Welcome from Our New Vicar

First, let me just say what a pleasure it is to be with you as your new vicar! I look forward to sharing this time with you all and experiencing your parish community. As a new priest, I have a lot to learn, and I know that being with you all will teach me a lot about what it means to be a priest. In our Gospel today, our Lord tells us that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. The yoke of the Lord, as we heard last weekend, is the Cross that all disciples must carry. This is what Jesus means when he says to take his yoke and learn from him how to be meek and humble of heart. It is through meekness and humility that our burdens become light, because we no longer try to carry them ourselves, but give them to Christ, such that they become his burdens. All of us have burdens, whether they be children, spouses, family, friends, work, or ourselves. To carry our Cross with the Lord in meekness and humility is to allow him to carry our burdens, which means allowing him to decide where that burden goes, even if it is not somewhere we want it to go. Maybe you have had dreams for what your children will do, how your relationship with your spouse will be, the fulfillment you will get from your work, or what your parish would be like, and then they were not what you expected. It is precisely in those moments when our Lord is asking us to trust him with our burdens and to carry our Cross with him. I have already found this to be the case with the priesthood and look forward to where the Lord will continue to lead me as a priest. And, as I begin this time with you as your vicar, I know that the Lord will lead us all to many unexpected and wonderful places. I am very lucky to have a great pastor like Fr. Burns and a wonderful vicar like Fr. Puthoff to serve with and learn from, and I am honored to have been assigned with them. Together, I hope that we can be of service to you and carry our Crosses with you well, meaning with Christ. If there is ever any way that I can be of service to you, please let me know, and know of my continual prayers for all of you!