When I became a pastor for the first time in 2016, the thought of having to write a weekly bulletin article seemed a bit daunting. How would I be able to write something new every week and not get bored of the process, or run out of things to say? Thankfully, more than 500 bulletin articles later over these past ten years (six of which have been here at Cathedral), I have found the experience to be anything but daunting. Rather, it has been an opportunity to speak to you, my parish family, about a variety of topics, sharing from my heart and mind to yours, hopefully helping you in feeling more loved by the Good Shepherd through my ministry as your shepherd.
In this final article, I take up the third recommendation of recent popes to embrace the future with hope. Last year, as you may recall, I offered a full year’s worth of reflections on Pope Benedict’s encyclical on Christian hope, Spe salvi, to coincide with the Jubilee Year of Hope proclaimed by Pope Francis. I can see the providence in the timing of this exercise, not just in my helping all of you to better understand this important virtue, but in letting it be more firmly rooted in my heart as well. When I consider looking to the future through the lens of hope, those words of St. Paul in His letter to the Romans always help me to stay grounded in peace: “Hope does not disappoint.” (Rom 5:5)
As we have reflected in the past, the hope of which St. Paul writes is related ultimately to what awaits us in eternal life. Whatever the journey in this life might present, good or bad, all can be borne when we fix our gaze on that final hope which we believe with firm faith will have no sadness or disappointment. At the same time, I have been consoled with how these words connect with another line from this same letter from St. Paul, where he writes: “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” (Rom 8:28) Though we may not always see it or understand it, whatever God is doing in our lives, and whatever He allows to happen in our lives, is working for our good.
The first time I was asked to move, I initially struggled. I loved the parishes where I was serving, and I loved teaching in the Catholic high school each day. People told me that it was going to be a “waste” for me to leave and to serve in a rather hidden role in my work with the bishop. I was tempted to believe those things, but when I began that new assignment, I saw how the Lord was using those circumstances to make me a better priest, stretching me in ways that I would have not chosen, but in exactly the ways that I needed to be stretched, and I learned to find great joy and peace in where the Lord had placed me. Every change since then has followed a similar pattern, but the same thing has happened every time – the Lord has used those changes for my good, and I believe ultimately for the good of those whom I had served, and to whom I was called to serve in the new assignment. It is with that peace that I accept this next instance of God’s providence in my life, and it is my prayer for all of you to embrace the future of this parish, and your relationship with your new shepherd with that virtue of hope, trusting that we who love the Lord will not be disappointed.
Let my final words to you be from the very depths of my heart, having had the privilege of serving you these past six years: I love you, and I am so thankful for the love you have given to me. At the end of our journey when we are all gathered together in His Kingdom, we will be reunited once again in the love of God, rejoicing without ceasing as we enjoy the fulfillment of the hope we held throughout life, and which will be our peace together for eternity.