We Have New Priests, Rejoice!

Today was truly one of the best days of my entire life. I experienced for the first time an Archdiocese's ordination to the priesthood. It was absolutely beautiful, and the joy simply radiated throughout the entire Cathedral Basilica, and I still cannot stop smiling.

It was a day that I will never forget, and throughout the Mass it was difficult to keep the tears from flowing down my face. To see these men, one of them being a friend of mine, giving their whole selves and their whole lives to the sacerdotal priesthood to serve Christ's Church and His people was simply breathtaking and exciting beyond words.

The Litany of the Saints has always been a favorite prayer of mine, especially sung as a traditional chant. These five young men were physically laying down their lives for God and offering their gift of teaching, sanctifying, and governing to their local Church community, the Archdiocese of Newark. And I knew that there were ten other men laying down their lives on the same day and even close to the same time for the Archdiocese of New York. Today, God gave us such a beautiful and precious gift to the Church, and I feel truly blessed and eternally grateful. I am thankful beyond words for not only these men's lives to the priesthood, but for all of our good, faithful, and holy priests, especially my own parish priests. We do not thank them enough for all that they do, but we definitely should let them know how much that we appreciate them.

It was such a remarkable moment to witness the Bishop call down the Holy Spirit upon these men by the laying on of hands, and then later anoint them with the Chrism oil. They were now created anew ontologically; changed forever. Once a priest becomes a priest he is always a priest because this fundamental change is complete and permanent.

"You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." (Hebrews 7:17)

I looked at my friend kneeling down beside the Bishop with his hands extended as the Bishop anointed him and I knew that he was no longer the same, and that gave me a most incredible feeling of pure elation that is even difficult to describe in words.

Before the final blessing a most beautiful part of the Ordination Mass for me was when each new priest went up to the Bishop and gave him a blessing while he was down upon his knees. It was such a beautiful act of humility and grace.

After the Mass the tradition is that those who attended the Ordination Mass receive a first blessing from the newly ordained priest. The individual receiving the blessing kneels down while Father extends his hands outward over the person's head and give his priestly blessing. Afterwards he then holds out his arms facing them upright for the individual to kiss the palms of his anointed hands. It was absolutely and utterly beautiful.

This was a day of unbelievable excitement, and the Cathedral-Basilica was just bursting with a radiant glow of absolute gladness where God's love could be felt simply outpouring throughout the sacred space. It was the first time since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic that so many of us laity along with our priests were able to come together to celebrate such a wondrous occasion, and not be distracted by thoughts or words about Covid-19. There is a time for grief, a time for a mourning, a time for worrying, and a time to be afraid, but today was all about celebrating the men who were making promises of celibacy and obedience, and embracing a life of simplicity and detachment.

It was a different kind of day, one that was unique to anything we have experienced in this past more than a year now. Everyone was together as one in God's House rejoicing with the men who were offering their fiat to the Lord, and receiving the Sacrament of Holy Orders. It was a remarkable morning that I hope will remain with me forever.

Let us pray for all of our newly ordained priests that they may remain good and faithful. And let us continue to offer prayers always for all of our priests that they remain steadfast in the faith and courageous to defend the truth.