A few weeks ago, Reverend James Myles Sharpe, the oldest priest in the diocese, celebrated his 55th anniversary of Ordination. As it happened, his anniversary coincided with a major liturgical celebration which involved the Knights of Columbus, a fraternal order of Catholic men with whom he had served as chaplain for more than 30 years. Therefore, he was able to celebrate this major milestone in his ministry and his life in company with the men who had played such a large part of his life.
That was two weeks ago.
Today, we had the honor to present him with a special gift in recognition of his years of service to the Diocese and to the people of God. A few days before his anniversary, I had begun to investigate the possiblity of procuring a copy of the Misale Romanum (the Latin version of the book that contains the texts proper to the celebration of Mass) as a gift for him. You see, whenever he is present and concelebrating the Mass, he chooses to pray the Pater Noster (Our Father) in Latin, and even greets me at the time of the exchange of peace with the words Pax vobiscum (Peace be with you).
From what I can tell, I think he was suitably impressed with the gift. So were a number of the people who were present for the Mass. Many of them came forward to take a closer look at the book after the Mass was complete. How often do they get close to it? Answer, for some of them, this was probably the first time they had ever seen the book so close up.
When he picked it up and brought it into the sacristy, Father Sharpe commented that he would have to find some younger servers who would be better able to hold the book and carry its weight. At age 85 years, he's more than earned his rest.
Ad multos annos!
That was two weeks ago.
Today, we had the honor to present him with a special gift in recognition of his years of service to the Diocese and to the people of God. A few days before his anniversary, I had begun to investigate the possiblity of procuring a copy of the Misale Romanum (the Latin version of the book that contains the texts proper to the celebration of Mass) as a gift for him. You see, whenever he is present and concelebrating the Mass, he chooses to pray the Pater Noster (Our Father) in Latin, and even greets me at the time of the exchange of peace with the words Pax vobiscum (Peace be with you).
From what I can tell, I think he was suitably impressed with the gift. So were a number of the people who were present for the Mass. Many of them came forward to take a closer look at the book after the Mass was complete. How often do they get close to it? Answer, for some of them, this was probably the first time they had ever seen the book so close up.
When he picked it up and brought it into the sacristy, Father Sharpe commented that he would have to find some younger servers who would be better able to hold the book and carry its weight. At age 85 years, he's more than earned his rest.
Ad multos annos!
1 comment:
AWESOME!!! Absolutely AWESOME!!!
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