Anniversary Thoughts

In the Roman liturgical calendar, September 30 is the feast of St. Jerome, the great fifth century biblical teacher.  In my personal calendar, September 30 is the 34th anniversary of my priesthood ordination.  Bishop Vincent M. Leonard ordained 12 of us in St. Paul Cathedral for the Diocese of Pittsburgh in 1978, the year of three popes.  As we have done every year, my classmates and I will gather on Sunday the 30th with our families for Mass and a dinner to celebrate this special anniversary.  (Hurray, the Steelers have a bye and can't lose a game that day!)

34 years!  As anyone who has done something for a long time says, where did the years go??!!  I had more hair and less weight that bright fall Saturday morning when my classmates and I prostrated ourselves on the cold floor of the cathedral sanctuary to hear and feel the litany of the saints sung and the ancient prayer of the bishop pronounced over us.  There was black bunting on the entrance of the cathedral as we entered that day, because of the shocking, untimely death of Pope John Paul I only two days before.  He was "only" 65 years old, and had served a mere 34 days as pope.  (One irreverent sibling of a classmate said the black bunting was there because the diocese was in mourning at the ordination of us clowns.)

I look back at the places where I served, and special people I met on the way:  as an assistant pastor in Munhall, McKeesport, Downtown Pittsburgh, Ross; as a pastor on the North Side of Pittsburgh, Hilltop communities, Mt. Washington, Sharpsburg, and now New Castle; in diocesan service in the social concerns office and clergy office. 

I recall very fondly my Jesuit teachers at the Bishop's Latin School; Msgr. Don Kraus and Father George Saladna at St. Paul Seminary; the excellent theologians I had as teachers at St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, and in doctoral work at Duquesne University.

How many hundreds of diocesan meetings (both boring and energizing) have I attended?  Weddings, funerals, baptisms of babies and adults, celebrations of the Eucharist have I led?  Talks give in parishes, courses taught for the diocese, at Duquesne University andthe Byzantine Catholic Seminary, articles written for the Pittsburgh Catholic?  Boards of directors I have sat on for Catholic Charities and other social service and healthcare organizations?  Co-workers in ministry--sisters, laity, deacons, priests, bishops--who taught me so much about Christian life and prayer?

In the slide projector of my memory come up  Kodachrome pictures of my mom and dad, who were such good loving parents to my brothers and me growing up in the South Hills of Pittsburgh.  Dad worked for 35 years as a clerk in the J&L steel mill in Hazelwood.  He volunteered as a Little League baseball manager for 18 years for North Baldwin athletics.  Mom was a cleaning lady in several downtown office towers.  She loved playing bingo, and later hit the slots at casinos.  How I remember my dad's unexpected stroke at age 69 on the steps of St. Mary of Mercy Church, on my parent's 42nd wedding anniversary.  Then the 14 years he survived as an alert and understanding patient in the Vincentian nursing home.  I led the funeral Masses for dad and mom through my tears, with the consolation that they are praying for my brothers, their families, and me every day from heaven.  Over the decades I treasure fun times, laughter at picnics, Super Bowl parties, and relaxing vacations with dear dear friends.

It is a cliche, but also a wisdom statement, one which gives me the title of this blog:  It is not what we receive but what we give that defines us.  I am most grateful to God for all I have received as a son, a brother, a friend, and a Catholic priest these many years.  In the Spirit of Jesus I hope I have given at least a little back through priestly ministry.

Jesus said,

"The gift you have received, give as a gift."

 

(Matthew 10:8)