PRIESTHOOD SUNDAY + ALL SOULS DAY

Hello to you all. I have to share this inspiration with you. I was lying in bed and my head and heart choked up with the La Salette Missionary priests who shaped my life the most.
Ever since I was an infant, the La Salette Missionaries have been a part of my life. It is a fact that I have tried to explain to people everywhere I go. So, I will let you know all about it now. Why? Because I know that so many of you who are reading this have similar stories. I know that Our Weeping Mother never stops inviting us to "come closer my children, do not be afraid." I also have to take advantage of the celebration of Priesthood Sunday (Oct. 26) and All Souls Day (Nov. 2). Most of the La Salette Priests who have contributed to making me who I am, spiritually, are deceased. The wonderful man on the left is not only deceased, I believe that he is a saint, still watching over the parish that he founded 100 years ago. His name is Julien-Marie Ginet. He was born in 1872, a short twenty-six years after the apparition at La Salette. That would make him one of the very first missionaries dedicated to Our Holy Mother's Mission, "Go, my children, make this known to all my people." It certainly made him one of the first La Salette Missionaries to set foot on U.S. soil in Harford, Connecticut. He was the founder of the Immaculate Conception parish in Holyoke Massachusetts, 25 miles north of Hartford. There, the missionaries built a marvelous gothic church (no longer standing), a school and a nun's residence.
Now, I have to tell you, I am old, but all of this happened before I was born. He holds gthe pre-emminent place in my heart because during the time of his ministry in Holyoke, he formed a very close friendship with my maternal grandfather. My grandfather had lost his right hand in an industrial accident and struggled for a long time to fight the depression that his loss caused him. My grandfather was a cabinet maker. After the accident, a useless, one handed cabinet maker, or so he thought. Father Ginet ordered, yes ordered, not to say commanded, his friend to report to work to him at the rectory. The rest is history. Grandpa worked for Father Ginet for fifty years. Not only that, they died a few short days apart in October of 1949.
I knew Father Ginet because I attended the school that he had founded. He would visit all the classrooms once per week, every week. So, he knew me and I knew him. Besides, I would see him at my grandfather's home at least once per month or so. To me, he was the same size as Michael the Archangel or some such "action hero." This person was always more than just a mere man to me. He was, and still is, the right hand man of God and a devoted son of Our Weeping Mother of La Salette.