He is risen, Alleluia!

Lots have been going on since we began the Easter season, rejoicing with the praises of all God's faithful people:

two popes were canonized on Divine Mercy Sunday,

priest assignments for the archdiocese were made official (while we hopefully have a surge of prayers for vocations to the priesthood as we see the appointment of a pastor for five parishes and three missions, the vicar for clergy appointed pastor of a parish in Shoreline, and the auxiliary bishop assigned as parochial administrator for a parish to be assisted by the director of vocations who also serves as the chaplain of Kennedy Catholic High School),

seminarian Dean Mbuzi, a native of Zambia (pictured below with Kathleen, the president of the ACCW), was ordained to the diaconate at St. Michael's in Olympia on the Third Sunday of Easter and will be ordained to the priesthood with Deacon Brian Thompson on September 6th at St. James Cathedral.

publicity and preparation for the Cantor Intensive our office is co-sponsoring with the Seattle Chapter of NPM kicked off,

seminarians from the North American College in Rome did a fun tap dance number at last month's Rector's Dinner, video courtesy of a post from Fr. Jacob Maurer's blog,

"Confirmation season" began,

and so has the time in which many second graders (including Deacon Jeff Greer's grandson) receive Holy Communion for the first time,

and 30+ candidates for Confirmation from Our Lady of Mt. Virgin, St. Paul, St. Edward, and St. George in South Seattle made a retreat where Fr. Bob Kenny blessed them all as they soon receive the gift of the Holy Spirit next Wednesday, May 14th on the Feast of St. Matthias.

Let us pray for them and all candidates for Confirmation.

"All-powerful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by water and the Holy Spirit you freed
your sons and daughters from sin
and gave them new life.
Send your Holy Spirit upon them
to be their Helper and Guide.
Give them the spirit of wisdom
   and understanding,
the spirit of right judgment,
   and courage,
the spirit of knowledge and reverence.
Fill them with the spirit of wonder and awe
   in your presence.
We ask this through Christ our Lord."
            (from the Rite of Confirmation, The Laying on of Hands)

Lector Installation at Mundelein

Congratulations to two seminarians of the Archdiocese of Seattle, Jeff Moore and Colin Parrish, who were installed to the ministry of lector at Mundelein Seminary earlier today. Colin is known for almost always making weird faces in pictures, so this is what some would call a "normal" face for him.

From Left to Right: Jeff, Fr. Bryan Dolejsi, Colin Parrish

Two other seminarians studying at Mundelein Seminary, Patrick Sherrard and Grant Boggs are currently on pastoral internship; Patrick at St. Charles Borromeo in Tacoma and Grant at St. Anthony in Renton. Let us continue to keep all seminarians and those discerning a call to the priesthood and religious life in our prayers.

Rejoice!

On this Gaudete Sunday, I reflected on a number of events this weekend which we're cause for rejoicing in my heart:

On the feast of St. Lucy, the Chancery employees gathered with the Archbishop for a morning Mass followed by a luncheon. It's always a great opportunity to gather with fellow Chancery employees to rejoice in celebrating a great year of ministry together and for me to wear violet while almost everyone else is decked out in reindeer antlers, santa hats and bells (literally!) I should have worn a crown of candles with my violet blouse.

Also, my friend, George Noel, was ordained to the Priesthood yesterday morning in Crookston, Minnesota, on the feast of St. John of the Cross. As much as I wanted to be in the zero degree Fahrenheit weather, I settled for a number of pictures from his Facebook page:

One of my favorite annual liturgies was also celebrated yesterday, but in much warmer Seattle weather. As always, Maria took great pictures of the Simbang Gabi liturgy, which are up on the Cathedral website. It's also the one day of the year when I wear my Filipino blouse. And when my colleague in the Liturgy Office also wears a barong to the celebration, that in and of itself is a cause for rejoicing:

Lastly, day 1 (or rather night 1) of the Simbang Gabi novena began this evening. When Val and I walked into St. Edward's, we thought we were celebrating the Easter Vigil, as the lights in the entire church were off and people were holding these candles:

Seattle Seminarians

Every year, around this time, many look forward to seeing the annual Seminarian Poster. Myself included. This poster contains a picture of all the current seminarians for the Archdiocese of Seattle, where they are currently studying and their home parish. It hangs in almost all vestibules of parishes in the Archdiocese.

On the Crozier Society's website is the poster for 2014. I didn't notice it at first glance of the poster when we received our copy for the office, but Andrew pointed out the other day that I'm in the poster as well. You can find me pictured just below the two people yawning.

Just in time for their final exams, papers, and travels for the Christmas season, let us continue to hold the seminarians, and all those discerning a call to the priesthood and religious life, in our prayers!

Coming Celebrations

This Sunday, the Church celebrates The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi, Latin for Body of Christ)

My sister and I will be at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Tacoma, where they will hold a Corpus Christi Procession beginning at Holy Rosary to St. Joseph, then back to Holy Rosary.

Here is a video from a Corpus Christi Procession in 2012 when Archbishop Sartain was the presider, and one from 2009 when Father Maurer was the presider. Both at Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish in Bremerton. 2009 was the first year Our Lady Star of the Sea held a Corpus Christi Procession, after the Mass of Thanksgiving for Father Maurer's Ordination to the Priesthood.

And on that note, next Saturday, June 8th is Deacon Mark Kiszelewski's Ordination to the Priesthood. An update to a recent blog post is that Father Mark Kiszelewski will offer a Mass of Thanksgiving on Sunday, June 16th at 9:00am at St. Luke in Shoreline.  Let us continue to hold Mark and all seminarians in our prayers.

Call to Orders

During Holy Week, Deacon Mark Kiszelewski, seminarian for the Archdiocese, received his letter from Archbishop Sartain calling him to the Order of Priesthood on Saturday, June 8th at St. James Cathedral.

And here is the schedule of the Masses that soon-to-be Father Mark will celebrate for that busy weekend.

Saturday, June 8

               10:00 am, Mass of Ordination, St. James Cathedral

               5:00 pm, First Mass, St. Therese in Seattle

Sunday, June 9

               9:30 am, Mark preaching and concelebrating, Christ Our Hope Church in Seattle

               7:00 pm, Mark preaching and concelebrating, Christ Our Hope

Please continue to pray for Mark and for all seminarians.

Monday musings

A sneak peak at the worship aid, or shall I say "libretto" for Pope Francis' installation mass, in case you wish to stream live in the early hours of tomorrow morning and follow along. Or in case you can't stream live in the early hours of tomorrow morning.

A sneak peak at another worship aid...this one for Thursday's Chrism Mass for the Archdiocese of Seattle, where the oils are blessed by Archbishop Sartain and the Church celebrates priestly unity. At this Mass, the 100+ priests will make a Renewal of Commitment to Priestly Service. Also, after the Prayer after Communion, a monstrance will be blest by Archbishop Sartain, which will be used throughout the Archdiocese for Vocations to the Priesthood and Religious Life. This Mass is one of the highlights of the liturgical year for me (in addition to Priest Ordinations) and all are welcome. Parking will be free and available to all wanting to attend, at the Cabrini Parking Garage off of Marion Street (but fair warning, the lot fills up pretty quickly.)

This morning I picked up the flowers for the Chrism Mass at Northwest Wholesale Florists on behalf of our interim director, and earlier this afternoon he complimented and thanked me for picking out a great selection of flowers. "Great job picking out the flowers for Chrism Mass" were his almost exact words. Although he was the one to pre-order what kind of flowers our office would purchase and the quantity, if you know Fr. Steve Sallis, this is a pretty big deal that he thinks highly of my selection of the flowers. I'm putting that compliment into my jar of blessings, that's for sure!

For the second year in a row, the newly named Office of Youth and Young Adult Evangelization (formerly known as the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry) will hold the young adult pilgrimage on Holy Thursday. My sister and I participated last year, and it was a great witness to the faith as people would ask questions of the group and when hundreds would sing together and pray together during the holiest times of the liturgical year.

An exciting reflection/announcement regarding the feast of Corpus Christi at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary parish in Tacoma by their pastor, Father Jacob Maurer.

Lastly, I just finished putting mailing address labels on invitations for the NPM Seattle Chapter's pastor and pastoral musicians dinner (save the date: Friday May 3 in Seattle.) They will be in tomorrow's mail. Here's a picture of the cover of the invite and I'm hoping that many of our pastors and pastoral musicians will be able to attend.

Vocation-Liturgy link

Mary Sharon Moore, a Catholic author and founder of Awakening Vocations, says that "Liturgy and Vocation cannot be separated!" Here is her inspirational article on the link between Vocation and Liturgy. I highlight a brief paragraph from her article that I believe summarizes her thoughts well:

"Liturgy is the starting point of Christian vocational life, which is a life of love, expressed in particular ways according to your gifting and God's desiring. Christian vocational life is a life of self-giving, and draws its strength and purpose from your dying to self and receiving the new life in Christ which lies at the core of each of the sacraments. The vocational point of liturgy is to live this 'dying to self and receiving new life in Christ" in every dimension of your life."

Reprinted with permission.

It's a grace to take an opportunity to look back at one's life and see how the Holy Spirit continues to work in many ways in our dying to self and rising to new life in Christ. As a Jesuit priest and retreat leader once told me (referring to the Harry Potter movies) during an Ignatian Retreat I made a few years ago, "a part of you must die in order that the true self may rise."

In addition to reading my own vocation story, I invite you to look at God's hand in your own life and see where He is calling you towards a life of love...towards new life.