A New Mission

Today, I was made a member of the Apostolate of Prayer and Sacrifice for Priests-- quite unexpectedly, too! Before Mass, I was thinking about all the reasons I wanted to join (though I had no idea how to do it or who to contact): I have a particular priest in mind that I would like to be converted; I would love to have a purpose for all my sacrifices; and I hope that everyone can one day have such wonderful priests as we have at St. Peters. Not very many do, and that is so sad. The Mass was the traditional one celebrating the feast of St. Jean Marie Vianney, who is very important this year, having just been named patron of all priests (boy, he has his work cut out for him!). Afterwards, Fr. Dennis announced that he and Fr. Anthony would like to give the members of the Apostolate a "medallion pin" (as he called it) with the Pope's mitre and the keys of St. Peter to symbolize our taking on this great work at St. Peters. He blessed them and gave one to each member, and I went up and received one too! Then they had a lovely get together in the school where parishioners could sign up and read all about the Apostolate... though I absent mindedly left my papers there when I left! But I am part of a very important Apostolate, and I'm so excited to be doing good for those who have given me my greatest treasure: the Holy Catholic Faith.

As I mentioned before, there is a particular priest for whom I am praying, and I hope you will keep him as a special intention, too. He introduced himself as Fr. Joe to his parishioners, and I will be content with using that name here. He was recently transferred to take the place of a beloved, God-loving priest in a parish nearby, and I'm afraid the transition is not going well. Fr. Joe is very different from the previous pastor, having more modern thoughts about what is important for the parish to be doing (to put it lightly), and unfortunately, the change seems to be going the way of most churches these days-- away from tradition and reverence for the Holy Eucharist. But I think God may have sent this priest to this strong parish in order that we might have a good influence over him, and maybe even bring about his conversion through prayer and sacrifice! I keep on imagining him perhaps being in Purgatory someday and wishing people had prayed for him more so he wouldn't have fallen so far away.....

Fr. Joe seems to be undoing so much good that has been fought and sacrificed for, but fighting him uncharitably won't help him come back to full communion with the church. He has made some decisions against the good wills of the parishioners, causing anger, frustration, and hurt in the parish. As I was thinking about all these things, and about what (if anything) I should do to help, I opened my missal to 'My Daily Thought from the Following of Christ' for today. It read:

"Thou hast yet to be tried upon earth and exercised in many things.
What pleaseth others shall prosper, what is pleasing to thee shall not succeed.
What others say, shall be hearkened to; what thou sayest, shall be reckoned as nought."

God may also be testing us to see our true humility and obedience to those He sets over us. Though it may please us to honor Our Lord by beautifying His house, perhaps He does not wish it yet. Is it possible that He wants us to beautify our hearts for Him first? This unwelcome change is an opportunity for much sacrifice and growth in virtue. As we accept the good from our Heavenly Father, so let us accept the bad. Let us see God's will in all things, and always act for His greater glory, and the salvation of all souls, especially Fr. Joe.