20 June 2022 · 2022-06 newsletter
On Friday, July 8, 1910, eight new priests were ordained in the house chapel of the Pallottine Limburg Mission House. The youngest of these, not yet 25 years of age, was Joseph Kentenich.
The following Sunday, July 10, in the same house chapel, Fr. Kentenich celebrated his solemn First Mass. Fr. Kolb, the provincial superior, was the assisting priest.
A solemn First Mass in his home parish in Gymnich followed on July 24. The Mass was held in St. Cunibert’s Church and afterwards the family gathered to celebrate.
Joseph’s ordination and First Mass were a cause of great joy for his mother. After many years of sacrifice and prayer she saw him reach his goal. For the occasion she gave him an ornate 4-foot (120 cm) wooden crucifix. She had this dedication hand-carved in ornate letters on the back: “Dear Joseph! Your Mother gives you this Cross for your First Mass”.
Joseph’s ordination card placed a kind of headline over his life’s vocation. The motto he chose was: “Unite, O my God, all minds in truth and all hearts in love!” To this he added: “Heart of Jesus, I trust in you” and “Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation”
Over 50 years later, in 1962, he commented on the spirit in which he embarked on the priesthood. Speaking of himself in the third person he said: Throughout his life he was inspired by a single great ideal: God and souls. For him all else was secondary. All else was resolutely ordered and subjected to this great idea of his life. Hence, he always sought to open souls for God and unite them inseparably with God. And this made it imperative for him to see to it that the soul be opened and remain open – wherever possible to its inmost depths – to God and the divine.
Fr. Kentenich understood his entire priesthood to be in the light of service to God and others: Throughout his life he was inspired by a single great ideal: God and souls. For him all else was secondary. All else was resolutely ordered and subjected to this great idea of his life.
(Adapted from: “Brushstrokes of a Father”, Volume 1, Fr. Jonathan Niehaus)
Filed underNewsletter · Reflections