"With God all things are possible."

       I greet you in the Name of Jesus Christ.  My name is Fr. Rodnev P. Lapommeray and I, along with Fr. Dariusz Strzelecki and Fr. Daniel Rajski, was ordained to the Sacred Priesthood of Jesus Christ on June 4th, 2011 by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio for service to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn.  My ordination was an experience for me beyond words.  What a joy and a humbling privilege to share in the priesthood of Jesus Christ Himself!  I am thankful to God for having called me to this vocation and to Holy Mother Church and my diocesan bishop for ordaining me. I was in direct formation for six years. It was a process of opening my heart and mind to have the Holy Spirit mold, form and conform them to the very heart and mind of Jesus Christ.


       Formation to become a priest has not always been an easy or care-free road, and I am aware that priesthood will not always be a life void of sacrifice. Yet, I know it was God who saw me through and molded me during my formation. Now it is God’s grace that will enable me to be the priest He wants me to be—a holy priest who brings others to come to know, love and serve Him.

       By human standards, this may appear unattainable. Yet, “With God all things are possible” (Mt. 19:26). In preparation for ordination to the Sacred Priesthood of Jesus Christ, this scripture passage from the Gospel of Matthew was the one I chose for my ordination prayer cards.  It is God who accomplished the grace in me all throughout my years of formation to become a priest. He is the one who calls ordinary men like me to do extraordinary things for His glory. Imagine that through the prayers of a priest combined with those of the gathered Church at the Holy Sacrifice of Mass, bread and wine are transformed into the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Yes, all things are possible with God.

       As I grow in priestly ministry, I am coming to a deeper understanding of this truth. In my short time as a priest, I have been consoled and amazed by the ways God has put me in the path of various people who needed to experience His love and healing.  The Holy Spirit has put me in places and situations where just a word or gesture from me as a priest was able to bring others peace and consolation. I am seeing in ever new ways how it is God who is working wonders through me and will continue to if I let Him. God wants to and can work amazing things in all of us for His glory.  We just need to be small enough to allow Him to.

       If you happen to be discerning a big decision or feel called by God to a certain walk of life, whether to become a priest or religious or whether to marry that person, take on that service job or adopt that child, trust in God. Trust that there is nothing He calls us too that He will not give us the strength to do, no matter how seemingly sacrificial, countercultural or impossible the task may be. I have learnt this truth as a seminarian and am learning it more and more as a priest. Turning to God in prayer will help us discover this. Let our prayer be that God’s will (no matter how difficult) may be done in our lives, and not our own; His plan is always better. I pray and invite you to pray to God with me in the words of our Blessed Mother Mary, “May it be done to me according to Your word” (Luke 1:38). For as the Angel Gabriel said when announcing to Mary that she would be the mother of the Son of God, “nothing is impossible with God “ (Luke 1:37).

Fr. Rodnev Lapommeray serves at the parish of Our Lady of Angels Roman Catholic Church in Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, New York .