On Saturday, May 25, 2019, several men from St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers will be ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of New York. Among them will be Deacon John Figueroa, who has served the Annunciation-Our Lady of Fatima Parish for two summers. I ask all our parishioners to pray for him and for the others who will be ordained with him as they begin their new ministry in the name of the Lord in this Archdiocese.
May we here at Annunciation-Our Lady of Fatima pray fervently everyday for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Our Holy Father makes a special point of the truth that the local parish community and, in fact, each Catholic family must be the source of vocations. He reminds us that the need for priests is one of the most crucial problems facing the Church today. If priests are lacking, then Jesus is lacking in the world, in His Eucharist and in the sacrament of reconciliation. To carry out the Church’s mission there is the indispensable need for consecrated men and women.
I ask our young people to carefully and prayerfully consider the possibility that Jesus may be calling you to “come follow Me.” If He is, He is not calling you to an easy life of glamour. He is really challenging you to a life that demands the utmost in self-giving, a life completely dedicated to proclaiming Him as Lord and to go wherever He needs you to go. It may not be an easy life, but take it from one who has traveled that road for the past 47 years, it is the most exciting, the most challenging, the most fulfilling, and the most joy-filled life in the world. Yes, we need more than a few good Catholic men and women. He may indeed be calling you to be a priest or religious. Pray about it, talk about it with one of us or with Fr. Christopher Argano, the vocation director for the Archdiocese, who lives here in the Rectory.
Also, if any parishioners would like to attend the ordination mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on May 25th at 9 am, please call the Rectory. Tickets are available.