To bring us Eucharist, prayers and hearts open to God’s voice are needed for more priests

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

The love of Jesus for us, present to us in the Eucharist was abundantly clear as the Eucharistic Pilgrimage arrived in our Diocese.  The Seton Route, one of four processions, arrived in our Diocese from New York on the afternoon of Memorial Day.

The priesthood Ordinations for our Diocese on June 8 made that day blessed, as well.  We had five candidates for Ordination, which is wonderful. The last time we had five priests ordained for the Diocese was in 2002, so this was an historic occasion. I did have the blessing of ordaining five men to the priesthood in 2019 when I ordained four men for our Diocese and one for the Oratory in Raritan.

For our Ordination this year, our cathedral was full with people even standing in the back.  I am told that there were 130 priests at the ordination, along with deacons and many religious. The choir sang beautifully; our seminarians served devoutly and well. Even the weather cooperated with a perfect day.

It was extra special that the Ordination was on the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  I’m always grateful when our Ordinations can be on feast days of Mary or the Apostles. Fortuitously, four of the new priests were ordained deacons on the memorial of Our Lady of Fatima, so they certainly will have a close bond with our Mother, Mary.

Mary must have a special place in her heart for all priests, as in a way, we emulate her in bringing Jesus into the world.  When God decided that it was the time for Jesus to come into the world as our Saviour, He had to decide how that would happen, and His thoughts obviously turned to Mary.  God didn’t force Mary though, He asked her, and awaited her “yes” to the Archangel’s question, “Will you be the Mother of God?” Her yes allows God to use Mary to bring Jesus into the world and forever changes our world.

Likewise, God doesn’t force any of us to become priests.  He gently and lovingly invites us. I think in our day, with all the noise in our world, it is hard for young men to quiet themselves so that they can hear the Lord.  It is our “yes,” the concrete yes of the five men on June 8, that allows God to now use them to bring His Son into the world anew as they lead our faithful in praying the Eucharistic prayer at Mass.  So how important it is for we priests to draw close to Mary in prayer, often, so we can try to emulate her more closely in how we live our lives.

I ask that you pray for our priests, our new ones of course, but also for all our priests, who bring Jesus to you. Pray, too, for more men to be able to quiet themselves to hear the call of God to follow Jesus in His priesthood. We are blessed with good seminarians and have seven who are applying or have applied to join the Diocese this year, which is wonderful, but we need more to have enough shepherds for all our parishes.  Your role in praying for vocations and promoting them, asking men to consider it with their lives, is so important.  Thank you for all you do.

Next month, a group of us from the Diocese will go to Indianapolis for our Eucharistic Congress, the first one in over 80 years. This will be an historic event, too!  It is nice that we had the Eucharistic Pilgrimage pass through our Diocese as we prepared for the Congress.  So many of our faithful were able to participate in the processions, which certainly heightened our awareness and enabled us to be a part of this wonderful event.   

I will certainly be praying for all of you, asking the Lord to help us all to draw closer to Him in the great gift of the Eucharist.  I will also be praying for more priests, so we always have priests to serve in all our parishes and provide us with the Eucharist.  No doubt, our Blessed Mother will assist us in our prayers!

Know of my love, prayers and gratitude for you all during this wonderful time in our Church.  God bless you all, and please remember to pray for me.

Most Reverend James F. Checchio, JCD, MBA
Bishop of Metuchen