I am truly grateful to the Lord for the priestly vocation that he gave me. My dear brothers and sisters, May the Peace that the Lord Jesus brought to the world be yours! It is hard to believe that on May 9th I will celebrate my 38th anniversary of ordination. What a beginning I had for my journey towards the priesthood. I was a junior in high school when I transferred from Aransas Pass High School to Corpus Christi Minor Seminary (now John Paul II High School). It was quite a change! I was in a class of ten, all of whom had a Catholic school background, and the "famous" Jesuit fathers were the teachers. To say the least, I felt like a fish out of water, especially after that first religion class when I discovered how much I did not know about the Catholic faith. To top it all off, my parents weren't so thrilled that I had left home and entered the seminary. I think that they really had their doubts. The only thing that kept me at CCMS was the grace of God! After high school, I stayed at Corpus Christi Minor Seminary for the first two years of college. We took 22 hours a semester and had only 2 ˝ hours a night to study. Lights were turned off at 10:30 pm, and to stay up later than that was to run the risk of being expelled from the seminary. You soon learned to make good use of every minute that the Lord gave you! I spent four years with a class that thought I would never be ordained. Well I survived, and entered the major seminary in San Antonio, Assumption Seminary, and attended classes at St. Mary's University from which I received both my B.A. and M.A. After ten years in the seminary, I was ordained on May 9, 1970, by Bishop Thomas Drury. I was the only one of the original class of ten that was ordained. There were many times when the devil worked over time to make me feel unworthy of being a priest. But the Lord worked even harder! I had a very holy Spiritual Director whom the Lord used to keep me from detouring. For three days before my ordination, I was on retreat. After the second day, I really felt like calling off the whole thing. I was such a sinner, and the Lord could not possibly want me to be a priest. I was so unworthy. With the help of my spiritual director who was also my retreat director, I realized how true my feelings were. No man is worthy of the priesthood. The day before Bishop Drury ordained me, I accepted the fact that a priestly vocation is a call from the Lord and does not come from within oneself; and if the Lord calls one to the priesthood, as unworthy as he may be, the Lord will give him the graces that he needs to be the priest that the Lord wants him to be. (I cannot but think that this must be the feeling that Pope Benedict XVI had in the hours following his election three years ago.) My priestly journey of thirty-eight years has been very exciting and has found me in varied ministries. I have served as an Assistant at CC [Corpus Christi] Cathedral, the Master of Ceremonies to the Bishop, the associate editor of the diocesan newspaper, the diocesan director of CCD, Vocation Director and Administrator of the minor seminary, assistant priest at St. Patrick, pastor of San Isidro Labrador in Arteaga, Mexico, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the Westside, Dean of the Westside Deanery; and for the past seventeen years, I have had the great privilege of serving the people of Ss. Cyril and Methodius as your pastor. There have been a few other diocesan jobs while doing all the others. Of all the various things that a priest is called upon to do, no matter where his assignment takes him, the one that is most fulfilling and gives value to all the sacrifices that one makes as a seminarian and as a priest is to be able to stand at the altar and be the instrument that the Lord uses to change bread and wine into His own Body and Blood, the Eucharist. And the second is being the instrument the Lord uses to raise His hand and reconcile sinners back to Himself in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Confession. I am truly grateful to the Lord for the priestly vocation that he gave me, and am glad that He did not call me to do something else. I am also grateful for the support that I get from you, the people of SS. Cyril and Methodius Parish. I love you, Monsignor Larry

 

 

 

 

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