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On next Saturday, May 24, 2025, several men from St. Joseph’s Seminary here in Yonkers will be ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of New York.  I ask all of our parishioners to please pray for these young men as they prepare to accept Jesus’ invitation to “come follow Me” as His priests.

Also, may we here at Annunciation-Our Lady of Fatima parish pray fervently every day for an increase in vocations to the priesthood.  Our Holy    Father, Pope St. John Paul II, made a special point that the local parish community and in fact each Catholic parish family must be the source of priestly vocations.  He reminded us that the need for priests is one of the most crucial problems facing our Church in the 21st century.  Jesus does not want His Church to be without priests.  If priests are lacking, then Jesus’ presence will be lacking in the world.  Only priest can celebrate mass and consecrate bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist.  Only priests can, in the name of Jesus, forgive sins in the sacrament of confession.  It is only priests who can anoint us in the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, and when necessary, help us with the grace of this sacrament to get ready for our final journey back to home to Him.  Therefore, there is an indispensable need for priests to carry out the Church’s mission today.

Cardinal Dolan recently announced that all parishes are being asked to participate in the “Called by Name” campaign to identify faithful young men who may be open to the priesthood.  I now ask our young men to carefully and prayerfully consider the possibility that Jesus may be calling you to “come follow Me”.    If so, He is not calling you to any easy life of glamour.  He is challenging you to a life that demands the utmost in self-giving, a life completely dedicated to proclaiming Jesus as Lord and Savior and to go wherever He needs you to go.  It may not be easy at times but take it from one who has traveled the road for over 53 years, it is the most exciting, the most challenging, the most fulfilling and the most joy filled life in the world.  Yes, we need you!  Yes, Jesus needs you!  Yes, the Church needs you!  Pray about it; talk about it with one of us or with Fr. Carmine who is one of the vocation directors for the Archdiocese.

I leave you with this special reflection by Fr. Lacordaire:

 

To live in the midst of the world without wishing its pleasures;

to be a member of each family, yet belonging to none;

to share all the suffering; to penetrate all secrets; to heal all wounds;

to go from men to God and offer Him their prayers;

to return from God to men to bring pardon and hope;

to have a heart of fire for Charity, and a heart of bronze for Chastity to teach and to pardon, console and bless always.

My God what a life, and it is yours, O priest of Jesus Christ.