The Beauty of God's Creation

 

Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you for your prayers. Exams are off to a good start! Just wanted to share two photos with you today.

In Cordibus Iesu Et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari

Pentecost and Final Exams

Dear Friends and Family,

Blessed Feast of Pentecost! I will be praying for you all today and throughout this Octave of Pentecost. May the Holy Ghost fill your hearts and guide you ever more quickly along the path of holiness.

Am in the midst of final exams right now, and will be for the next 20 days or so. Hence, I may not post again until I am done. But you all are in my prayers!

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari

Prayer and Study

 

Dear Friends and Family,

The image you see above is an icon painted by my little sister, that now hangs above the desk where I work (i.e. study) each day. It is St. Therese of Lisieux offering a rose, along with its thorns, to the one praying (or studying) before it. I'm very blessed to have it here, along with this charcoal of St. Therese, based off of the photo that you may have seen, also done by my little sister:

Her childlike gaze seems to be saying "Look to Jesus. Focus on what is essential. Give your life to Him."

It has been a real joy praying the rosary with many of you each day as we prepare to make or renew the total consecration to Jesus through Mary, according to the method of St. Louis de Montfort, on May 31. It seems especially fitting that St. Louis has us pray each day--throughout the 33 days, the Litany of the Holy Ghost. It is a joy to be able to pray that prayer each day during the oldest novena in the history of the Church--the 9 days between the Ascension and Pentecost.

I find this time so much a time of hope! If God could transform the Apostles as radically as He did, thanks to the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, what can He do with us? And then we will have the Octave of Pentecost, with its rich readings. Lots to look forward to...

In the meantime, I am in the midst of end-of-the year papers and exams, which will continue for the next 3 weeks or so. They are coming along well but there is still lots to do.

Thank you also for your prayers for my back. The physical therapist has been really excellent and is making good progress on my spine. Still many more weeks to go but the results have already been quite good--able to sit up straighter, less pain, etc. So I'm hopeful that God has more blessings in store in this domain over the next few weeks. We shall see.

In the meantime, may Our Lady be by your side to intercede for you in this blessed liturgical time.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari

May Crowning

 

Dear Friends and Family,

I hope your all's month of Our Lady is off to a good start! Yesterday, on the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker in this year of St. Joseph, I had the joy of being part of a backyard May Crowning with some young families (my little nephew--whom I baptized this Christmas--is the fellow I'm holding above). It was a real joy to pray some of the rosary, sing some hymns to Our Lady, and to have the children bring flowers, and a crown, to Our Lady.

Another blessing of this past week was that Monday I offered the Holy Mass at St. Ignatius High School, my alma mater, in downtown Cleveland. It was an optional, after-school, 3PM Mass. Students were offered extra credit for Latin Class if they attended. Nonetheless, we thought there might be ten boys there (it is an all-boys high school). But about 50 young men showed up. More importantly, they seemed quite attentive and reverent, and for most it was their first experience of the usus antiquior. 

The altar is a beautiful wooden high altar that was hand-carved by a Jesuit priest at the beginning of the 20th century. It was a particular joy to offer Mass on that altar and to think of all the priests who had offered Mass there--likely on a daily basis for decades.

Tomorrow I will be offering a High Mass at a classical High School called the Lyceum, which has a particularly good music program. It should be a joy to offer Mass for them.

As we continue in this month of May, you are in my daily prayers. May Our Lady watch over you and your families.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari

Oregon with Cardinal Burke

 

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy Easter! My apologies that I am only now posting after several weeks. It has been a very full, and blessed, past few weeks.

This past week was spent with Cardinal Burke in Oregon where he gave a series of conferences on the new code of penal law, due to soon be promulgated by the Vatican. Outside of the official program, there were also ample opportunities to ask him, and the other canonists present, questions. Wednesday evening Fr. John Boyle, pictured above right, from the Diocese of Portland, and I had the blessing of taking His Eminence and Bishop Carey, the Bishop of Baker, OR to a Mexican restaurant for dinner.

While we were taking this photo a few locals thought it would make for a great photo op to have their picture taken with us, as you see below:

We used the opportunity to try to bring them back to the Faith. As Cardinal Burke said, "God sent me here to tell you to come back to church." 

Here are some photos taken from the retreat center near Redmond where the conference was held:

Holy Week was also very blessed. In addition to being a grace-filled retreat, I was able to get to know the Benedictines of Mary, who are a wonderful group. If you know a young lady looking into the Benedictine life I could recommend them.

The Priests' guest house, just down the hill from the monastery. Along with three other priests, I made my Holy Week retreat there.

The Nuns' monastery. In their liturgies, they sound just like they do on their CD's!

My health is also processing well, but I will wait to give you an update on that next week!

In the meantime, may Our Lady be your guide, and may Our Lord watch over you and protect you.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari

A Visit to the Zoo

 

Dear Friends and Family,

On this beautiful Passion Sunday the weather was so nice that I ventured out with my parents for a trip to the Cleveland Zoo. Walking has become easier and easier so it was not a problem to spend almost two hours walking around the exhibits, including the rain forest, which you have a glimpse of in the photo below:

Housed in a vary large glass building it gave us the chance to see beautiful varieties of animals. The multi-colored birds were the most spectacular, though I regret that I did not take any photos of them to show you. What vibrant colors! And they would fly right by you. One perched on a branch just about two feet above my head and didn't mind me moving around and inspecting him.

We also saw tiny frogs that are considered the most poisonous animals on earth. The poison from one frog is enough to kill 100 people.... I have a newfound respect for frogs. Then there were other animals.

This alligator is about 6 feet long. These Koalas were  quite close to us:

It was a fun outing. 

My back continues to improve. The big step of the last 4 days is that I have been able to sit upright at a desk for several hours a day and to work there. This bodes well for my studies, which I am trying to catch up on, and should be able to catch up by the end of the semester.

You may not see a post from me the next two Sundays because I will be making my annual priestly retreat--which I was unable to make last year--in the guesthouse of a Benedictine monastery of nuns, the Benedictines of Mary in Gower, MO, from Palm Sunday through Easter Monday. If you do not hear from me before Easter week, know that you will continue to be in my daily prayers.

May Our Lady guide you into the great graces that God has in store for us this Holy Week.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari

Feast of St. Joseph Holy Mass at St. Stephen's

 

Dear Friends and Family,

Among the many blessings of this past week I received the wonderful invitation to celebrate the Holy Mass--in the form of a sung, solemn High Mass--this Friday March 19th at 18:30 for the Feast of St. Joseph, and next Thursday March 25th at 18:30 for the Feast of the Annunciation, at St. Stephen's parish on the west side of Cleveland. The historic church is quite beautiful, as you can see above. It was a particular act of kindness for Fr. Bede, a benedictine monk in the area, to offer to have me be the celebrant in his place for these two Masses. If you are in the area, I will hope to see you there.

Other blessings of this past week included going out and walking more. Little by little my stamina is increasing. Today, between 3 different walks, I think I walked a total of around 2 miles.

Beyond that my life is rather simple: prayer and study for most of the day.

Thank you for all of your prayers.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari