From the Desk of Father Ryan - Our Associate Pastor
April 28, 2024 - Fifth Sunday of Easter

"I am the Good Shepherd... I lay down my life in order to take it up again."

A branch receives sap from a vine. And a branch can only produce fruit if it remains united to the vine. By itself, separated from the vine, the most beautiful branch will simply end up a stick or fuel for the fire. We, Christians, are branches united to Christ the Vine. And we receive Life from Him, for “apart from Him we can do nothing.” However, united to Him ‘we can do anything.’

Saints never forget that it is Jesus (the Vine) who gives fruit through them. They were humble enough to know they are just branches, united to the Body of the Vine. Branches can be plain in our eyes, but God sees their beauty and knows the branch can produce the most wonderful grapes.

Young Barney Casey was born in northern Wisconsin in 1870. He received very little education growing up and, after feeling a call to the priesthood, entered the seminary. However, he wasn’t able to keep up with the classes. He was asked to leave St. Francis de Sales Seminary in Milwaukee. After Seminary he worked as a jail guard, lumberjack, and street car operator.

But Barney knew this wasn’t for him! He sought out and was accepted as a member of the Capuchin Franciscans. Barney took the name ‘Solanus’ when he became a Franciscan. A few years later, Solanus Casey was ordained a simplex priest because (his superiors thought) Solanus wasn’t smart enough to preach and hear confessions. He was assigned the post of doorkeeper - one of the lowest tasks in the community. Fr. Solanus took his job very seriously, listening carefully to everyone who came to the monastery. His reputation for simple, yet beautiful holiness spread. At his death in 1957, an estimated 20,000 people filed past his coffin prior to his funeral.

On November 18, 2017, 80,000 people attended the Beatification of Fr. Solanus Casey at Ford Field in Detroit. I was in attendance that night and I can assure you, even 70 years after his death, Fr. Solanus’ life of holiness was still bearing fruit. Blessed Solanus Casey is a hero of mine. And, I hope as you get to know him, he can be a hero of yours too. But all in all, the branch isn’t the great thing. Fr. Solanus was united to the Vine and the Life of Christ gave fruit through him.

Blessed Solanus Casey, pray for us!

Fr. Ryan P. Brady
Associate Pastor of Our Lady of the Ridge - St.Linus Parish