Dear Friend 

You Can't Help but be Overwhelmed by Gratitude

by Rev. Msgr. Joseph Reilly

As a priest, I’ve been blessed to celebrate Mass every day. These actions themselves evoke a deep sense of humility, being given a share in the priesthood of Jesus Christ by offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  In addition, though, there have been a few instances where the place has been as equally as humbling and inspiring as the actions in which I participate. The Holy Sepulcher tops that list!  

We were privileged to spend the night in the Church, moving from one sacred spot to another, as we prayed through our night-long vigil.  Over and again, I was pinching myself, hardly able to believe where I was and how much time in quiet and reflection was ours.  My sense of gratitude was truly overwhelming!  

With the arrival of dawn, this only intensified. I was privileged to celebrate Mass in the Tomb itself! The very spot where the crucified Son of God had rested after his death was now the altar where His Risen and Glorified Body would become truly present in the Most Holy Eucharist. My heart was ready to burst at this gift - to me personally and to the Church.  

Being taken in and taken up by Christ’s Paschal Mystery (His Passion, Death and Resurrection) is at the heart of Lent and of our baptismal call to grow in His likeness. Unfortunately, many of us can so easily get caught up in and taken away by the mundane and routine. What results is an empty weariness rather than an exuberant joy and gratitude. 

This central and moving place within the Church of the Holy Sepulcher invites us to rediscover the central mystery of our faith - the Most Holy Eucharist.  In so doing, we cannot help but be overwhelmed by gratitude.  

In conclusion, I would like to share a beautiful quote from Pope Benedict XVI on the occasion of his 70th anniversary of priestly ordination. He writes “the cross, suffering, all that is wrong with the world, Jesus transformed all this into ‘thanks’ and therefore into a blessing.… (that the Church – you and me) would be able to truly receive the newness of life and contribute to the ‘transubstantiation’ of the world so that it might not be a place of death, but of life: a world in which love has conquered death.”

Rev. Msgr. Joseph Reilly, S.T.L., Ph.D., Rector/Dean Emeritus, Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology. He holds a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, a licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) from Pontificio Istituto Teresianum, Rome, and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from Fordham University. He has served as a member of the Archdiocesan Priest Personnel Board, the Advisory Committee on Continuing Education and Ongoing Formation of Priests, the Archdiocesan Vocations Board, and the Board of Trustees of Seton Hall University. Pope John Paul II named him a Chaplain to His Holiness in 2005, with the title of Reverend Monsignor. In 2016 during the Holy Year of Mercy, the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization sought priests who were living signs "of the Father's welcome to all those in search of His forgiveness." He was the only priest from the Archdiocese of Newark formally commissioned as a Missionary of Mercy by Pope Francis.