Dear Friends,

“The Holy Spirit leads us like a mother. He leads His child by the hand…as a sighted person leads a blind person.” -Saint John Vianney

As I grow in my journey of faith, discernment of God’s will, and in my relationship to God as an adopted son through Jesus Christ and as one of his little priests, I continue to learn how to trust in his providence. In the good, the bad, and the ugly of life the Lord has worked to bring me to where I am today and to embolden me in my faith.

I rarely, if ever, have the full picture of what the Lord has in store for me, and I often get frustrated when things don’t go how I expect. I am humbled as I look back to see the ways in which the Holy Spirit has guided me, and as a priest, the ways in which he has worked through my ministry as a flawed laborer in the field to bring about grace in the world. In this way, I have been humbled as a “fly on the wall” to observe God’s grace at work. This has been my experience at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish.

Although I have only been at OLMC for two years, these two years have been formative to who I am as a disciple of Christ and otherwise as a priest. I am thankful to the Lord for all that he has done for me during these two years and impressed/humbled by the people I have met, served, and served with during my time at the parish. Among many things, I have developed a greater devotion to our Lord’s Sacred Heart through the intercession and care of Mary, specifically through the devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Even in my short time, I have witnessed her special guidance and effort to draw the members of this community to a greater intimacy with our Savior. To see the community to continue to grow in the parish, the school, and the various groups, ministries, and apostolates has inspired me with hope and zeal for the Church.

I am thankful to Father Robert and Father Aaron as wise priestly brothers for their words of wisdom and guidance in helping form my priestly ministry. They have inspired me in their ministry; Father Robert as the pastor and how he seeks joyfully to minister and guide the parish and school into a deeper faith and unity in Christ, and Father Aaron in his ministry of preaching and teaching. I am also deeply appreciative to all the staff, ministry heads, teachers, and parishioners who welcomed and guided me during my time at Mount Carmel.

I have been moved by your generosity and Christian witness and you have helped form me as a priest and Christian disciple. I am especially affected by my time at the school, in youth ministry, with the ministry of religious formation, and in the many ways I have engaged in sacramental ministry at OLMC. For this, I am deeply grateful. Thank you.

I also know well of my faults and inadequacies. It is a mysterious thing that God would call human, flawed men to minister such important fonts of sacramental grace and to celebrate the mass, and make present Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection on the altar in the true presence of the Eucharist. It is a humbling call, as I and my brother priests are not worthy, yet the Lord works through our efforts, and miraculously brings about grace in the world through the ministerial priesthood. Like the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish (John 6), or even the miraculous transformation of the bread and wine into the Eucharist, the Lord can take something meager and make a miraculous feast out of it. So it is in the priesthood that the Lord would work through his priests in spite of their flaws and humanness. That being said, I know that I have made mistakes and have fallen short in many ways during my time at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and I ask for your forgiveness and the Lord’s forgiveness. Please pray for me that I do not become a stumbling block to God’s grace, and I pray for healing for the ways in which I have become a stumbling block to the people of God at OLMC.

It is difficult to say goodbye, but I am greatly appreciative of my time at Mount Carmel, and know that you will always have a special place in my heart. Please pray for me as well as for Father Paul, Father Aaron, and Father Robert. Know of my prayers for the continued spiritual growth and well-being of Mount Carmel and for an increased devotion to the Blessed Sacrament through the intercession of Our Lady. As a farewell, I quote Paul in his letter to the Romans as he says, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the holy Spirit.” -Romans 15:13

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