Ad multos annos!

Congratulations to Rev. Eric Tolentino, newly ordained priest for the Diocese of Allentown, 3 June 2006.

In honor of the ordination "season," I'm posting one of my favorite poems, which is a bit of a reflection upon the person of the priest. Enjoy!

Melchizedek

Without father, without mother, without descent;
having neither beginning of days, nor end of life.
THRICE bless'd are they, who feel their loneliness;
To whom nor voice of friends nor pleasant scene
Brings that on which the sadden'd heart can lean;
Yea, the rich earth, garb'd in her daintiest dress
Of light and joy, doth but the more oppress,
Claiming responsive smiles and rapture high;
Till, sick at heart, beyond the veil they fly,
Seeking His Presence, who alone can bless.
Such, in strange days, the weapons of Heaven's grace;
When, passing o'er the high-born Hebrew line,
He forms the vessel of His vast design;
Fatherless, homeless, reft of age and place,
Sever'd from earth, and careless of its wreck,
Born through long woe His rare Melchizedek.

By: John Henry Cardinal Newman