It is with the proverbial heavy heart that I compose this last bulletin article. Since I came on D-Day in 1994, I have written over 600 of these literary gems. You have been a most appreciative audience. It gratifies this unredeemed writer’s heart of mine to see a pre-liturgy assembly silently reading the bulletin—I am always reminded of the commuters on the train from Ossining to Manhattan when I used to be at Maryknoll…
“Are you getting a promotion?” was one question I got last week. Really, when one has been the pastor of St. Joseph’s for twelve years, how much higher can I possibly go? Actually I feel I have been promoted because I am going to a place where I will not be in charge and I will have a wonderful priest as my rector, Fr. Peter Crivello.
Someone also asked what I will preaching about at the last Mass[es] this weekend. I don’t know yet—it will surely be based on the Sunday Scriptures and will mention my 24th ordination anniversary on September 3rd. Beyond that I haven’t a clue.
The topic of the last article? God. I can think of few more important topics in the 21st century. A continuing theme of my priestly life has been discovering who God really is. There is an urgency in this search because we become like the God we worship. As we note in the news every single day, if we believe that God is violent then we will feel confirmed in our resort to violence and terrorism. If we believe what St. John says in his First Letter, that God is love [the title of Benedict XVI’s first encyclical] we may occasionally resort to violence as a means of self defense but, even then, with misgivings and regret.
Honestly, I continue to be pessimistic about the future of the world and the Church but at the same time deeply hopeful. As I’ve repeated ad nauseam, optimism and pessimism are a function of genes, childhood, etc., while hope is a theological virtue. Hope comes from God and has nothing to do with wishful thinking or whistling past the graveyard. It is the virtue of Holy Saturday [Benedict’s and my birthday feast], expanding in the darkness until the stone rolls away and the Easter sun begins to shine. Hope is how we endure until the morning star rises in our hearts [1Peter 1:19].
As I depart I am so aware of all that I left undone—my ‘white elephants’ as our bishop calls what he’s leaving for the next one. I am also aware of people I have offended, hoping [there is that virtue again] that they will find it in your heart to forgive me. And, finally, I am deeply grateful: to God for calling me to the priesthood 24 years ago; to Mary, Joseph and all the holy ones for their powerful and gentle companionship; to my family, living & deceased, for their love & encouragement; and I am thankful for you, faithful reader, listener, parishioner and fellow worshipper of the living God.
