I give praise to You, Father,
for all that you have taught us in the past 12 years.
I give thanks to you for all
we have been together. I entrust to you
the ministry that will continue now without me.
Next weekend, I will give my
last word. This weekend, taking my cue
from Jesus in the Scripture and from the American Feast we celebrate at this
time, I offer three simple reminders. I
will trust to the Holy Spirit to move your hearts to fill in whatever may be
needed.
First: Realize that you are
experiencing the fruit of others’ labors.
What we have received and all that we have as a parish community was
given to us, handed on by the generations before us. As Pastor, it has fallen to me to bury many
of the First Generation of our Parish. I
have learned from them and from others what they did to establish the parish
and the school and many of the challenges that they experienced along the way.
To you I say: cherish what
you have received. Don’t take it for
granted. It was won by a price, the cost
of blood, sweat and tears. Don’t allow
it to be lost to the generations to come because of indifference or
ingratitude. We have done much to
preserve and fix up what has been inherited by way of buildings. Continue to do this. Beautify the property and make it better for
the needs of the community that lives here.
Make it truly a place of welcome.
Second: Know that you have
only the present moment. Since I am
departing, I am realizing all too well what more I could have accomplished if more
time were given or if I had made better use of all the time allotted to
me. Live in the present moment; it is
there that you will find Jesus. He is to
be found in your neighbor. You must be a
means of healing and peace.
To you I say: stop measuring
the time you give to God as if you can spend it better elsewhere; be sure to
give time to your family and friends while you have them. Our children grow up all too quickly. Be sure that you are not just keeping them
busy with too many activities that are not really shared. Spend real, quality time with them,
cultivating their spirits by sharing Faith and prayer.
Third: Realize that there are
generations to come who need to have a heritage, just as we do.
To you I say: Begin now to prepare for what they need. I charge you to move forward with the effort
to give space and time to Catechesis following the method of the Good
Shepherd. This is a treasure that must
not be squandered. It may have been that
we were not ready for it a few years ago, but you must pursue this opportunity
before it passes you by. Our children
who have been exposed to this approach rejoice in their Faith with real
practical knowledge about where it comes from.
Please keep them and those yet to come in mind as you make plans with a
new shepherd. Timothy had St. Paul, his
mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois, to train him in the ways of Faith. Be a grandparent to the children yet to come
and build them a place of their own where they can grow in Faith as Timothy
did.
