Receiving the Chalice and Paten
The laying on of hands
Annointing with Holy Chrism
Up at the high altar
Josef with Mom and Dad and the Archbishop
The Mass of Thanksgiving at the Stift - Saturday
On Saturday evening, at 6:00 p.m., Josef celebrated his first mass in the Abbey Church.
Josef celebrates his first Mass, with the Provost and Dean assisting
Josef's uncle, Deacon Stephen Norys, also assists
Mom and Dad receive their first blessing
The elevation
The Homily
Here's the homily Dom Clemens Galban gave at Josef's first mass:
My
dear Dom Josef, the Good Shepherd discourse from St. John’s gospel is
wonderfully appropriate for your first Mass. It is an amazing coincidence
that this passage has been assigned by the Church for this weekend.
Throughout your entire priesthood people will identify you with this
discourse. In your ordination yesterday you were configured in a new way to
Christ the Good Shepherd, hence you must pay special attention to this
passage. Earlier in the discourse Christ says, “I am the Good Shepherd. A
good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep”. This means you, Josef
are not the Good Shepherd, Christ is the Good Shepherd. Please do not
confuse the two! You must never forget that he is the Good Shepherd and you
stand in his service. You proclaim His Word on His behalf and on behalf of
His Church. You are no longer your own man. You are Christ’s representative
and a man of the Church.
Never forget that you are also a member of the flock. Yes, of course you have been selected for service as a priest, but you are and always will number among the sheep who need to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd. It is this listening which is so vital. The consecrated hands of a priest are frequently the subject of devotion of the faithful, especially those of a newly-ordained priest! But here I would like to concentrate a bit on the ears and mouth of the priest –especially his ears! Your ears will be amazingly important for your priesthood.
As already mentioned, you too must listen for and to the voice of the Shepherd. That means much prayer und much reflection on Sacred Scripture. God’s voice is not so easy to hear –not easy at all. Only slowly do we get used to the timbre of the divine voice, and then only in the silence of prayer. Always keep an ear cocked toward heaven. The flock always expects to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd through you, but that doesn’t mean the sheep want to hear only academic statements of Church doctrine from you. Clearly they want to hear that doctrine, but along with these teachings they must hear God’s interest in and passionate love for them. Only in this way will they know that you are speaking with the voice of the Good Shepherd. The truth spoken in love –this is the confirmation seal that you are speaking in union with the Good Shepherd. No priest –in fact no Christian –can ever forget that the truth without love is often an exercise in brutal violence! The Good Shepherd has nothing to do with such things. This together with any form of clericalism or clerical arrogance which you might find in yourself should be cast out with the strength of grace and repentance. If you can’t manage this, then rest assured that the brethren of our community will help. They are especially adept at dealing with such things! On the other hand, under no circumstances ought you to trade the truth for cheap popularity. Only the truth can free us, everything else is lies and deceives.
Your other ear must always be cocked towards your flock. If you want to speak with the voice of the Good Shepherd, you have to speak in words the sheep can understand. By this I don’t just mean in good German! That’s obvious. But for us priests it is of paramount importance that we understand the needs of our people. Often people come to us with their requests and interests and this is only right, but we need to learn to hear the real concerns, cares, insecurities and heartaches which not infrequently underlie even their requests. This is especially difficult for us Josef, because we are foreigners here. Cultural situations and barriers are so often unclear to us. We ned to practice patience and we need to give our people the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes the people who come to us don’t know themselves what motivates them. God is patient and we should be as well.
If you have one ear cocked to heaven and another to you flock, Josef, and if you always speak the truth in love, you will always speak with the voice of the Good Shepherd. The sheep will recognize your voice as His voice. That doesn’t mean they will pay attention, but they will know the voice. That is as much as any of us can do.
Josef, your priesthood is intimately bound up in your profession as an Augustinian canon. Our way of life is, in my opinion, the pinnacle of the priestly life because we combine our pastoral service with our common family life. Today and always you are surrounded by your brethren. May this family life always be for you a blessing and support. Here you have decades of experience of priesthood and canonical life at your disposal. Take advantage of it and add to it with your own.
The Mass of Thanksgiving at the Parish - Sunday
At 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, Josef celebrated his first mass at St Leopold parish in Donaufeld.
During the mass, the moderator, Dom Daniel Nash, announced Josef's assignment to the parish as Parochial Vicar.
The elevation
Dom Daniel, gives the homily
Deacon Stephen Norys and Dom Daniel assisting
Flowers for Mom!
The Sanctuary was pretty full...
Fr. Paul Gargaro and Fr.
Gerald Sharkey
from Glasgow, Scotland
Fr. Bjorn Lundberg, Fr. Chuck Smith, Fr. Joe Jakob, and Fr. Kevin Fimian - Josef's seminary classmates from the US
The Guests
Over 30 guests from around the world came to celebrate with us!
Aunt Gail and Deacon Stephen
Norys
from Chicago, IL
Bob and Sandra Norys (Mom
and Dad)
from Johnson City, TN
Rick and Jane Steele
from Springfield, VA
(left to right)
Amber and Barbara Hall from Charlottesville, VA
Rev. Robert Holman from Elizabethtown, NY
Matthias from Berlin, Germany
KT Crocker from Perth, Australia
Mana Holman (Rob's wife)
Kerry Allorto from Verona, Italy
Kerry's sister Susan
(clockwise around the table, starting with
Gabriel)
Dom Gabriel
Laurie McManus from Fairfax, VA
Dom Daniel, KT, Dom Bruno, Mom, Gail and Steve Norys
Christopher Morris from Glasgow, Scotland
Paul McManus from Fairfax, VA
Fr. Holman and Mana Holman
Claudia and Walter Pöltzl
from Vienna, Austria
Mom enjoys first class service from the Provost
Matt and Terry Carr from
Manassas, VA
Teresa Miller from Tampa, FL
Paul McManus
Fr. Fimian and Laurie
Mom, Terry, Jane, and Laurie
Jane and Fr. Lundberg
Dom Daniel shows off our
relics,
Fr. Holman doesn't know what to think
Christopher and KT
Fr. Lundberg, Paul, Laurie,
Fr. Aldo Tapparo and Matthew Jackson
from Oxford, England
Teresa, Bruno, Fr. Jakob
Dad and Fr. Fimian
The Provost, Dom Bernhard
Backovsky,
relaxes with the American priests
