Vocations

Deacon Joseph Baltz

What is your favorite part of the Lent and Easter Season?

My favorite part of the liturgical season of Lent is its emphasis on spiritual discipline. The season of Lent calls me to discipline myself, and to mortify myself from the things that compete against my response to the call to holiness.

My favorite part of the Easter Season is the Easter Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. The Easter Triduum is the most important celebration of our Christian faith: the suffering, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In your studies, what is greatest thing you have learned in getting ready for serving the people of God?

The greatest thing I have learned is charity. The beautiful and sound academic formation I have received is to be shared in the community of faith for the salvation of souls.

What would you like to ask for from all those who pray for you every day?

I appreciate your prayers. Please pray for me that I would be faithful and fulfilled in my decision to respond to the universal call to holiness through the Sacrament of the Holy Orders.

Reverend Monsignor Richard J. Olona was born December 23, 1944 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, attended Sacred Heart Elementary School, IHM Seminary (Santa Fe) and Mt. Angel Seminary (Oregon). He was ordained on March 29, 1970 at Our Lady of the Assumption in Albuquerque by Archbishop James Peter Davis.

He served many rural and city parishes in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. He was also appointed to several special assignments such as Vocation Director, Chancellor, Vicar General, and Ecumenical Officer. Monsignor worked in Peru from 1983-1986 with the St. James Missionary Society. Retiring in 2015, he continues to assist at Our Lady of the Assumption Parish and resides with the Franciscan Friars at San Juan Diego.

Please say a special prayer for Msgr. Olona as he celebrates his 50 th year dedicated to the people of God.

In Lent, I love the motivation I get for doubling down and advancing in holiness through doing stuff I wouldn’t normally want to do such as prayer, fasting and almsgiving. It’s easier because we are all struggling together.

In Easter, I love the Easter Vigil Mass. It’s long, but it’s worth it to see a well executed ritual that makes me realize just how awesome the Faith is.

In your studies, what is greatest thing you have learned in getting ready for serving the people of God?

I would have to say trust in Our Blessed Mother. Totus tuus and all that good stuff. To entrust my ministry, and indeed my whole self, into her immaculate and merciful hands will bring about the greatest possible glory to God.

What would you like to ask for from all those who pray for you every day?

Please pray to St. Joseph that I imitate his fatherly love for the Savior in my care for the children of God, and that I imitate his spousal love of the Blessed Virgin in my care for the Church.

Jordan Sanchez

What is your favorite part of the Lent and Easter Season?

My favorite part of Lent is the Stabat Mater hymn. I find myself singing it often while imagining myself being held in our Blessed Mother’s mantle as we stand at the foot of our Lord’s Cross. My favorite part of Easter would have to be the candlelight procession into church at the Easter vigil with all of our faces lit with the warm light of our candles. This reminds me of the gentle love of Christ in our hearts.

In your studies, what is greatest thing you have learned in getting ready for serving the people of God?

The greatest thing I have learned as I prepare to serve the people of God is that while my seminary education has been wonderful, I still have so much to learn! I am so excited to serve and continue to learn and grow day by day!

What would you like to ask for from all those who pray for you every day?

Please pray for me through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that I may be a faithful bridge to her Son, Jesus.

Creation as Sacrament: The Christian Moral Imperative to Address Climate Change

Very Rev. Stephen A. Gaertner, O.Praem.

As Catholics, we understand our faith, our community, as lodged within a sacramental tradition, Christ’s enduring legacy to us bequeathed through his first disciples. The root meaning of “sacrament” could be understood as that which “makes holy,” that is, something that sanctifies. The sacramental tradition in the Catholic Church—the mystical body of Christ on Earth—therefore sanctifies human experience and creation as a whole by continuing to manifest Christ’s incarnate presence among the People of God. In Baptism, Eucharist, Marriage, Anointing, etc. Christ continues to “make holy” the lives of His beloved people and indeed all of creation.

Understood from this theological perspective, then, the current human-created climate crises that our plant faces threaten humankind and all forms of life on earth in not only an existential way, but also within a sacramental context. For it is through the many dynamic, living facets of this God’s creation that the “holiness” of Christ—and therefore the Church—is brought to fulfillment. Thus, when we desecrate our planet through pollution, lifestyles of unbridled consumption, irresponsible energy policies, cultural attitudes of social and environmental indifference—we contribute to threatening the sacramental presence of Christ among us.

The very elemental nature of our Church’s sacraments give testimony to this reality. How could we celebrate Eucharist if droughts and floods destroy our wheat and vineyards? With what would be anoint our sick if there were no longer olives for oil? In what way would be baptize our children, if our precious water becomes scarce? For what reason would people marry, if unable to raise children on a loving, nurturing and habitable planet? These are extreme examples, of course…but they make a valid point. If our collective indifference to how we treat our planet, ourselves and our fellow creatures, through the cultural values we embrace and the choices we make, threatens our capacity to life in “holy,” just, loving right-relationships with God and one another, indeed our Christian sacramental reality is already gravely threatened.

Thus, as we Christians enter this Easter season, the summit our Church’s liturgical—and sacramental—life, let us appreciate anew the gift of Christ’s sacramental presence throughout all of creation, and consider how another Catholic sacrament—reconciliation—calls us to constant conversion in thought, word and deed so as to reflect better on how God is calling us—you and I—to be conscientious, ethical stewards of all God’s creatures, great and small, so that our Lord may continue to be present among us and “make holy” His beloved people…and Planet Earth.

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