Whispering Hope

This week, a young man started serving at my daily Mass in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite. He wanted to be a priest so that he could offer the Mass in the extraordinary form.

Yesterday, a seminarian from the Philippine Mission Society stayed with us the whole day for a mission appeal on behalf our Filipino missionaries. At the end of the day, as we ate supper, he told me that when he was in Mindanao, he was a servant leader of a basic ecclesial community. He was inspired by the "defensores fidei" who introduced him to the extraordinary form. He said that he wished that Summorum Pontificum be implemented more generously in the Philippines.

Sometimes I feel disheartened by the opposition of many bishops and priests to the reform of the reform. But then, seeing these young men...there is hope.