Posted on April 29, 2018 View all news
Laudetur Jesus Christus! Gelobt sei Jesus Christus!
Sia lodato Gesù Cristo! Praised be Jesus Christ!
I would like to congratulate our First Communicants from Sacred Heart, Clare and Kieran. Please be sure to keep them in your prayers as they took this extraordinary step today! The children from Old St. Mary’s will make their First Communion next Sunday.
I would also like to congratulate the Old St. Mary’s Pregnancy Center on their Anniversary this coming Tuesday. They do tremendous work assisting pregnant women in need. Please be sure to also keep them in your prayers, that they can continue their mission for generations to come!
Continuing where I left off last week, people often wonder what priests do all day. I can only speak for what we do, but I hope to give a glimpse. The life of any priest is always different from priest to priest. Some have different works, some have many parishes, some wear multiple hats.
For the Oratorians, each of us does something different in the course of the day. Our general schedule includes prayer twice a day, at 6:30 a.m. and at 5:30 p.m. After our evening Oratory prayers, we have common dinner, which is taken in silence with table reading. Following dinner, which lasts about 20 minutes, we have recreation for 15 minutes, in which we are supposed to discuss anything but business. Though we often fail in that directive. It is a simple life that gives structure to the rest of the day. The rest of the day is left up to our assignments and missions.
For the brothers, they have seminary classes in the morning. They also do various works around the parish; from music, to sacristy work, to teaching, to caring for the sanctuary and flowers. They also have expected study times throughout the day, and are also expected to make a Holy Hour each day. They each have a spiritual director, whom they meet regularly, in addition to regular confession.
For the priests, life revolves around our assignments. Fr. Lawrence primarily takes care of RCIA, Adoration, and daily Masses and Confession at Old St. Mary’s. Fr. Adrian spends most of his day at the hospital or the jail, ministering to those in need in those locations. He is also responsible for a pager to take emergency calls when needed for the hospital. I primarily function sacramentally at Sacred Heart throughout the week, while also overseeing the care of the administrative aspects of both parishes such as repairs, bills, schedules, and other items to keep both parishes and the Oratory functioning as well as we can.
Priests are usually entitled to one 24 hours period in the week to see to their personal needs while being available the other six days for parish work. In addition to the above, each priest must also see to their homily prep, marriage prep, spiritual direction, as well as their spiritual health by making it to confession regularly. In the Oratory, we also have the responsibility to ensure that we form our seminarians well – overseeing their studies, work, and development – as we handle formation in-house. It is not unusual to have long days, but each priest knows Christ also had long days and the good of the Church requires it. So please be sure to be gentle when we sometimes make mistakes and please pray for priests every day!
