Yesterday the fourteen residence of our house celebrated the anniversaries of our priesthood ordinations. Nearly all of us were ordained in the month of May, so we chose May 5th to celebrate. I had no objection to the date, for on that date 48 years ago [May 5, 1973] I was ordained along with Father Peter Peretti (who also resides here) and Monsignors Paul Fitzmaurice and Roger Statnick.
We gathered for Mass in our chapel at 4:30 followed by a social time and then a delicious festive dinner prepared by our kitchen staff. Father Al Pleban was our celebrant for Mass, being our senior member having been ordained 64 years ago.
The fourteen of us, most retired, a few in special circumstances and one new brother from the Philippines who is familiarizing himself to our Diocese (he is our youngster, ordained only 22 years), rack up some impressive statistics.
We represent 675 years of priestly service ... conservatively we are looking at about 250,000 Masses offered ... countless baptisms, weddings, funerals, confessions, and lives touched by God's grace. And yet each of us realizes our limitations and inadequacies as well as the blessings we have been given by this call of the Lord and extended through the love and support of the great People of God.
Pray for your priests ... and pray for vocations.
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