April15th—a red-letter day on several counts! Today our Holy Father Pope Benedict arrives in our country, so let us welcome him with our prayers, our devotion, and our immense gratitude for Our Lord’s gift to us of the papacy, and of this particular Pope: Josef Ratzinger—Benedict XVI. Let us also pray for the safety of the Supreme Pontiff during this trip, and for its effectiveness in bringing to the world’s consciousness the sacral nature of the Church and its chief Shepherd.
Then, a number of other things are significant to me that are connected with April 15th. On this date in 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died, having been shot the night before by an assassin.
On this date in 1889, Blessed Damien de Veuster, the leper priest of Molokai, died at the age of 49, having given his life to the sick and dying of the dreadful leper colony in the Hawaiian islands. I feel a special devotion to him because I have visited the cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, where he was ordained to the priesthood, and then have celebrated Mass at his tomb in the city of Louvain in Belgium. After his death on Molokai, his body was brought back to his native Belgium and interred in a house of the religious congregation to which he belonged.
On this date in 1912, the famous and tragic ocean liner Titanic plunged to the depths of the north Atlantic, about three hours after colliding with an iceberg late on the night before. About 1500 people lost their lives. Some chose to go down with the ship; others put on life jackets and jumped into the sea, but since the first rescue vessel didn’t come for another six hours or so, they froze to death in the icy waters. Only those in the lifeboats survived.
And then, on this date in 1963, my seminary classmates and I were ordained to the priesthood, so that today is our 45th anniversary of that beautiful day. I ask you to join me in thanking God for this great gift. Of the fifteen of us ordained that day, five have died, four others have left the active ministry, and six of us are still living in the active priesthood. We spent eight years together in the seminary; a bond was forged among us so that even with those who have left the priesthood, there is still some contact and, on occasions like today, many thoughts and memories. So I commend all of us—living and dead—to your prayers. We, the living, are all in our 70’s; one will be 80 in just a few days. So before long, the ordination class of ‘63 will be no more. But what an adventure it has been! What a vocation! What a blessing! Thank you for seeking God’s truth. God bless you. Father Victor Brown, O.P.
Posted in Daily Messages
