What a glorious day!  We give thanks and praise to God that Jesus has called Ryan Arto to the priesthood of Jesus Christ!  We also praise God that Ryan responded.  This weekend, we join in this praise and thanksgiving as Dc. Ryan Arto becomes Fr. Ryan Arto at ordination on Saturday and celebrates his first Mass here at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday. He begins his ministry in June at St. Raphael’s in Bay Village.  Our prayers are with you, Fr. Ryan.  I leave rest the of my pastor’s column to Fr. Ryan himself…
- Fr. Jeremy

Jesus said, “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

What is the best way to tell a Christian apart from anyone else? It is love. Not just any kind of love, but the same type of love with which Christ loved and loves us. A love that puts the needs of the person in front of me before my own. I am often reminded of the love parents have for their child. It is love that motivates a mother or father to roll out of bed at 2:00 a.m. when they hear their child crying. Love motivates a parent to work extra hours just to provide for their family. In the same way, love can be our motivation to care for members of our community: the elderly, the sick, and the poor.

I have always been a supporter of the phrase “actions speak louder than words.” There was an action that my classmates and I did this Saturday during our ordination. As everyone in the cathedral prayed for us, we laid down upon the cold marble of the cathedral sanctuary. We laid down our lives in this moment to signify our love for God and the Church. In this action we committed our lives to love and serve the people of the Diocese of Cleveland for the rest of our lives. Please pray that my classmates and I can faithfully love everyone we meet. Whether we are married, ordained, vowed religious, or single, we are all called to love. I think it is more than coincidental that my class was ordained the same day that Saint Thérèse of Lisieux was canonized a saint a hundred years ago. It was St. Thérèse who said," At last I have found my vocation. In the heart of the Church, I will be Love!" That is what we are called to do because that is how we can be distinguished as Christians, to be love.

Let us be love,
Fr. Ryan Arto