May God Who has begun this good work in you...

... now bring it to fulfillment. (cf. Phil. 1:6)

This is the absolutely stunning New York City ordination video from Grassroots Films.

"As we praise God that these five men
– Anthony, Christopher, Vincent, Jacob, and Louis –

have so generously accepted the invitation from Jesus himself
to serve him and his Church as priests;

that their ordination is God's doing, not ours;
that this is a pure gift from God, not an earned trophy;

that His call trumps our curriculum vitae;
that His grace lifts up our nature. ...

You will have the very character of Christ, the High Priest,

the Good Shepherd, branded on your hearts as your very identity. ...

May God who has begun this good work in you now bring it to fulfillment."

— Archbishop Timothy Dolan

June 19 - Year for Priests

Starting on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (June 19), the Church will celebrate a "Year for Priests". This year will be devoted to the promotion of priestly vocations, prayer for those who are either already priests or are in seminary (through the intercession of St. John Vianney, the Universal Patron of Priests), and holding special events (whether liturgies, retreats, conferences, etc.) for the education, edification, and sanctification of all God's people (especially through their priests).

The USCCB has a web site specifically for this Year for Priests. There are indulgences associated with this year which you should strongly consider making use of.

Year of the Priesthood

Grabbing the heel of the Year of St. Paul will be the Year of Priesthood, as called for by Pope Benedict XVI back in March. Here are some highlights from a letter from the Prefect for the Congregation for the Clergy, Cláudio Cardinal Hummes.

... with this special year it is intended “to encourage priests in this striving for spiritual perfection on which, above all, the effectiveness of their ministry depends”. For this reason it must be, in a very special way, a year of prayer by priests, with priests and for priests, a year for the renewal of the spirituality of the presbyterate and of each priest. The Eucharist is, in this perspective, at the heart of priestly spirituality. Thus Eucharistic adoration for the sanctification of priests and the spiritual motherhood of religious women, consecrated and lay women towards priests, as previously proposed some time ago by the Congregation for the Clergy, could be further developed and would certainly bear the fruit of sanctification.

...

May it be a year as well of religious and of public celebration which will bring the people – the local Catholic community – to pray, to reflect, to celebrate, and justly to give honour to their priests.

Read the whole thing!

Sisters of Life

The Sisters of Life are a relatively young (18 years) religious order of Catholic women. They were founded in 1991 by Archbishop John Cardinal O'Connor (+ 2000). They are dedicated to the "protection and enhancement of the sacredness of every human life." They have two apostolates right now: ministry to pregnant women (including a house of holy respite and post-abortion healing for women and men).

I met two of them — Sr. Mary Gabriel and Sr. Miriam (Mariam?) — this evening at Princeton University's Aquinas House graduate student fellowship. These two women are filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit for the protection of the precious lives created every second by our almighty and merciful and loving Creator, the Most Holy Trinity.

They have about 64 sisters throughout New York, as well as a mission in Toronto, Ontario. These two sisters I met are praying for me and the success of my personal liturgical undertakings, so please join me in praying for them and their order and apostolate.

+
Blessed Lord, Author of Life,
grant your faithful servants, the Sisters of Life,
a spirit of fortitude and of counsel
that they may courageously and faithfully
carry out your saving work
by ministering to pregnant women and those affected by abortion.

We ask this in your Most Holy Name, Lord Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
+

Excellent video about the priesthood

This is a great video about the priesthood. This is the sort of message that needs to get out to the young men in the Church today!

Click here to view it.

1967 Address of Paul VI to altar servers

Here is an address that Pope Paul VI gave in March of 1967 to a pilgrimage of (male) altar servers from across Europe to Rome. I just read it this evening, and I think it's rather timely and appropriate.

Dear sons, in your beautiful white albs you present us with a splendid sight that is a joy to our eyes and our heart. We are happy to address a few words to you, in response to the request expressed in your name by your friend and protector in Rome, the Cardinal Archpriest of St. Peters.

His words introducing you to us suggest the thought that the whiteness of your vestments is a reflection of the whiteness of your souls. Your contact with the altar sustains and develops in your souls faith, devotion, purity, and all the other virtues that are pleasing to God.

You will remember the young man in the gospel who had faithfully cultivated those same virtues since childhood. The evangelist tells us that Jesus looked up him with love: Iesus, intuitus eum, dilexit eum, "Looking on him, Jesus loved him." (Mark 10:21)

We believe that we see the Savior's look also resting upon each one of you with special favor. Are you not the ones who come so very near to him as you serve at the altar? Is it then surprising that his call to an even greater nearness to him should at some time -- as has just been said to us -- sound in the hearts of some of you?

Dear sons, the charge that we wish to commit to you consists in two points: be faithful to carry out in exemplary fashion the liturgical functions assigned to you; listen to the voice of Christ if he graciously calls you to follow him more closely.

To be faithful: that is a whole program for life. As you know the word "faithfulness" includes the word "faith". To revivify that faith at the tombs of the Apostles is the reason you have come to Rome. In that faith St. Paul summarized his whole life as an apostle when he came to the end of his earthly life: fidem servavi, "I have kept the faith," he said to his disciple Timothy. (2 Timothy 4:7) I have been faithful to God, to Christ, to the Church. I have been faithful to my calling, to the ministry entrusted to me. May such a faithfulness be yours and may it be particularly true of those concerns involved in your functions as servers at the altar.

You might at times think that the liturgy is made up of a lot of minor details: posture, genuflections, bows, handling the censer, missal, cruets, etc. It is then that you must remember the words of Christ in the gospel: "He that is faithful in the smallest things is faithful also in the great." (Luke 16:10) Moreover, in the liturgy nothing is little, when we realize the greatness of the one to whom it is directed.

Therefore, dear sons, be outstanding in faithfulness toward carrying out your sacred functions. To that devote your attention, all your heart, and all your love.

Next, listen to the divine call. We will share with you one of our worries. In the face of the vastness of the task of evangelization that the modern world sets before us, we often put the question to ourself: How are we going to find enough priests, enough religious to meet this need? Does it not seem as though God is calling in vain -- that today's young people have no wish to hear him; that they no longer have the taste for God, the response to the ideal, the attraction toward sacrifice?

Dear sons, a good number of those older than you have resoundingly repudiated such fears. May it come true that a great many of you also will follow in their footsteps! Be on your guard against letting the voice that calls you go unheard and unanswered. Pray ardently that from among your ranks Christ may choose many to carry on his priesthood.

(Documents on the Liturgy 338, paragraphs 2919-2920)

Prayer: Vocations in the Diocese of Metuchen

This year is one of prayer for vocations (especially to the priesthood, diaconate, and religious life) in my diocese. Please consider praying for the candidates for the diaconate in the diocese of Metuchen:

• Michael Bachynsky
• William Barr
• John Broehl
• William Caubet
• Christopher Conroy
• Lawrence D’Andrea
• John Deitchman
• Peter DePrima
• Robert Gatto
• Patrick Hearty
• John Jorgensen
• James Kelly
• Stephen Kern
• George Kimball
• Thomas Klaas
• Edward Majkowski
• Michael Martini
• James McCormick
• Michael Meyer
• Gary Newton
• Mark Pincus
• John Raychel
• William Rider
• Earl Roberts
• Edward Rodes
• Joseph Saggese
• Danilo San Jose
• John Shelton
• Hugo Simao
• James Tesoriero
• Joseph Tobin
• Nelson Torres
• Michael Wojcik

Vocations: Make a donation to fund vocations

The Mater Ecclesiae Fund for Vocations is an organization that assists young men and women who are otherwise qualified and willing to pursue religious or priestly vocations, but are prevented from doing so by their student loans.

Since the summer of 2004, they have helped 31 young men and women pursue their formation in the religious life. It does this by assisting them in paying off their student loans. The average college loan debt today is over $25,000, and most graduates take at least a decade to pay it off.

Please consider making a (tax-deductible) donation. Hundreds, if not thousands, of young men and women stand ready to answer the call, if only we help to remove the one obstacle that stands in their way: college debt. Help put an end to a vocations crisis by assisting those who have heard God's call.