August 28, 2009

Seventeen Years of Brothers and Sisters

Tomorrow is my anniversary of baptism; I will be seventeen years old. By Providence I have a liturgical day free of obligation for public Mass, so I intend to get up early and offer a Mass for those whom the Lord has given me along the way:

First, for my first priest, Fr. Larry, and for the friars and parishioners of St. Mary's in New Haven, whose reverence and piety first attracted me to prayer.

Second, for Deacon Ron, who baptized me, and for his family; for Fr. Leo Sutula, requeiscat in pace, who gave me my first Holy Communion and who also heard my first confession; for Bishop Dan Reilly, who confirmed me; for Fr. Dan, OFM, who invested me in the Franciscan habit; for Fr. Michael, OFM Cap., who received my profession of both temporary and perpetual vows; for Bishop Francis X. Irwin, who ordained me deacon; and for Cardinal Sean O'Malley, OFM Cap. who ordained me priest.

Third, for my spiritual directors, from whom I have profited so much: Fr. Charles, Sr. Joyce, Fr. Confer, Mr. Zepf, Sr. Vivienne, Sr. Pat, priests of the Discalced Carmelites and Oblates of the Virgin Mary whose names I have forgotten, and Fr. Karl.

Fourth, for my formation directors: Vincent and Fr. Aubrey, Fr. Andrew and Br. Richard, Fr. Bill and Fr. Raphael, Br. John and Ken, Fr. Marty, Fr. Tom, and Fr. Jack.

Fifth, for my classmates in religious life: Phil, Hank, Brian, Mike, Ken, John, Steve, Robert, Sam, Tom, James, Arlen, Justin, Drew, Jim, Bart, Louis, and Marvin.

Sixth, for the teachers who have been so encouraging to me: Fr. Dominic and Br. Bill of the OFM, Carlos ('the real teacher'), Antonio, ('el Loco'), Khaled, Sr. Meg, Cathy, Fr. John of the Sulpicians, and Frs. John, Randy, Peter, Dan, and Stanley of the Society of Jesus.

This is going to be one long memento for the living!

7 comments:

Qualis Rex said...

"...and oh, of course, I'd also like to thank the accademy!" LOL. Good on 'ya, Father! It's great to take a look back and see how many people have helped you out on the path you're on. I hope the rest of your life will be full of nothing but good memories from the ones you create each second of each day.

P.S. yours truly is currently in bed with a kidney stone : ( Please say a prayer for my speedy recovery if it's not too much to ask.

Brother Charles said...

Prayers for you, QR.

Anonymous said...

Seventeen years is a long time to look back on. I'm happy for you.

As for myself, I'm not too happy about not going to Mass because of this pandemic. I may be overly fearful but until things improve, I think I'll be staying home. My doctor says I'm prone to pneumonia. Even before H1N1 "surfaced," I missed a week's holiday trip last Dec. for fear of getting the regular flu on the plane or overseas. The news last night reported that H1N1 may be spread more by touch than from coughs or sneezes.

From your personal observation, has church attendance at your masses gone down since the pandemic?

Brother Charles said...

Stay well, Anonymous!

It's hard to tell about attendance; it's down, but that's nothing unusual here for the summer. Our parish is in a place where a lot of folks go away.

for narnia said...

happy 17th anniversary, Fr. C! it was nice seeing you at morning prayer this morning. what a nice thing to look back and remember all those who've been instrumental on your journey. you are in my prayers in a special way today for your anniversary and also because you have been, and continue to be, an inspiration in my journey. PEACE! ~tara t~

Rachel said...

Oblates of the Virgin Mary! They staff my parish, St. Peter Chanel in southern California. They're wonderful.

Congratulations on the anniversary of a most important day. :)

Julia said...

I was on retreat with the Oblates of the Virgin Mary when you posted this!