Posted on 06/01/2008 1:34:41 PM PDT by StAthanasiustheGreat
Saturday, May 31, 2008 "He Called Them Forward" After Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles ordained the nation's largest priesthood class for the year -- 12 candidates for the nation's largest diocese -- earlier today in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, a friend in attendance sent the following brief:
[Mahony] reminisced about the one thing the seminary never prepared him for all those years ago: that God is the God of surprises. He then reviewed his priestly life and spoke of each surprise and how God gave him just what he needed not only to endure but even to grow more joyful. The cardinal seemed to reveal the wellsprings that he has tapped into, especially during the abuse crisis, when he said that the most important lesson he ever learned about prayer was from Sister Wendy Beckett: "The essential act of prayer is to stand unprotected before God."
My highlight was when, before the final blessings, the cardinal asked for a stack of the prayer cards for priestly vocations (distributed and prayed throughout the archdiocese). He then stood and asked if there were any young men in the congregation who had been moved enough by the ordination to feel that they might be being called then and there. He called them forward and at least twenty young men came down into the sanctuary. We applauded. The cardinal welcomed each one and gave them the prayer and said that all would stand and pray this prayer for them. We all applauded again and then we prayed.
Then the cardinal suggested to the newly ordained that, at the end of their first Masses of Thanksgiving, they should make the same invitation because “the grace of vocation flows powerfully at the time of ordinations.”
...and may it do so not just in LA ...and not just for the call to orders, but for every vocation that exists within these walls.
In those immortal words from Dunwoodie, friends, "What is God whispering to you?"
PHOTOS: Sr Nancy Munro CSJ/The Tidings
-30-
posted by Rocco Palmo at 22:37
Cardinal Mahoney Ping
Oh, this gives me shivers.
Have all of our prayers for the re-Conversion of Roger Cardinal Mahony worked?
If, we thank you, God.
***”The essential act of prayer is to stand unprotected before God.”***
How true! And how hard to achieve. Saying to God, “Take me. I am yours. Do what you want with me,” are the hardest words in the world to say, but necessary to find true peace.
If it is true, it is so beautiful. Maybe he just knows its time to fall into line.
This is Mahony? Shoot! (Or rather, don’t! He’s sounding Christian!)
That said, 12 ordinands in a diocese bigger than most countries is still pretty weak. We had almost that many in Tulsa one year. If there are 24 in a few years, that will be impressive.
**Maybe he just knows its time to fall into line.**
Or be asked to retire NOW!!!
We have 25 diocesan priests this year and 98 for the entire seminary.
Yes, it is still weak for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, but maybe Mahony is waking up from a long sojourn with the evil one.
I think he has two years and some-odd days to mandatory retirement. We’ll know the Pope is going to boot him if a Coadjutor Bishop is appointed :-).
Excellent! I know I read that LA had at least one year with *no* ordinations, so this is definitely a positive development. *Anyone* can have a profound conversion, and if Mahony has, he can do a lot of good in his remaining time.
...Or could be that the visit of Pope Benedict XVI did its job in starting to make changes with Cardinal Mahony?
At least there are new priests!
I won’t believe it until I see it, but maybe toward the end of his tenure he is beginning to see the light!
There are indications. Not an overwhelming body of evidence, but at least *something*.
What happened to Cardinal Mahoney, he almost sounds Catholic?
Pope Benedict XVI. Never understimate the power of public witness.
Please add Bishops Hubbard and Clark to the prayer list for conversion of heart!
Maybe he has so much to hide that he needs BXVI to keep him on past his 75th birthday?
I believe it a lot more when I see a very reverent Educational Conference in Los Angeles.
And I do mean “very reverent.”
**Please add Bishops Hubbard and Clark to the prayer list for conversion of heart!**
A great request. Perhaps Pope Benedict got to them too.
Worthy of our continuing prayer, nevertheless.
LOL!
Won’t stay hidden too much longer. Wait until the journalists get their hands on the REAL documents!
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