.jpg)
 |
| Father Ed Sousa, Jr. |
When Eddie was a young boy he was very prayerful and he had great love and devotion to our Blessed Mother. We could see there was something special about that, especially for a child his age. We didn't pray for Eddie to become a priest but what we did do is to say to Our Lord, " That if He was calling Eddie to become a priest someday that it was fine with us. We gave the Lord permission to do whatever He thought was best for him.
Our prayer was that His Will would be forfilled in Eddie. So that is Donna's secret and mind.
Eddie never told us that he had any thoughts or intension's of becoming a priest. We suggested to him once or twice through the years that the Lord might be calling him to the priesthood, but he just disregarded that. He said he had other plans for his life. He wanted to become a Chef.
Then one night he said to us that he wanted to go and study for the priesthood.
Wow! We were full of joy.
" Testimony of Fr. Edward A. Sousa "
"Come follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men" (Mt. 4:19). When I was a teenager, I could remember hearing this saying of Jesus read at Mass, but never did its importance actually affect me in my life, until I turned the age of twenty-six. I would say that I began to experience a turning point to respond generously to this call.
When I was a child, up to my teenage years and into my early adulthood, I had no desire whatsoever to become a priest. In fact, I remember sitting in a Career Day lecture in high school with an image in my mind of an ideal planned life for myself. I would go to college, get a good education, earn a decent amount of money, get married, have a family of my own, eventually become a grandfather and,finally,enjoy retirement in my old age.
So, what happened to me between the years of my childhood into early adulthood?
Well, my desire to follow my set plan in life grew stronger and I had a set goal of getting a good education in the field that interest me. I developed an interest in culinary arts and decided in my senior year that I wanted to become a professional chef. Therefore, upon graduating, I enrolled at Johnson & Wales University. Two years later I graduated with an Associate of Occupational Science degree in culinary arts and I was what you would call a "professional chef."
I made decent money and was happy. All during this time I was what you would call the "average" Catholic. I went to church every Sunday, although many times half-heartedly, and was doing the best I could to be faithful to my beliefs. I was always a person with much joy, and had a wonderful family. I also dated off and on, and I had many friends.
However, I felt that there was still something missing. I was searching and looking for a meaning to my life. I began to figure out that the things of the world could not provide me with this so called "purpose" and "meaning" in life. I realized that maybe it was only God that could truly provide me with what I was looking for.
I slowly developed a desire to pray the Rosary. I always had a devotion to the Blessed Mother. The more I prayed, I felt my love and relationship to Jesus growing. I started to understand what many great saints throughout the Catholic Church have said for centuries. The main purpose of our love for the Blessed Mother is, "to lead us closer to her Son Jesus, for the good of our salvation."
I found myself paying more attention to the Holy Mass, feeling a hunger for God's Word, and remembering the bible readings. I was going to confession more frequently. In my spare time, I went to Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament rather than going out with my friends.
I began to get involved in church through the generosity of my current pastor, Father Reinaldo Cardoso, in all area of the parish life. My mother asked me, "Have you ever thought about priesthood?" The question caught me off guard. I tried to avoid the question with nervous laughs, but I began to realize things were changing in my life and it would only be a matter of time. I spent time asking myself, "Why would God be calling me?" I was not sure if God was truly calling me.
It was May of 1995, during a special holy hour at my parish, that I met a young visiting priest from East Timor. He asked me, "Have you ever thought about priesthood?"
I felt a moment of grace and the question hit me like a "ton of bricks." This time I did not shrug it off. It was then that I met with Father Cardoso, and told him my thoughts.
My parents were not surprised and were extremely happy with my desire to follow Christ in the priesthood. In August of 1995, I left my paying job and in September I entered the Seminary of Our Lady of Providence. I enrolled in Providence College and began the first two-year program.
I can find no way to measure the tremendous experience I have had in the course of spiritual formation.
.
In the summer of 1996, I traveled to a popular Marian shrine at Medjugorje, in Bosnia-Herzegovina. During my visit, I met a married couple, Patrick and Nancy Latta, who were originally from Canada and now living in Medjugorje.
I told Nancy that I found my seminarian life very difficult and at times, I felt like giving it all up. Without hesitation, she looked at me straight in the eyes and said to me, "Edward, always remember one thing. God does not want you to do great things, but to do simple things with great love." I felt at that moment, God's infinite mercy and grace. From that day forward, to this present day, I have never again looked back in God's calling to the priesthood."
Fr. O'Brien, pastor of St. Peter the Fisherman in Wisconsin, reflects on his parish's awesone Pentecost window, and how all the faithful are called to a vocation. Visit Saint Peter the Fisherman and FSCC - Called to Be for more info.
Picture source of Our Lady of Divine Vocations The shrine of Our Lady of Divine Vocations is located in the diocese of Paterson at Florham Park in New Jersey, USAAccording To The Saints
The Saints offer us additional insight, namely; that the consecrated life is the surest path to God for a soul that loves God, and the most efficacious means for the salvation of the world (principally through a life of prayer and mortification). It is thus that the soul of a religious is better equipped to rise, without distraction, to the highest degrees of union with God;
They [religious] live more purely, they fall more rarely, they rise more speedily, they are aided more powerfully, they live more peacefully, they die more securely, and they are rewarded more abundantly."
Saint Faustina
"Today, the Lord gave me knowledge of His anger toward mankind which deserves to have its days shortened because of its sins. But I learned that the world's existence is maintained by chosen souls; that is, the religious orders. Woe to the world when there will be a lack of religious orders!" - diary, Dec. 1937 ¶.1434
"[The] Child Jesus said to me, 'Look at the sky.' And when I looked at the sky I saw the stars and the moon shining. Then the child asked me, 'Do you see this moon and these stars?' When I said yes, he spoke these words to me, 'These stars are the souls of faithful Christians, and the moon is the souls of religious. Do you see how great the difference is between the light of the moon and the light of the stars? Such is the difference in heaven between the soul of a religious and the soul of a faithful Christian'." - diary, May 12, 1935 ¶.424
Saint Ignatius, founder of the Jesuit order
"If a person thinks of embracing a secular life, he should ask and desire more evident signs that God calls him to a secular life than if there were question of embracing the evangelical counsels; for Our Lord Himself has clearly exhorted us to embrace His counsels."
Saint Cyprian of Carthage, A.D. 258 †
"But chastity maintains the first rank in virgins, the second in those who are continent (celibate), the third in the case of wedlock." [...] "While laws are prescribed to matrons ... virginity and continency are beyond all law; there is nothing in the laws of matrimony which pertains to virginity; for by its loftiness it transcends them all."
Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, A.D. 373 †
"Now if a man choose the way of the world, namely marriage, he is not indeed to blame; yet he will not receive such great gifts as the other. For he will receive, since he too brings forth fruit, namely thirtyfold. But if a man embraces the holy and unearthly way, even though as compared with the former it be rugged and hard to accomplish, nonetheless it has the more wonderful gifts: for it grows the perfect fruit, namely a hundredfold."
Ven. Mary of Agreda, "Mystical City of God", Book II, Chp. I
[Words of the Queen] "My daughter, the greatest happiness, which can befall any soul in this mortal life, is that the Almighty call her to his house consecrated to his service. For by this benefit He rescues the soul from a dangerous slavery and relieves her of the vile servitude of the world, where, deprived of true liberty, she eats her bread in the sweat of her brow. Who is so dull and insipid as not to know the dangers of the worldly life, which is hampered by all the abominable and most wicked laws and customs introduced by the astuteness of the devil and the perversity of men?
The better part is religious life and retirement; in it is found security, outside is a torment and a stormy sea, full of sorrow and unhappiness. Through the hardness of their heart and the total forgetfulness of themselves men do not know this truth and are not attracted by its blessings. But thou, 0 soul, be not deaf to the voice of the Most High, attend and correspond to it in thy actions: I wish to remind thee, that one of the greatest snares of the demon is to counteract the call of the Lord, whenever he seeks to attract and incline the soul to a life of perfection in his service. Even by itself, the public and sacred act of receiving the habit and entering religion, although it is not always performed with proper fervor and purity of intention, is enough to rouse the wrath and fury of the infernal dragon and his demons; for they know that this act tends not only to the glory of the Lord and the joy of the holy angels, but that religious life will bring the soul to holiness and perfection. It very often happens, that they who have received the habit with earthly and human motives, are afterwards visited by divine grace, which perfects them and sets all things aright. If this is possible even when the beginning was without a good intention, how much more powerful and efficacious will be the light and influence of grace and the discipline of religious life, when the soul enters under the influence of divine love and with a sincere and earnest desire of finding God, and of serving and loving Him?
Picture source Diocese of Austin
Encouraging and supporting vocations to the priesthood and religious life has been a top priority for Bishop Robert Finn since his installation in the Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph. Currently, the diocese has nearly 30 men studying to become diocesan priests while others have been called to nearby religious orders.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Eternal Father,
Son of the Virgin Mary,
we thank you for offering your life in sacrifice on
the Cross, and for renewing this sacrifice
in every Mass celebrated throughout the world.
In the Power of the Holy Spirit
we adore you and proclaim
your living presence in the Eucharist.
We desire to imitate the love you show us
in your death and resurrection,
by loving and serving one another.
We ask you to call many young people to religious
life, and to provide the holy and generous priests
that are so needed in you Church today.
Lord Jesus, hear our prayer. Amen.
Archbishop Justin Rigali - St. Louis
1. For the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, which will be celebrated on 13 April 2008, I have chosen the theme: Vocations to the service of the Church-mission. The Risen Jesus gave the command to the Apostles: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Mt 28,19), assuring them: “I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28, 20). The Church is missionary as a whole and in each one of its members. If because of the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, every Christian is called to witness and to announce the Gospel, the missionary aspect is specially and intimately bound with the priestly vocation. In the covenant with Israel, God entrusted to certain chosen men, called by him and sent to the people in his name, the mission to be prophets and priests. This is what he did, for example, with Moses: “Come, - God told him - I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth my people … out of Egypt …when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you will serve God upon this mountain” (Ex 3, 10.12). The same thing happened with the prophets.Click below to read the Holy Father's message in its entirety.
Picture source: Joyce Images and used with permission.A survey of dioceses rich in seminarians and dioceses poor in them.ARTICLE
The 20 dioceses with the lowest ratio of diocesan seminarians to Catholics in 2006—starting with the bottom-ranked diocese—were San Diego, Honolulu, Metuchen, Las Vegas, Laredo, Los Angeles, New York, Hartford, El Paso, Rochester, Santa Rosa, San Antonio, Galveston-Houston, Rockville Centre, Boston, Syracuse, Detroit, San Bernardino, Reno, and Monterey.Although, Honolulu is one of the Diocese in the bottom 20, there is hope under our bishop and our vocations director, that more men will answer the call to the priesthood.
Bishop Silva says, "Since 2006, we have gone from one seminarian to three current seminarians. In addition, I recently ordained to the priesthood three men who came to the diocese from an institute of apostolic life. Our challenge is to create a culture in which priests, religious, parents, catechists, and parishioners promote vocations to the priesthood and religious life. This has been one of my highest priorities since I became bishop of Honolulu." Bishop Silva appointed a new full-time director of vocations in July.Prayer by the laity is also of crucial importance for our men to answer the call to the priesthood. This is one reason why Easter and I are felt the need to respond to the call of the Vatican to provide our priests and seminarians with spiritual moms.
Easter of A Tribute to Our Priests has posted the most wonderful old vocations video by the Orders of Preachers. It is a film from 1964 and narrated by the late actor Dana Elcar.
