“How Did I Get to Be So Lucky?”
A Farewell Meditation by Fr Paul
In the Name of God; the Most Holy, Undivided, and Everlasting Trinity. Amen
How did I get to be so lucky to be your Anamchara? What were you thinking of when you picked the likes of me? You realize it has been 10 years this past Sunday. What a fun ride that was! And what a privilege to walk with you the Pilgrim’s Way. It was also 10 years ago that I underwent gastric bypass surgery and lost more than 100 lbs! And I’ve maintained that weight loss. Ain’t I lucky to have a medical team I have. And talk about luck. It has been 15 years since my prostatectomy and radiation treatments. There’s some of you know that story! Now I’m on two forms of hormone therapy to keep the cancer confused as to my gender identity. Talk about being non binary! How lucky am I.
And that’s just me. Imagine my ancestors survived the Great Hunger in the Old Country. Two thirds of the villagers died in my ancestral home. Another two thirds died aboard the coffin ships in the passage to America, and a bunch more got shipped back again when disease claimed their souls in quarantine. There was immigrant hostility in Yankee Boston; “Irish need not apply”. And here I am a priest in “the” Yankee church for 52 years this month. How did I get to be so lucky?
My dad and his shipmates played hit and miss games with German U-boats during WWII. His eyes would light up his head would rear back and he’d roar with laughter when he told me; “Hey kid, life is a crap shoot!” And now here we are each with a story to tell of how we come to be gathered together today. How did we get to be so lucky?
But it wasn’t by a roll the dice that we got to be here. I believe it is by the Grace of God that we are here, Grace upon Grace. As Peter tells us in today’s first lesson; “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” What a Joy to follow the Way of Jesus! I cannot begin to describe the love that’s in this room and online today. Do you have any idea how much I love you, have loved you will love you? But infinitely more is the love of God for us. Not only here and now, but when we leave this place and return to our homes, workplaces, churches for the Grace of which I speak fills us and carries us in ways we can hardly begin to fathom. As the Psalmist says; “Satisfy us by your loving-kindness in the morning; * so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life.”
Which brings us to the intersection of this moment. We prepare our hearts now to pass the baton. The Abbot to the Abbess and the Anamchara to the Anamchara. Brother/Abbot John Brendon to Sr/Abbess Patricia Sarah and Fr Paul to Fr Jeff. What Grace!
But hold the phone…do you have any idea what you’re getting yourselves into? God has cast a holy eye upon you, Sr. Pat and Fr Jeff. I give thanks and praise for you, that you are willing to say yes. I’d like to say that your tenure will be uneventful. But if my experience is any indication; or if the experience of our founders and successors bear witness, life is not without its occasional challenge from time to time.
No question we find ourselves tossed into the occasional maelstrom. Like Jesus in a storm on Lake Galilee or faced with impossible questions like whether to pay taxes to Caesar. In the former case he simply told the sea; “Peace, be still!” With the biblical literalists it was not so easy. Whatever the answer eventually they will catch him in his words and find a way to crucifixion.
Thankfully, it never got that bad being Anamchara, Abbot, Abbess. But sure and its a wild ride we’re on from time to time.
So let me give you something to take hold of as you live into your calling, as we all live into our calling. What else do we have but the Grace of the Triune God? That’s all I’ve ever had all my life but I find its been more than enough.
When I think of God I think of the Creator of all that is in Heaven and Earth. Jesus is my Savior and the Holy Spirit is the One who makes everyone and everything Holy. And we are the choir singing in harmony with the Host of Heaven.
We are partners with God in Creation. I think of you in your spare time engaged in the creative arts. Some of us are regaling one another with good stories and conviviality. Some seek a moment of quiet to pray or to write or read. But there’s hardly a moment goes by without our being one with God in Creation. We love to create and care for beautiful things. Art and music and literature and in ways to too many to number. Every spare moment of her life my grandmother would crochet. And her afghan still gathers me in the warmth of her love.
We are partners with Jesus in the business of salvation. God knows we’re always working to salvage what we can of the messes we make in life. This is exactly why God sent Jesus into this world. Quoth God; “Will you look at the mess! Go see what you can do to salvage what you can of the lives of those folks.” And look what he did for us. He touched our hearts and changed our lives.
Mind you we face some challenging times. There are wars and rumors of wars and climate change hastens its way towards us. And whatever happens in the election this November, America will never be the same again. But then read the history books. We’ve seen it all before. Vikings have laid waste to our sacred people and places long before this. Empires come and empires go and through it all we have endured and prevailed because only God remains Supreme.
Be advised I have no idea how “orthodox” this approach is to the Trinity. It may smack of “modalism” or some other heresy. But I’m not all that bright. What I do know is how God is at work in me and in those around me and that’s why I speak the way I do about the God I love. And by now you may sort of catch on as to how I’m living into my faith. I speak in terms I can understand.
Because we are also partners with God the Holy Spirit: the Hagia Sophia, She who is the Holy Wisdom from on high. She’s so beautiful.
My grandmother comes to mind of course. She was my storyteller, the gift giver of my faith. I could flee to her for a hug, a healing touch, a moment’s refuge. There’s not a day goes by I don’t call on her; “Ma...” The Spirit that moves between us is always living and true and you can see it on my face even now. Or my darlin’ bride. Talk about lucky! How did I ever find her? Talk about Holy Wisdom, intelligence or just plain love. There’s not a moment I am not without her sacred presence.
If ever I learned anything about the sanctification of life I learned about it from them. Which brings me up to the here and now of this sacred time. You. How beautiful you are. I hope you realize how beautiful you are. How much in the presence of the Holy I feel when I’m with you. What Wisdom there is in this place. What love and affection. What a gift you are to me to each other. The Holy Spirit is palpable among us.
Therefore Sr Patricia Sarah and Fr Jeff. Do you mind standing up for just a moment? We would very much like to hold you up in prayer. And Abbot John Brendan let’s you and me stand up too. God knows this crowd holds us up in prayer. Now it is time for you in your turn to answer God’s call as we did in ours. God knows what you’ll be called to do and who you will be called to be for us but of one thing I am sure. “The Great Shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant will equip you with everything good that you my do God’s will working you that which I is well pleasing in sight, through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom be glory forever and forevermore. Amen” ~Hebrews 13:20-21.
Now I come to you with these concluding words as your Anamchara. There’s an old Portuguese folk saying. “Deus escrive certo por lignas tortas”. With apologies to my friends in Brazil for errors in pronunciation etc that means “God writes straight with crooked lines.” That is to say, as we walk the Labryinth of Life the Triune God is at work in us every step along the way, with every detour. No matter how far we wander or stray….God the Creator, God the Savior, and God the Holy Spirit is always writing straight into our hearts working out the particulars of our salvation with us. For with the triune God there is always forgiveness, reconciliation and love.
How did we get to be so lucky!
And now may the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore. Amen
Respectfully submitted,
Fr Paul Bresnahan, Companion to the Fellowship
Readings from which the above meditation stems.
2 Peter 3:11-18
Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.
Final Exhortation and Doxology
Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. You therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, beware that you are not carried away with the error of the lawless and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
Psalm 90
- 1 O God, you have been our refuge * from one generation to another.
- 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or the land and the earth were born, *
from age to age you are God. - 3 You turn us back to the dust and say, *
“Go back, O child of earth.” - 4 For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past *
and like a watch in the night. - 5 You sweep us away like a dream; *
we fade away suddenly like the grass. - 6 In the morning it is green and flourishes; *
in the evening it is dried up and withered. - 13 Return, O God; how long will you tarry? *
Be gracious to your servants. - 14 Satisfy us by your loving-kindness in the morning; *
so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life. - 15 Make us glad by the measure of the days that you afflicted us *
and the years in which we suffered adversity. - 16 Show your servants your works *
and your splendor to their children. - 17 May the graciousness of our God be upon us; *
prosper the work of our hands; prosper our handiwork.
Mark 12:13-17
The Question about Paying Taxes
Then they sent to him some Pharisees and some Herodians to trap him in what he said. And they came and said to him, ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?’ But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, ‘Why are you putting me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me see it.’ And they brought one. Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ And they were utterly amazed at him.
