As we celebrate the Patronal Feast of our Diocese and Country, traditionally, December 8th has also been the day when men preparing for Priesthood Ordination are ordained to the Order of Deacons. As I am sure the seminarians are busy preparing for this great feast at the Seminary, we also remember Alonzo Cox and Nixon Francois who will be ordained at 10:30am this morning.
I presume these two men were joined by their fellow seminarians in a vigil of prayer last night as they contemplate what is about to happen. Their entrance into the clerical state can invoke many emotions into the person about to be ordained.
I recall my own experience, almost 5 years ago. I was ordained on December 19th – but it was the night before that was quite interesting. I cannot say I was nervous, however, there was something strange going on in my head. I thought I was hiding it well, but the two priests I was living with at Holy Name of Jesus Church in Prospect Park, might have sensed something. They kept on me the whole evening…are you ok? Are you excited? Get ready, the end is near (joking around of course – Fr. Farrell was always good for a laugh). I suppose what gave away my nervous excitement that evening before was the fact that after I prayed my heart out…I decide to re-tile the bathroom floor in my room. I know it sounds strange, but what else was I suppose to do? So off to Home Depot I went, bought my floor tiles, and began my project that lasted a couple of hours. It worked. I was wiped out and fell right to sleep ready to take on the world that next morning.
While we know not what Alonzo and Nixon are up to at this moment, the one gift we can give to them right now is our prayers. As they are flooded with emotions, thoughts, happiness and a bit of sadness too…we offer them our prayers of support and joy. <<We will try and get some pictures up later today>>