The Ordination of a Priest

This weekend, Jen and I hauled the boys around on a wirlwind tour, traveling to Iron Mountain on Thursday night, then up to Marquette on Friday afternoon to witness the ordination of Father Ben Hasse, then to a Friday night surprise birthday party for my mom in Ishpeming, then to a Saturday filled with cousins and aunts and uncles and food, and finally a Saturday night First Mass for Father Ben. It was all worth it!

Saint Peter's Cathedral was filled to standing room only, and the ordination mass took close to two hours, but the ceremony was awe-inspiring. It was great to be part of the 'People of God" present there, as the bishop termed it, and witness the laying on of hands as Ben and another deacon were ordained as priests. It a lot of ways it was like a wedding, with a festive atmosphere, and there was a sense of great joy for the men being ordained. On a theological level, there are some obvious differences, but the sense of excitment for a chosen vocation in life was the same. Ben chose his vocation, but has also been chosen for it. There is something special and natural and right in that.

On a personel level, witnessing Father Ben's first mass was powerful. Amid the nervousness and the crowd (packed again), I thought to myself that here is a good friend who I grew up with and spent so much time with, and here he is consecrating the bread and wine into Jesus Christ. I'm not sure there is much more I can say that would top that. Here he is in a literal way bringing Jesus Christ to others, to the world.

Amidst all this, on the rating system of good behavior for my boys, they all managed to be in the 8 to 10 range (out of ten), including 7 month old Jerzy. It must have been the Holy Spirit, who had a busy weekend here in the UP.