Dear Sacred Heart and St. Mary on the Lake,
Blessed Memorial Day Weekend. Weather permitting, we will have Mass at Calvary cemetery in Hudson at 9am. Please bring your chairs. In the event of inclement weather, we will have Mass at Sacred Heart.
At Calvary cemetery you may notice the trees marked with either orange or green tape. The orange tape indicates trees that have reached the end of their life span and need to be removed. We have had some donors help remove some already, including those along the front fence so we can move forward with replacing the fence this summer. If you would like to donate toward removing a tree or two, I would be happy to keep chipping away at them.
Our second seminarian, Thomas Crowley, will be arriving this coming Sunday. I asked Thomas to give us a short Bio to introduce himself.
“My name is Thomas Crowley and I will be one of the seminarians staying this summer. I grew up in Lansing at the Church of the Resurrection in downtown Lansing. I went to the grade school there and then to high school at Lansing Catholic. Afterwards I went to the University of Michigan. It was there that I heard the Lord calling me towards seminary. So, I transferred to St. John Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota and will be entering my third and final year.
I have an older brother and an older sister (yes I am the baby of the family!). It was in my family that I received the faith. We prayed together, and as a man, it was particularly amazing to see my father’s deep love of the Lord. He showed me the beauty of a man who loves the Lord. Yet, I never had a relationship with the Lord. I knew God existed but I did not know Him. The faith was just something I did and believed in, but I was just going through the motions. Then in my junior year of high school I went on a Kairos retreat and I encountered His deep love for me; it was incredible!!
Still, I did not give the Lord my whole heart. I knew Him and was starting to pray and talk with Him, but I did not trust Him with my future. I felt like I knew what was best for me. The priesthood was something I was definitely not open to. In fact, it was something I was more afraid of than anything. When I got to college this all changed. At the University of Michigan, I really dove into the “college lifestyle” for the first month or so. I thought that was how to be happy; I thought it would fulfill me. In early October though, I was at Mass and the Lord lovingly hit me over the head with a 2x4 and said very clearly, loudly, lovingly, and tenderly, “Be a priest.” There was an instant spike of joy, but then I ran because I was afraid. I thought the priesthood could never fulfill me. Yet, after a couple of weeks (and some spiritual help from a priest), I began to open my heart to the Lord in prayer. In doing so the Lord began showing me my deepest desires and what, or really who, I am made for: Him and Him alone!!
With this deep thirst for Him came a desire for the priesthood, and the more I opened my heart to Him and His will the more this desire grew. The Lord put some amazing Catholic friends in my life and I began cutting out my old lifestyle and sprinting toward the Lord with them. I called up the vocation director and applied to enter seminary. Since then, the joy and peace in my life have only increased. Life with Him is the craziest, most wonderful adventure. I am excited to continue this journey with you all this summer. Please pray for me and know of my prayers for you all!”
God Bless!
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