Memory Lane

Seeing how the Holy Spirit steers our lives

05/21/2022

Acts 16:1-10 Paul reached also Derbe and Lystra where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. The brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke highly of him, and Paul wanted him to come along with him. On account of the Jews of that region, Paul had him circumcised, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they traveled from city to city, they handed on to the people for observance the decisions reached by the Apostles and presbyters in Jerusalem. Day after day the churches grew stronger in faith and increased in number. They traveled through the Phrygian and Galatian territory because they had been prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching the message in the province of Asia. When they came to Mysia, they tried to go on into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them, so they crossed through Mysia and came down to Troas.

As Fr. Daniel prepares to depart for his first pastorate, I feel pensive about the path of my own priesthood. Did you know that in 26 years as a priest I have been in charge of at least 20 different positions and parishes? Would you mind taking a little walk down my memory lane with me? After two years as associate of Christ the King in Little Rock, I was made pastor of St. Edward’s in Texarkana in 1998. Those first two years as an associate were like my honeymoon: all fun and no frustration. But just like in every marriage, the honeymoon does not last.

I was only in Texarkana for two months before the bishop called me and moved me to St. Joseph in Fayetteville. In those days, because of a shortage of priests, I was in charge of St. Joseph and St. Thomas Aquinas parishes. 10 months later I was sent to Washington, D.C. to study canon law, and I returned with a canon law degree and feeling very smart in 2000. I was made pastor of St. Edward’s in Little Rock, adjutant judicial vicar and vice chancellor for the Diocese. Promotions comes promptly in wartime, and any able-bodied man can become a general. In 2001, the bishop appointed me as vocation director to recruit seminarians for the priesthood. So, in the first 5 years as a priest, I had already been given 9 different appointments. Apparently, I couldn’t hold down a steady job.

In 2005 the bishop sent me as pastor to St. Raphael in Springdale. During my almost 5 years as pastor, I was also given the responsibility of St. Mary’s in Siloam Springs, and St. John the Baptist in Huntsville. In 2009, I was sent back to St. Joseph in Fayetteville, which I call my “second tour of Fayette-Nam”. During that second tour I was also made pastor of the new mission of Sts. Peter and Paul in Lincoln, AR, as well as judge on the marriage tribunal handling annulment cases. So, in the first 10 years of priesthood, I had been given 15 different assignments.

In 2013, I took three months off as a sabbatical to see if God was calling me to be a Carmelite friar – can you blame me? But in December 2013, I “came back” like Arnold Schwarzenegger and was assigned pastor of Immaculate Conception in Fort Smith. Can you believe I have been here almost 9 years? During my time here I was also give the mission church of St. Leo’s in Hartford, and then the mission of Our Lady of the Ozarks in Winslow. For a few months I was administrator of St. Boniface, while they were in-between pastors. I was also the chaplain for a year for the St. Scholastica Nuns. And I was made administrator of Trinity Junior High, which is now a middle school. So, in 25 years, as a priest I have held the reins of 20 different parishes and positions. Clearly, I am slowing down and slacking off now.

Never in a million years could I have guessed that path of priesthood, and it has been a big blessing to me. On my ordination day on May 25, 1996, I put my hands in the bishop’s hands and promised obedience to him and his successors. But I was really putting my life in the Holy Spirit’s hands, who has really been steering my life. This is what we read in the Acts of the Apostles in the first reading today: “They traveled through the Phrygian and Galatian territory because they had been prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching the message in the province of Asia.”

In other words, the apostles interpreted every twist and turn in their missionary travels as the Holy Spirit steering them one way or another. In the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke walks down memory lane of the apostles’ first pastoral assignments and they had a lot more assignments and appointments than me! But it was the same Holy Spirit guiding their lives as well as mine.

The same Spirit, I believe, guides the path of every Christian’s memory lane. Yesterday I celebrated the wedding of Alejandro and Ca Pacheco. As they said their marriage vows (which they said from memory and not at my prompting), they held hands, like I put my hands in the bishop’s hands almost 26 years ago. In a sense, they were putting their lives in each other’s hands, and letting go of control over the path of their own lives. From now on, their destinies would be inextricably united. They will walk through life together, hand in hand.

But in a deeper sense, they were putting their lives in the hands of the Holy Spirit, just like I did. Today, as they wake up in bed next to each other, husband and wife, they cannot imagine the adventure that is about to unfold before them. And maybe it’s a good thing they cannot imagine it, because if they could, they too might want to become cloistered Carmelites.

Praised be Jesus Christ!