Honoring the Priesthood in June

To those enjoying the memories, blessed anniversary!
To those still relishing your freshly-chrismed hands, congratulations!

As June is upon us, we at HPR would like to thank all of you who are celebrating your priestly ordinations this month.  To those enjoying the memories, blessed anniversary; to those still relishing your freshly-chrismed hands, congratulations.  To all deacons, priests, and bishops, we send our blessings and hopes for years of fruitful service to Christ and his holy people.  Christ has chosen to continue his Church through his sacred Body, depending humbly on the “yes” we uttered on the day we were ordained, as our lips, hands and hearts allow the Lord to extend himself throughout every corner of his beloved world.

The priesthood is, thus, a most awe-filled gift, and we must embrace the Lord’s invitation with fidelity, joy, and charity above all.   Since the first Pentecost, the Church has, of course, discovered herself, each and every day, at a very important crossroads. But there is something exceptionally crucial about today.  The contemporary world’s attacks are often smugly fortified with Schadenfreude, using our brother priests’ sins and scandals to advance its culture of death, hoping to squash the Church in her efforts to heal the sick, protect the unborn, feed the hungry, place orphans into a families, and preach the Gospel, in season and out of season.  Let us, therefore, be a new generation of priest, conversant with the world always, but more than prayerful and holy enough so as never to be of it.

Blessed Pentecost! May we pray for one another, in Corde Jesu, and… thanks for your sacrifice!

Fr. David Meconi, S.J.
Editor, Homiletic and Pastoral Review