Ordination Weekend

Ok I finally got a chance to sit down and write about this!

We had a fantastic weekend. The ordination ceremony in Lafayette was beautiful. We had three men ordained; Dan, Chris, and David. Dan has been a great friend of mine for many years - all through high school and we lived at the Newman Center at Ball State for two years together. (The girls and boys were in seperate buildings, just to clear that up!) But we all called each other "roommates." We also majored in Religious Studies together, so we had many of the same classes. We traveled to Mexico several times for mission trips, kept in touch in his 5 years in seminary, and he baptized Madeleine. So he is very special to me!
We were in the balcony, because the past two years I wasn't able to see a thing downstairs. But from up there we could see everything. My favorite part was when the three of them laid prostrate on the ground and we prayed the litany of the saints. Then ALL the priests in the diocese laid hands on them, then gave them the fraternal kiss. Actually, my very favorite part was communion. I carried Madeleine downstairs and I didn't care who I had to cut, but I was going to Father Dan! Turned out I didn't have to cut anyone, and Madeleine received a blessing from him. The bishop gave my dad the "eye" because no one was going to him for communion - everyone wanted to go to the new priests!
Then, on Saturday evening, Dan's parents threw a dinner reception for him. They had a buffet, music, and even some comedy! (We missed that part because we were getting a blessing from Father Dan.) They also played the slide show we made and everyone loved it. Madeleine was SO good that night. I kept her up till 9:45, and she slept until 5am - that was great for me. They also presented Father Dan with a chalice that the Knights of Columbus had given his Grandmother in honor of his Grandfather when he died.

Sunday was his first mass. Madeleine didn't behave QUITE as well as I had hoped, and Ken and I had to take turns taking her out. But she finally fell asleep around communion time, so we both got back inside. Father Dan was a natural. He looked like he had been saying mass for years. The music was beautiful too - a lot of Latin. After communion, he dedicated his priesthood to Mary, because she gave us her Son, and brings us to her Son. Then, he said that it was a tradition to offer his mother the piece of cloth that he wiped his hands with after the Bishop had annointed them with oil. Then, when she passed into eternal life, she would be buried with it. That way, when she got to the gates of heaven, and St. Peter asked what she had given to God, she could hand him the cloth and say, "I gave Him my son." Then he gave the stole with which he heard his first confession to his dad. It was so beautiful. I am praying that God gives me a child who has a religious vocation.

After Mass, there was a lunch reception in the parish hall. That was SO much fun, because all our friends from high school and college came and I got to visit with them. Several of us have baby girls now. Yay for girls! I got to see my Goddaughter Merrin for the first time since she was about 3 weeks old at her baptism. Darn, Ashley, we forgot to get a picture of the girls together! How could we forget that?!
I also saw my priest from Ball State, Father Mike. He got to hold Madeleine and he gave her a blessing. I saw my friend Sister Margaret, is a Sister of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration in Mishawaka, and gave her a picture to show the Sisters up there. Apparently they had all been asking about her. I told them to hang up the picture in the convent somewhere, and every time they say it they could say a prayer for her :)
Another friend has discerned a religious vocation with the Sisters of Life in New York, and I got to hear her vocation story.

It was just an incredible weekend. I'm so glad all of us were able to celebrate these men chosen to become priests. I told Father Dan that I was so proud of him, that he had the strength and courage to answer God's call to holiness. I am also so glad that I have such a good friend who is a priest. I feel like sometimes kids grow up thinking that priests and sisters are "too holy" and they could never be like them. But my kids will grow up around Father Dan, and all the other great seminarians who will become priests, and the Dominican Sisters. They'll learn that ordinary people are called to live extraordinary lives, and maybe they'll be inspired to do the same!!