priests by Fr. William Doyle,SJ along with me? I am certain that many a priest will be grateful to you for the kind words of prayer offered on his behalf.
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.
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.
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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 “notenough”
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 certainlynot
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 mustscareyou 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
neverenough 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,
withhis 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 onelittle 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!
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.
“When we are in the
presence of the Lord in the monstrance it’s perpetuating the moment of
consecration at Mass.” ~Fr. Luke
Strand, Vocations Director for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee
Every once in a while a speaker touches my heart in such a
way that I become convicted of the need to take action; to do my part to bring
about the kingdom of God here on earth.I recently had the opportunity to listen to Fr. Luke Strand, the
Vocations Director for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, give a talk about
vocations to the de Chantal Society, a group of women who are fervent in their
willingness to support vocations, and who gather several times each year at St.
Francis de Sales Seminary for Eucharistic adoration, Benediction, an inspirational
talk and socialization.I was so
grateful that I had jotted down a few notes during his talk because his words
were very powerful.What follows are
highlights from Fr. Luke’s talk:
Young men who are discerning a call to the priesthood
have a conviction of our Lord’s undying presence in their lives.It is an act of faith to say “yes” to the
Lord.But there is a serious tension
that exists in their hearts.The
priesthood is not understood in our world today...continue reading at Catholicmom.com
