16 years ago, when Bishop LaValley asked me to become pastor of St. Agnes, I said yes. Looking back, I realize that decision was another response to the words of Jesus we hear in today’s Gospel. “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.”
The call to priesthood has always been a call to follow Jesus wherever He leads. Sometimes that means leaving what is familiar. Sometimes it means accepting new assignments. Sometimes it means embracing change when we would rather stay comfortable. And now, after 49 years as a priest and 16 years as your pastor, it means letting go once again and trusting God with the future.
Jesus tells us today that whoever loses his life for His sake will find it. I have discovered the truth of those words here among you. When I arrived in Lake Placid, I thought I was coming to serve as your pastor. What I did not realize was how much God would bless me through you. My life today, as a priest and as a human being, is so much more whole and complete, larger, and deeper, than it was 16 years ago. I hope that is true for you too. I hope your life has grown and you have become more whole and complete during our time together.
Together we celebrated countless Masses. Together we baptized children and adults, prepared couples for marriage, buried loved ones. It happened through shared laughter and tears, in our celebrations, joys, and thanksgivings, and in our losses, hurts, and sorrows. It happened in the best and worst of times. It happened when we reached out to the needs of Lake Placid and offered ourselves as a public face of Christ. Through all of it, God was at work.
One of the great blessings of these years was our journey with Alpha. We invited people not simply to know about Jesus but to encounter Jesus personally. We watched lives change. We watched faith come alive. We discovered that evangelization is not a program but a relationship with Christ. Then came our embrace of Divine Renovation. It challenged us to ask not, “How do we maintain what we have?” but “How do we become the parish God is calling us to be?” It taught us to place the Holy Spirit at the center, to strengthen hospitality, to deepen prayer, and to become missionary disciples.
We did not do everything perfectly. I have always held that the task of preaching is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Apparently, some of my homilies were too aggravating for some and they walked away. But I tried to listen to the Holy Spirit. As a priest I tried to become less focused on preserving an institution and more focused on leading people to live as disciples of the Kingdom of God.
Today’s Gospel also speaks about hospitality. “Whoever receives you receives me.” Over these 16 years, you have received me with kindness, generosity, patience, and love. You welcomed me into your homes and your families. You allowed me to walk with you through some of the most sacred moments of your lives. For that I will be forever grateful.
As I retire, I find myself thinking not so much about what I have done, but about what God has done. God has done great things in this parish. God has raised up generous leaders. God has strengthened our school and opened a new Early Childhood Center. God reinforced our outreach to the needy through a new Thrive and Thrift Center. God has deepened our faith through Alpha and Divine Renovation. God has brought people to Himself. And God is not finished yet. The mission continues: to know Jesus Christ and to make Jesus known to the world.
Now comes the hard part, the ending. I don’t know how to end this homily, and part of the difficulty is I don’t want to. So, I won’t. Instead, I will for the rest of my life, declare how much God has done for me through you at St. Agnes.
As I step into retirement, I do so with a heart full of gratitude. Thank you for allowing me the privilege of being your pastor. Thank you for your faith, your friendship, and your love. And if there is one thing I hope we will all continue to do, it is this: wherever God leads us next, may we never stop gratefully declaring how much God has done for us. Amen.