Pastor's Message
26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 24-25 September 2022
HS
JMJ
Dear Fellow Saints-in-the-Making,
Greetings in Christ the Eternal High Priest!
On this 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, the Church also celebrates Priesthood Sunday. The privileged—yet undeserved—grace that the ordained man has to gather God’s People in prayer and to offer them the Sacrifice of the Most Holy Mass and bring them the Sacraments, through sacrificing his life for them in service to them whom he loves and holds very deeply in his Priestly heart, is one of the Priest’s greatest treasures and blessings.
This has been true from the Institution of the Priesthood at the Last Supper, as we see when John the Beloved Disciple follows Jesus’ command to take Mary as his mother, whom he takes instantly into his home. The Priest today does the very same, for Our Lady always brings us to Jesus Christ her Son, and that is the Priest’s sacred duty: to bring—and to serve in the Person of—Jesus Christ for all.
In honor of Priesthood Sunday, following are some quotes from saintly Priests throughout the centuries:
* The Priesthood is the love of the Heart of Jesus. St. John Vianney, Patron Saint of Priests
* The power of the priest, is the power of the Divine Person; for the transubstantiation of the bread requires as much power as the creation of the world. St. Bernardine of Siena
* Do you wish to know if the people of any place are righteous? Look what sort of a pastor they have. If you find him pious, just, sound, believe the people will be the same, for they are seasoned with the salt of his wisdom. St. John Chrysostom
*O my child, bethink you that just as the bee, having gathered heaven's dew and earth's sweetest juices from amid the flowers, carries it to her hive; so the Priest, having taken the Saviour, God's Own Son, Who came down from Heaven, the Son of Mary, Who sprang up as earth's choicest flower, from the Altar, feeds you with that Bread of Sweetness and of all delight. St. Francis de Sales, Patron of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington
* He is the living image of Christ in this world, of Christ watching, praying, preaching, catechizing, working, weeping, going from town to town, from village to village, suffering, agonizing, sacrificing Himself and dying for the souls created to His image and likeness. . . He is the light of those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. St. John Eudes
Please know what a JOY and a privileged blessing it is to serve you. I am undeserving of this sacred duty and of you, but, oh! how I love you and how I thank God for you!
God love you! I do.
Humbly yet gratefully in Christ,
Fr. Lewis