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The Ascension of the Lord
20 May 2007
Dear Friends in Christ,
Before Jesus went to His death he told His disciples, A little while and you will see me no more. Again a little while, and you will see me. He was preparing them for His death and resurrection, and preparing us for the interval between His ascension into heaven and His second coming at the end of the world. Those words of John 16.16 come to mind as I prepare the parish for another change.
The pastor will resume his duties on 1 June, and I will be finished with mine as Administrator pro tempore. It is time for me to go. The Bishop has assigned me as Parochial Vicar at Saint Peter’s, Beaufort and after a few weeks of vacation I will move to my new home for the last week of June.
In the movie The Bells of St Mary’s, Sister Mary Benedict is sent away from her beloved parish and school with the assistance of the pastor so that she can heal from an illness which is sapping her strength. Now, I leave of my own free will and I am not sick, but I do know what it is like to leave a place like St Mary’s. Sister Mary Benedict tells everyone, “I leave my heart at St Mary’s.” A very wise real (as opposed to movie) religious once told me, “Well, that’s silly. She is going to need her heart when she goes to the next place.”
So I won’t say that I will leave my heart here, since I am going to need it in Beaufort. But I will carry with me all that you have given me. The family of Saint Mary’s has watched me grow up, from a thirteen year old boy-convert serving at the altar and singing at Mass to a newly ordained priest. You took me and taught me how to be a priest, by accepting me as your Father when I was young enough to be your child or grandchild and by welcoming me into your hearts, homes and souls. If there is any goodness in me at all as a minister of the Gospel and a celebrant of the Sacraments, it is because of you.
Priests come and priests go, but a parish remains as a light set on a hill in the midst of the secular city. St Mary’s has a long tradition of loving service to Christ and His Church. I am just happy that I got to be a part of that family for so long.
Next Sunday is my last Sunday at St Mary’s. But Pentecost is not a time for sadness over a departure; it is a cause for rejoicing that the Spirit blows where He wills and that His Church continues to proclaim that good news: Jesus Christ is risen from the dead!
Waiting to see you in Beaufort!
Father Christopher