Good morning! Today is a day of mixed emotions for me, and for many of you too, as it is my last Sunday here as Pastor. I feel like I have gone through all the stages of grief, and I have come to a place of acceptance. Even though I don’t understand it, I trust in God’s plan and God’s will for Nativity and me personally.
I trust that God will provide for me in all circumstances, and this is no different. In the Gospel we just heard, God provided for His people. This boy gave the little bit he had to Jesus and Jesus blessed it and multiplied it, God provided abundantly.
Do we trust that God will provide abundantly for us still today? I know that some of you are very worried about me leaving, worrying about what will happen here, worrying if Fr. Stephen will come in and make a lot of changes and stop the momentum we have going here.
I met him on Monday and we spent about four hours together going over stuff. When we came into the Church he asked me “where is the tabernacle?” I pointed it out and we walked towards it, me talking about the church, and then he said “excuse me” and he knelt down in front of the tabernacle on the front step and prayed for a minute, or it could have been 5 minutes, it was a long time, so long that I thought maybe I should kneel and pray too.
But it almost brought tears to my eyes, God had provided us a Holy Priest, which at some level is all we can hope for, a Holy Priest that provides the Sacraments, that helps us to encounter Jesus Christ. That’s my main focus, my main concern every day, it’s what I consider the high level stuff, me being Jesus Christ for you.
Many people have said, “I just don’t agree with moving you priests around.” And while I do understand, and appreciate the sentiment, one of the benefits of it is that it prevents it from becoming a “cult of personality” - this isn’t “the Fr. Andy show” - and if you forget my name, I’d be fine with that, I really would be, I just want you to remember His name. I want you to remember how you have grown in your faith and how your relationship with God has grown in my time here, at least I hope it has, I hope that you love Jesus Christ more than you did five years ago when I arrived.
When I got the news of my move I was lamenting to a brother priest, “but I have done so much work here.” And he said “No, it is God doing the work.” And he is right. It really isn’t me doing the work, it is God working through me, it is all for His glory, not mine, and that is a potential issue in staying in one place for a long time is that it becomes more about me than it is about God.
I do the high level “priest stuff,” that's our primary job, Sacraments. Then I do the low level stuff that goes largely unnoticed, putting the kneelers up after Mass, cleaning food off the floor, changing kleenex boxes, moving music missals around… most of the real work around here is done in the middle.
And for my part, I have just said yes to a lot of things which have helped this parish to really flourish and grow. I said yes to Stephanie when she approached me about a Family Holy Hour. Yes to Tom about bringing the first Healing Mission in. Yes to Michelle about volleyball league. Yes to Dani and Molly about Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. Yes to Tracey and Stephanie about Homeschool Co-op. Yes to Tom about a Schola. Yes to Matt about pilgrimages, so I am glad we are doing our first today. And on and on about things I said yes to.
The only thing I kind of started was the Date Night Marriage Ministry, but even with that I built a team to lead it. These things run without me, I just give it my blessing, like Jesus blessing the fish and the loaves, then He had others to help do the real work after that.
The point is, as long as you keep leading this stuff, as long as you take ownership, it will keep going. The Church of the Nativity is bigger than just me! You are the ones who bring the fishes and loaves for God to bless and multiply, and I pray that God will continue to bless Nativity and everyone here abundantly!