The Joy of New Priests!
07 June 2009
One of the most precious gifts that comes with being a Dominican Nun is the deep bonds that we have with our Dominican friars: bonds that are so strong that they are both spiritual and juridical. We make the same profession as Dominicans and this profession forms a bond of unity.
One of the multi-faceted aspects of our vocations as Dominican Nuns is to unite with our Brothers through our life of prayer. This is mostly intangible but there are moments that we are given a glimpse of the fruition of our prayers. Ordination to the priesthood is one such time.
Today for Mass of Trinity Sunday we had the joy of not ONE but TWO newly ordained Friars: Fr. GregorySchnakenberg, OP and Fr. Bruno Mary Shah, OP. Fr. Gregory has been a regular visitor to our monastery, serving daily Mass during his home visits at Christmas and in the summer when he would visit his family in nearby Mountainside. While we are used to seeing him on the altar it is another thing to see him celebrate Holy Mass!
Fr. Bruno Mary has been here several times and is Sr. Virginia Mary's prayer partner. While we don't formally receive the names of a certain brother to pray for at times a Sister takes on a brother for special reasons. Why Fr. Bruno? Well, when he came to visit with his novice class, in the course of the conversation we found out that not only did he come from Woodside, NY where Sr. Virginia Mary lived before entering the monastery, BUT he lived in the same apartment complex and attended the same parish. The visit ended with, "Let's pray for one another," and Sr. Virginia Mary has been praying Fr. Bruno to this day ever since.
You can see some photos of their ordination HERE but below are photos from today's Mass.
Fr. Bruno Mary reads the Gospel while Bro. Peter Martyr stands with the thruible.
Fr. Gregory gives the homily.
The Offertory
Bro. Peter Martyr incenses the nuns.
Fr. Bruno during the Canon of the Mass.
Blessing Time! You can almost see the Holy Spirit at work!
A special blessing for Sr. Virginia Mary by Fr. Bruno.
4 comments:
Thank you for this post and the link to the ordination. One of the acolytes, Br. Ezra, is from my parish here in California. I've kept him in my prayers through the years since he has entered the Order.
As a relatively new OP priest, I can tell you it was one of my greatest joys to "return the favor" for prayers said by saying First Masses at the monasteries here in the West!
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