Peace in Christ.
First, I wish to thank everyone for your very warm welcome thus far! I am moved by your encouragement and assurance of prayers. I look forward to continuing to meet you all, learning your names and stories, and sharing life together as we encounter the Lord Jesus: in His Word, His Body and Blood, and in our pastorate. I am excited to share with you in Christ’s commission to proclaim His Gospel and build up His Kingdom. Here in my first bulletin letter, I’ll offer a few words introducing myself and my journey thus far.
I was born and raised in Catonsville and Woodstock. I attended St. Agnes parish and school and then St. Alphonsus Rodriguez. I attended Mount Saint Joseph High School (2013). I am returning to MSJ as the chaplain in addition to my assignment at the Pastorate of the Visitation. I then attended Mount St. Mary’s University (2017) where I studied theology.
My parents Tony and Mary Ellen are for me the first image and teachers of the faithfulness, selfless love, and generosity at the heart of our Christian life. You will probably see them around from time to time! Just look for my dad; I look just like him. I am blessed with three older brothers—Matt, Brian, and Ben—whom I admire and look up to immensely. I love spending time with my family. We’re a musical bunch, so you may catch me occasionally at the piano or with a guitar. I love to sing as well.
In addition to my upbringing, a great conduit of God’s grace in my life has been Christian friendship and community. As a high school student, my desire to be holy and to take our Faith seriously was enkindled by the witness of friends. I saw that their love of Jesus and their practice of the faith made them happier, healthier, holier people. Thanks to their friendship and witness, Jesus and the Church became more and more the center of my life. As this happened, my heart opened up to the priesthood. As I continued growing in my faith in college, it was the prayerful and joyful exuberance of priests and seminarians I had come to know that resonated with me. I could see myself among them, doing what they did, loving God and the Church like them. And so, I followed the joy!
I entered priestly formation in 2017—one year at St. Mary’s in Baltimore; four years in Rome; one year nearby at St. John in Severna Park. Throughout my formation and various parish assignments and apostolates here in the Archdiocese and beyond, God has worked so generously through community in the Archdiocese and in parishes. So many times, through my ministry and service to others and through the faithful’s gifts and genius at work, the Lord has revealed, confirmed, and strengthened His calling of me to be His priest. I thank you in advance for your patience and prayers during my transition to this role! God reward you.
This Sunday, we get a beautiful passage from Ephesians—a hymn to be more precise. It gladly sings of our purpose: to live for the praise of God’s glory. What a purpose; what a life! Through our life of prayer, our family life, our ministry, our work, our leisure – all of this, with the promised crosses and glories along the way, can be directed to the praise of God. Growing in this spirit of praise is ultimately readying us for our desired eternal life in Heaven where our praise will be unending. So, how is your preparation going? What material things, weaknesses, or attitudes keep you from growing in a spirit of praise?
The Ephesians hymn also sings of the inestimable Gift that God has given us to live out and accomplish so awesome a purpose: God the Holy Spirit himself, the “first installment of our heavenly inheritance.” Jesus says in John 14 that the Holy Spirit will be with you and in you: in our hearts and minds, the deepest center of our souls. The Holy Spirit is in us, loving us and inspiring us so as to show us how to live for God’s glory. What a Gift! And just as any gift is intended to be opened and enjoyed, so too with the Holy Spirit, our Consoler and Sanctifier. There is no better Gift. Have you opened the Gift?
In Christ,
Fr. John
