The Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time, C February 10, 2019
Fr. Albert Farewell to St. Peter’s St. Peter’s, New Iberia
“Here I am,” Lord,” send me!” Just under 10 years ago, I prayed these same words that we hear from Isaiah. It was a lot like having a crush at first, but that sense grew from mere attraction into a commanding love until it seemed to be a permanent fixture in my spiritual life. For what I had thought was the third time in my life, I had fallen in love. Unlike the two previous falls, however, this was not with a woman, but with God, His Church, the whole human race! Also unlike the previous two, this was not an obsessive, self-serving “love,” but a surprising desire to give rather than to have.
Like Isaiah and like Peter, God suddenly showed up in my life in a new, more profound way; I was overwhelmed. But he called and I said, “here I am!” Here I am indeed, now just over 31 months after being ordained to the priesthood saying farewell to my first parish. “Send me!” I said, and he sent me to you… and God am I glad that you did.
You, my dear people of St. Peter’s, I will always love. I am so grateful for my time here, for Fr. Blanda’s friendship and guidance, for the loving support of the staff, and for each of you who have prayed for me, supported me, challenged me, and taught me what it means to serve you as your priest. Thank you.
And while I am at it, I am sorry for the times I have hurt you, let you down, and failed to offer to you the divine love I was called to represent. It was my every intention throughout to, as Paul says, to hand “on to as of first importance what I also received,” the Gospel. I have tried to give myself to this community, but even more importantly to give you the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For those times I have failed to respond to the grace of God for your benefit, please forgive me and do not let it prevent the Gospel from taking ever-deeper root in you.
Please pray for me. Once again, the Lord answers that call “send me!” I am being sent again, now to be a first-time pastor for God’s dear children. What a joy, what an opportunity, what a challenge! Pray that I may be the fisher of men I am called to be and thank you.
These readings really capture well the theme of being sent by God – it a wonderful providence, but let’s not spend too much time talking about me, for these words are addressed also to you. On this final day of service to St. Peter’s, please allow me one last prophetic challenge to you. Yes, we priests have a particular call to be fishers of men, but, as I’ve said often before, each and every one of you shares in Christ’s mission. Your baptism made you priest, prophet, and king. These narratives of God’s call and man’s answer apply just as well to you. For almost 200 years, St. Peter’s has been here. Priests have come and gone while some of you are third, fourth, and fifth generation parishioners. With such a heritage, what will you do to hand on to others what you have received? I offer you these three points: Recognize decline, Repent of sin, and put out into the deep.
Recognize our decline. Isaiah and Peter were both called at times of decline. The Jewish kingdom of Israel was at one time dominant and influential – think of King David and King Solomon. By the time of Isaiah, the Assyrian Empire was rising, exile was imminent, and Judaism was quickly losing its position and power. After Isaiah, there was some return to prominence, but by the time of Jesus and Peter, Jerusalem and Judaism was again insignificant, dominated by the Roman Empire. Yet, Jesus calls on Peter to proclaim the true faith, the fulfillment of Judaism.
Neither Isaiah nor Peter could answer their call if they rested on the remnants of their religious culture. Neither of them could succeed by just carrying on as usual. Isaiah and Peter both knew they were at the bottom of society, which is why they were willing to fight so hard in lifting up the Truth the world had forgotten. American culture is no longer Christian. We must stop acting like the Christian ethic is well-known and stop presuming that the culture even recognizes who Jesus is. God is calling. If we are to answer – and we really must answer – we must first admit it to ourselves and be willing work from the bottom.
Which brings us to the next point, repent of sin. Both Isaiah and Peter react to God’s call with terror. “Depart from me!” “I am a man of unclean lips!” We modern people, however, tend to presume an easy familiarity with everything holy. Goofing off in Churches, carelessles receiving the Eucharist, or doing so with grave sin, presuming “God understands” our sins and lets it all go. People literally died in both the Old and New Testaments when they carelessly paraded their evil in the presence of God.
It’s not that we need fear a vengeful God, but we really ought to fear the sins that, in justice, demand our destruction. The only way to begin God’s mission, to climb out of our decline is radical holiness – yours and mine. God doesn’t need any more 1 hour a week Catholics. He needs saints and he needs saints here at St. Peter’s! I promise now I will not stop striving to be a saintly priest, but even if I should fail in that promise, you must not stop. Being a saint is impossible on our own, so we must rely on our only hope: God’s mercy and our repentance. Jesus does not deny Peter’s sin, God does not ignore Isaiah’s sin. Instead, God places fire in Isaiah’s mouth and Jesus places the burning desire to catch souls in Peter’s heart. Acknowledge your sin and let the love of God and God’s people burn it away.
Finally, put out into the deep. Catholics cannot stay in comfortable, familiar territory. Peter the professional fisherman takes fishing advice from Jesus the Carpenter and fishes at an unusual time in an unusual place. We can continue to cry out about marriage and abortion and bibles in public school, but there aren’t many fish to be caught in those waters. Most of those people are already in the boat of the faith. So, what is deep water for you? Perhaps taking a hard look at how we think and talk about immigration, the environment, dependence on fossil fuels, healthcare, or the economy. I’m not saying we roll over on what we know to be true, I’m saying we, like Peter, need to be willing to stay up all night fishing – to really look for the truth the “other side” just might have right. If we can give credit for any truth they do have, we’ll much more likely to pull them into the truth they don’t have.
Recognize decline, repent of sin, and put out into the deep. I’m just one priest and I’m moving on, but the Gospel is bigger than me or this parish. I don’t have all the answers, but you and I both work for the one who does. So let’s each continue to follow him, to hear his call and say “Here I am, Lord, send me!” no matter where that takes us next.
Thank you for everything, and May God continue to bless St. Peter’s.