Prayer Song for All Beloved Priests: A Priest Forever

Promoting Ave Maria Press Webinars

Join Ave Maria Press online for a series of free, professional development webinars for parish ministers! Enjoy access to free presentations by experts in every area of parish ministry from the comfort of your home or office. Log in to the live webinars to participate in our question-and-answer sessions or watch the free recordings at your convenience.

Why Priests Are Happy
November 15
3:00 p.m. ET
Presented by: Msgr. Stephen J. Rossetti

In partnership with the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership and the National Association for Lay Ministry, Ave Maria Press is pleased to present this FREE Webinar:

Why Priests Are Happy
Presented by
Msgr. Stephen J. Rossetti
November 15, 2011
3:00 - 4:00 p.m. EST
(Show this in my timezone)
Register for the event here

Join Msgr. Stephen J. Rossetti, a psychologist, professor of pastoral studies, and frequently consulted expert on clergy and religious for a presentation on his groundbreaking study of the psychological and spiritual health of priests. From this survey of nearly 2,500 priests from twenty-three dioceses in the United States, Rossetti discovered that, contrary to popular media portrayals, American priests enjoy an extraordinarily high rate of happiness and satisfaction, among the highest of any profession.They like the priesthood and are committed to it. In fact, 92 percent say they are happy in their ministry, among the highest rate of satisfaction of any profession in the United States.

This webinar is a must-attend for every Catholic! Sign up today. Space is limited.

Visit Ave Maria Press for more details.

RIP, Msgr. Daniel J. Dever

November 2nd is a special day for priests and those who have been a part of the Catholic educational system in Hawai'i. Because it is All Souls Day, it makes it more special to celebrate the life of a good priest and a good man, Fr. Daniel Dever. On that day also, he would have celebrated in person his 86th birthday. The gathering of the faithful at the 6 p.m. funeral Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace celebrated -- as he probably looked on and was among those present -- his very life, a life well lived.

I didn't know Fr. Dever, but the homily of Fr. Gary Secor gave a wonderful image of what a beautiful priest he was. In a gist, Fr. Dever lived his life not for himself, but truly and wonderfully, for Christ.

About Fr. Daniel Dever by Patrick Downes, Editor of the Hawaii Catholic Herald.

Fr. Donald Calloway's Journey to Home

Fr. Donald Calloway has been to the Diocese of Honolulu as a guest speaker at least twice for Divine Mercy conferences. We certainly hope to have him again.

In Adoration

Red roses on the front left situated beside the altar

where the Monstrance sits, was my inspiration

Adoration is a great way of praying for our priests.
Any type of prayer will do, even a poem such as this...

In Adoration
By Easter Almuena

Wine-colored contours
In graceful stand
Elegant and poised
Yet soft and dainty

Bordered by flowerets
Looking like angels
Lime blades akin to guards
Held by vintage vase

All in pursuit
Of the Beloved’s gaze
In the quiet of a corner
While adoring

I sit in the same nook
To get a glimpse
Of the peaceful Bread
With its life beating in me

Red roses with entourage
Their beauty their prayer
And mine this poem
For Jesus in adoration

All Rights Reserved.

Poem: A Tribute to Our Priests

St. Thomas More, pray for all our priests!

I have been, for days now, engaged in contemplation and process of discernment of bringing this blog to a close. The more I find myself, however, of facing a greater possibility of writing a farewell message to those who come for a visit, a peek, or to read an article, I notice a distinct change on its sidebar. Today is more difficult than yesterday. For as I check an initial post done at the time of conception of this blog, which is over four years ago, I am caught off guard to find a poem I vaguely remember writing. Perhaps, though busier my life has become, I just need to recognize more fully or embrace with greater appreciation surprises that have a divine element to them. I am thankful for those! So, yes, it's not time to say goodbye.



Always for Others
By Easter Almuena

You are the image and likeness of God
But with you the morning awakens
With the call to rise
Not for you
But always for others.

God handpicked you from a myriad of souls
Molded you since you were a babe
To prepare you for a journey
Not for you
But always for others.

God blessed you with wisdom
To use to give form to his plans
And love to carry them out
Not for you
But always for others.

Mary walks with you
Guiding and loving you
For to her you are a Christ
Not for you
But always for others.

You hold the Body of Christ
Embrace his name and proclaim it
And a father and counselor you have become
Not for you
But always for others.

God forever bless you
Walk and carry you when your feet are weary
Bring peace and joy to your heart
For though your life is never for you
It is Christ’s and he delights in you.

November 19, 2007
4:07 a.m.
All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2013 Easter Almuena


Notice to readers: You may copy this poem, but you have to include all: Full title, Full name of author, Full poem with no edits on your part, and include Copyright © 2013 Easter Almuena. Thank you. Easter Almuena, author and owner of Easter Publications, LLC

Our Pope: The Church Depends on Christ...

It is becoming a more urgent call and need to stand up for our faith, as diversity in cultures and beliefs have become more fluid, interrelated yet out of proportion, and diffused in many ways that God seems to have lost his place as its core.

God is core and should be core. How can he not be when he built the basics of our existence out of love and in love for us his children? He is there present, and each one of us has the responsibility of making it known to those who have lost the ability to understand. For though many are not aware of his presence, He is there in their midst, loving them anyway, providing for them, and waiting to be noticed and acknowledged.

The role is ours to make it happen, one step at a time.

Published on Jul 2, 2011 by vatican

"The Church is not a social organization or a charitable institute: It is the Community of God, it is the community that believes, loves and worships the Lord Jesus and opens its "sails" to the breath of the Holy Spirit."

With these words, Pope Benedict XVI today greeted the faithful of the Diocese of Altamura-Gravina-Acquaviva delle Fonti at the Vatican. The meeting gave the Pope the opportunity to reflect on the highlights and darker aspects of our time. "We are seeing complex attitudes" - he explained -- "withdrawing into oneself, narcissism, desire for possession and consumption, with feelings disconnected from responsibility." Faced with this confusion, and the denial of the transcendent dimension of man, it is essential therefore that Christian communities promote good and challenging paths of faith... pastoral action should aim to train people with mature faith who can bring the light of Christ into the society.

A journey with a priest

On Father’s Day, Grateful for a Priest Who Changed my Life

He patiently walked me through scriptures related to suffering, and provided books that explored the issue from every possible angle.

Most of all, he assured me that God was not punishing me with this disease, because, he insisted, God is merciful. As he put it, “He is always gazing at you with love.”

I was unschooled in my faith, having never studied Catholicism formally, and I had many confused snippets that I’d carried along from childhood.

He never belittled me about my beliefs, but carefully explained what actual Church teachings were. We explored suffering, sin, the incarnation and the resurrection, and then went on to moral issues.

This priest was a father in the best sense of the word, gently pointing me toward the light. And as the years went on, I wept less and laughed more in his presence.

Read more here.

Getting Ready for Lent

Fr. Corapi discusses Lent:

How's my Speech?

How's my speech? What words comprise my daily vocabulary? Are they edifying? Do they built or take away the life of God in others? Is my speech glorifying to God?

Thanks to Msgr. Charles Pope for a thorough write-up that serves as a paradigmatic structure, a guide, that helps us assess the context of our speech to shape it in conformity with the speech expected of a Christian.

Lord, Keep Your Arm Around My Shoulder and Your Hand Over My Mouth – A Meditation on the Sins of Speech
By: Msgr. Charles Pope

Thank you, Msgr. Pope!

Vocation Awareness -- Quote of the Day

Saint Damien of Moloka'i

Leper Priest of Hawai'i

Stutue at St. Augustine Church in Waikiki

"Each person must discover his or her own personal vocation and respond to it with generosity.”
— Pope John Paul II

Thank you to our Priests!

Source: Catholic greetings

We thank all our priests for their dedication

and all their love for the Church and its people.

May God continue to bless you in all you do.

May you always walk united in Christ Jesus,

who is the Most High Priest.

May you always exude his

priestly, prophetic, and kingly presence to all.

May God forever hold you in his arms!

Amen!

In Honor of Christ the King, Most High Priest

Cristo Redentor statue on top of Corcovado, a mountain towering over Rio de Janeiro. In the background the Ipanema and Leblon beaches separate the lagoon from the Atlantic Ocean.
Source of pics: Wikipedia

A new statue of Jesus was built in Swiebodzin, Poland, which is smaller than Cristo Redentor, but stands more majestically as it wears a crown. I was amazed at the engineering of this statue and the efforts put into it by all those involved.

Created by Rev. Sylwester Zawadzki, a 78-year-old priest, says that it rises 108 feet, or 33 meters to signify the total number of years Jesus lived on earth. Including the mound where it stands, it rises 67 feet or 51 meters.

The Christ statue in Brazil's Rio is 125 feet or 38 meters tall.

Watch the final stages of completion of Christ the King statue in Poland:

Fr. C. John McCloskey, III on Cardinal Newman

Cardinal Henry Newman

Source of pic: Wikipedia

Fr. C. John McCloskey, III, discloses to us the amazing personality of Cardinal Newman. Here is a portion of what he wrote about this clergy whose beatification was first celebrated on the 8th of this month.

That Newman was profoundly religious by temperament is quite clear from his autobiography, in which he speaks of his religious sense from a very early age. Unlike a goodly number of his contemporaries of the Oxford Movement he did not come from a long line of clergymen. During his university years he felt a call to the clerical life and even to celibacy, not common at that time. Yet, in many other ways he was a man of the world. He drank deeply of the study of the classics and history during his undergraduate years, formed many deep friendships, and had a keen interest in the world of music, literature, and politics, as is evidenced by his letters and diaries. Indeed, he even chose the wine for his college. He played the violin, a hobby to which he returned in later life. He exercised vigorously by frighteningly long walks and enjoyed the fresh air of the sea while sailing with his close friend, Hurrell Froude. He was a poet, a novelist and a Latinist of the highest order. (The curia officials of the Vatican were astonished at the level of his classical Latin in their correspondence with him. He was able to express in a paragraph what took them a page!) He was also, arguably, the greatest master of English prose style of the nineteenth century.5 This emphasizes that while Newman was eminently religious, he was not monastic. He had a keen appreciation for the world in all its positive aspects and enjoyed the company and friendship of many laymen, as is evidenced particularly by his letters and diaries.

Read here.

Thanks to Sr. Margaret Kerry, fsp, for this info!

Sr. Margaret Kerry, fsp
50 St Paul’s Ave
Boston, MA 02130
617-510-5409

Association of Pauline Cooperators

Living the gospel in every dimension of life in a world of communication.

Archbishop Chaput Speaks Up

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput @Catholic Online

Proud to be a Catholic? If it means having to boast because Christ is one who establihed the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church then so be it.

He warned of the rise of 'inhuman humanism' and called for a Catholicism of Resistance

"We live in a time when the Church is called to be a believing community of resistance. We need to call things by their true names. We need to fight the evils we see. And most importantly, we must not delude ourselves into thinking that by going along with the voices of secularism and de-Christianization we can somehow mitigate or change things." -Archbishop Charles J. Chaput.

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - I have long believed that Archbishop Charles J. Chaput is one of the preeminent Churchmen of our age. He calls all Catholics to live with what Pope Benedict XVI refers to as "moral coherence". This is not easy under the oppressive boot of what the same Pope called "the Dictatorship of Relativism." He challenges us to avoid what the Second Vatican Council called the "greatest error of our age...the separation between faith and life". His book "Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by living our Catholic beliefs in Political Life" is already a classic. It succinctly addresses the vital obligation of integrating our Catholic faith into our obligations of citizenship.

-Article written by Deacon Keith Fournier.

Read more on Catholic Online.

Celebrating St. John Vianney, a Priest

St. John Mary Vianney

St. John Mary Vianney was born in Lyons in 1786. He was an ordinary man with an extraordinary calling. Unwilling to yield to God's call because of numerous trials and challenges he was faced with, God persisted to prod him to get him to finally give his fiat. With God's grace he became a priest, and was entrusted with a parish in the town of Ars in the Diocese of Belley. He cared for the people in his parish in many a marvelous way by his preaching, his mortification, prayer, and good works. He became a renowed priest so much so that people from many regions came to Ars seeking his counsels. He died in 1859.

Today we pray to Our Most High Priest Jesus Christ, with the intercession of St. John Mary Vianney, to bless all our priests, especially those in our respective dioceses. May God bless each one of them, fill them with his strength and wisdom that in their times of trials and challenges, they many never give up but be inspired to be the priest God calls them to be. We pray for our seminarians that they will continue to persevere in their studies. We ask this of the Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.

A Tribute to Fr. Benedict Groeschel

You must have seen the video below, but it's quite alright. We all need to be reminded of our priests' accomplishments - more than a few imperfections that media has spotlighted. The world will always remember the bad, but almost hardly the good. We who understand and know that many, many deeds have been performed by many, many priests, should echo to the world that goodness abounds - because of what our priests do, or have done.

We praise and thank God for having given us a good priest who has accomplished much that we may know, receive, and understand much.

Thank you, Fr. Benedict Groeschel!