MARY, OUR MOTHER

Father Gordon MacRae who has spent 14 years in a cell in the New Hampshire State Prison writes about The Year of Priests

Fr. Gordon MacRae on the Year for Priests

Several hours ago or this evening, depending upon where in the world you are, the Holy Father will commence the Year of the Priest following First Vespers of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart in the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome. 

We priests are all encouraged to join ourselves spiritually to our Holy Father and to the Sacred Heart of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in whose image we are ordained and in whose Heart we serve.  The faithful are also encouraged to join our Holy Father as we begin this new year in the life of the Church, a year dedicated to the wounded and suffering Priesthood of Christ. 

As we begin this year I want to thank the readers of Priests in Crisis, and those who read numerous other sites and have posted messages directed to me, a priest in prison.  After 15 years in prison your messages may be saving my faith.  Two weeks ago I was aware that the Year of the Priest was beginning on this date.

I read the news of our Holy Father’s announcement as though I was seeing it through a very dense cloud.  It is inevitable that prisoners feel separated from the world.  In the life of our Church I very often feel a deeply felt separation.  In just a few short weeks since Pentecost, your messages and prayers have built for me a bridge to Rome upon which I can partake of the life of the Church again in a spirit of unity with all of you who are, in fact, the Church. 

Your faithfulness to the teachings of the Church, to the Corporal Works of Mercy, and to the alienated among us have been an inspiration for me and I feel deeply touched by your prayers.  On this Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus I will also pray for you.

With love and blessings,

Fr. Gordon MacRae

http://www.priestsincrisis.com/blog/