19th Sunday of the Year
7 August 2005
Dear Family of St. Mary’s,
Thou spreadst a table in my sight; Thine unction grace bestoweth/And, oh, what transports of delight from Thy pure chalice floweth!
Two Sundays ago now I approached the Altar at St. Mary’s while the choir so flawlessly sang these words in canon and I raised up the paten with the Sacred Host and prayed, "Blessed are You, LORD God of all Creation." So many people have asked me, "So what is it like? How do you feel? Every day now I raise that same paten and say those same words of praise to the Most Holy Trinity and await a miracle. That paten is a gift from you, the faithful of St. Mary’s and so for me it is a miracle not only to consecrate the Body of Christ on it each day, but also that, in some mystical way, I am offering every one of you with the Sacred Host to God so that He can work His grace in you just as He does on the bread on that little dish of silver and gold.
The fact that Divine Providence has sent me, the homegrown vocation, to you, is a witness, not only to the love that Jesus in His Most Sacred Heart is pouring out on our little piece of heaven on earth that we call St. Mary’s, but to the tireless generosity of the faithful who have been with me every step of the way from that Holy Thursday night in 1991 when I came into the Catholic Church here to the now every day occurrence when I celebrate the Divine Liturgy at the same Altar where I was first given the Holy Mysteries. I am truly thankful more than you can ever know.
And the great thing about it is, that these hours of prayer and sacrifice offered to Christ through the hands of His Blessed Mother are reaping a great harvest. Continue to pray, not only for me, so that I may persevere, but for all of our seminarians in the parish and the countless young men in the pews and in the sanctuary on a Sunday morning at St. Mary’s who are casting their nets to become fishers of men.
Father Smith
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pray for us!