Praying for Our Promised Priests: A Blessing and a Privilege
Initially, I was skeptical about “adopting” a seminarian. Truthfully, I did not even know what that meant or even what it entailed! But while browsing the tables at the 2018 MCCW Worldwide Forum in San Diego California, I came across the Co-Sponsored Seminarian table, and screamed. Or was it a squeal with delight? Later, our CWOC President said she took the scream/ squeal as my fiat to be the POC for our group to adopt a seminarian.
Even though I was ignorant of the process, I wholeheartedly said YES! Because among the pictures of all the young men discerning a vocation to the priesthood, and the reason for my scream/squeal, I saw someone I recognized, Carlos Warfield. Was this a coincidence? Or had God already been preparing me for this yes, just like He had been preparing Carlos for the priesthood?
In 2015 a group of us from JBSA Randolph and other bases within the JBSA Catholic Community attended the Military Pilgrimage to Lourdes. It was there we met Carlos. However, it was through this adoption process that God provided us so many opportunities to really get to know him. God is good like that!
In 2018 the Director for Vocation Support was Denise Hummel, and she assured me the seminarian “adoption process” was not difficult. There was no template, no instruction manual, and no continuity document. The relationship between our CWOC group and the seminarian was going to be unique and totally up to us and “our” seminarian. She did suggest that prayers, letters, notes of encouragement, small care packages, birthday cards, Christmas gifts, could all be part of the process.
Our CWOC group meets once per month, September through May. Those first few months after Forum were spent encouraging Carlos to send in his Co-Sponsored Seminarian form. In order to be adopted, the seminarian must also agree to participate and be willing to provide their information. This includes information like their birthdate, favorite saint, favorite snacks, favorite prayers, favorite sports team, etc. Over the summer this was accomplished and I learned Carlos’ favorite scripture was Jeremiah 29:11, which is one of mine as well.
For I know well the plans I have for you – oracle of the Lord – plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope.
Jer 29:11
This was so appropriate because God did indeed have plans and it was a privilege to witness what He orchestrated.
I “introduced” Carlos to our CWOC ladies by way of a half sheet of paper containing some pertinent information about him. I also told them the story of how a couple of other ladies from our group and some men from our chapel, and I, had met Carlos on a Military Pilgrimage to Lourdes.
I had received plenty of practice telling this story because I had been recounting it to whomever would listen because I was so amazed at how God worked. Our group adopted a seminarian! Carlos sent prayer requests which I passed along as I invited our ladies to pray for him. I also encouraged them to bring cards, letters, and some of his favorite goodies to add to a box I was going to mail to Carlos at the seminary. The size of the envelope or box I sent each month depended on how many items were collected. We got used to using the “If it fits, it ships” boxes from USPS. We sent birthday goodies, saint medals, prayer cards, books, snacks, gummi worms, and Christmas cards & cookies. By the second year, Carlos requested running shoes and work-out clothes and started sharing his goodies at the seminary. One of his classmates had never heard of one of his favorite treats, puppy chow, so he introduced it to him.
As time went on, we cut back on some of the treats and leaned more toward praying for his special intentions and specific prayer requests: for success in seminary; for fidelity to his vocation; for his family; for his dad’s health, for his mom, for his brother and sister in-law, and their children. We prayed for his grandmother and eventually for the repose of her soul when she passed away during the pandemic lock down. One of our ladies, a Cemetery Representative at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, had the privilege of assisting Carlos and a few family members as they laid his grandma to rest. I know none of this was a coincidence, but part of God’s plan.
To keep the momentum going as the months turned to years, I created a bookmark which included Carlos’ picture, his list of favorite things and Archbishop Timothy Broglio’s prayer for seminarians. This was a handy visual reminder for the ladies to continue to pray for Carlos. Their faithfulness did not disappoint.
I bought blank dollar store note cards to have at every monthly meeting so the ladies could write notes of continued encouragement for Carlos. I bought them once and then other ladies stepped up and donated some as well.
In return, Carlos sent texts of thanks or hand-written cards of appreciation which were shared at our meetings. One of our ladies had her sister in Florida teach Carlos to crochet via Zoom, at his request. At his ordination reception, he gave away two blankets he had made during his time at seminary. Via our telephone conversations, he shared what was happening during the different stages of his training. He was grateful for every step of the journey, his wonderful sense of humor was always present, as was his joy for all God had planned.
He never took any of it for granted and continuously asked for prayers for fidelity to God’s will and for his superiors to still find him fit for the priesthood.
At our December 2021 meeting the excitement in our group was palpable because we found out Carlos was scheduled to be ordained as a transitional deacon in a little over 5 months. This signaled only one more year until his ordination as a priest. We were excited to know how we could help Carlos prepare. He asked us to continue to pray. So, we did.
We continued praying, sending our notes of encouragement, and adding in a few goodies. I later learned he did not want to ask us for anything because he knew we would also want to help him when he was ordained and he would rather wait until then. Can you imagine the delicate conversation of me telling a seminarian not to block God’s blessings or limit His abundance?
Carlos found out the exact date for his diaconate ordination in May, and planning began. The timing was going to work out beautifully with a scheduled family wedding and as a bonus my sister-friend was going to be in California at the same time. We planned a road trip to the ordination.
As a convert to Catholicism, I had never “walked” with someone as they studied to be a priest, nor had I ever even attended an ordination of any kind. I was more than a little excited while making our plans to be there! But very quickly this quote came to mind, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” God showed us He was and always is, in charge.
Two days before our January 2022 CWOC meeting, my father-in-law fell and broke his hip. He had just turned ninety-one years old the week prior and he did not want to discuss surgery, of any kind. We made the preparations to bring him home from the hospital with hospice. However, he and God had other plans. In the dark hours of Sunday morning, he peacefully slipped away from us in the hospital. It was one week before our 40th wedding anniversary. We canceled the trip we had planned, and began the preparations for my father-in-law’s celebration of life. February and March were a blur. We were building a new home and these were months 17 and 18 of the process. Supply chain issues from the pandemic had us way behind schedule. A couple of the ladies agreed to take the blank cards to the meeting so our group could continue to write notes to Carlos, and more importantly to pray. I asked for prayers as well.
My plan and my prayer was for the house to be finished, to be moved in and to be ready for MCCW Forum 2022 in Tampa. We closed on the new house March 30th and a slow leak under the kitchen island began oozing under the floorboards and into the living room. Praise God, we had not planned to move out of our old house until April 15th. Having a water remediation company truck parked in the driveway of our new home was the last thing we wanted to see, but we pushed forward. We adjusted our plans and prepared to move on, literally. New plan, move in on 15 April and fly to Tampa on 20 April.
On 9 April, God reminded us who was in charge, again. My father was admitted to the hospital with acute kidney failure. I contemplated canceling my trip to Forum. My husband said, “wait.” My father rallied. He was receiving great care and lots of intravenous fluids but because of his dementia he refused to eat consistently. As my father improved, we were told we needed a plan-of-care in order to allow him to be released. I did not have one. I did not have the bandwidth to come up with one and neither did my mother. I was overwhelmed.
I could not remember if I had sent a box, wrote a note, or even called or texted Carlos during this time. I stood in front of the linen closet in my new home with a roll of shelf liner in my hands and cried like a baby into my husband’s chest. “I cannot do this,” I wailed. He asked if I meant, line the shelves or something else? Between sobs, I am sure I yelled, “All of this, any of this! I cannot do anything right now!!” I felt like all my plans were falling apart and so was I.
My husband grabbed me squarely by the shoulders, pushed me back and looked me in the eyes and said, “You need to go! Go to your retreat, because you need it right now.”
So, I went!
I allowed God to love me through my sisters at Forum. I allowed Him to fill me up and show me the plans He had in store for me. My daughter and my sister worked out my father’s release and hospice care plan with minimal input from me via telephone. Buoyed by my time in Tampa, I flew home the day my father was released from the hospital. One week later, on 2 May, he peacefully died. God’s plan, not mine.
I was about to make more plans. Actually, I was about to cancel the plans for the wedding and the ordination. But this time it was not my husband who said wait. The funeral home provided the interment date for my dad’s service at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. It was to be 2 June, which was after both the wedding and ordination.
God, was your plan for us to still attend? I took this schedule coordination as a resounding yes!
Michelle and I attended the diaconate ordination and had goosebumps when Carlos and the other two candidates laid face down in front of the altar.
This act of total surrender to God for service in His Church was breathtaking. Some of us later attended David Chacko’s diaconate ordination in San Antonio that September.
As wonderful as both diaconate ordinations were, they paled in comparison to the ceremonies for both Carlos’ and David’s ordination to the priesthood. The brotherhood and camaraderie of the priesthood was on full display.
The bishop ordained each of the candidates by laying hands on their heads and invoking the Holy Spirit. The other priests in attendance also laid hands on their heads and prayed. After the bishop anointed each of their hands with the oil of chrism, each priest returned to welcome them with a hug and kissed their hands.
There were so many of our traditional smells and bells in this beautiful ceremony that words cannot do it justice. It must be experienced to be fully appreciated. I highly recommend you attend an ordination in person and experience it for yourself.
I highly recommend your CWOC group adopt a seminarian!
You will be amazed at all the joy and blessings God has planned for you if you say yes!
In Christ,
Sherry Beatty
MCCW-Worldwide Member
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