St. Joseph of the Lakes

Watching the news this morning I saw a woman graduating from the University of Minnesota 40 years after she began. Her comment was: “just tell everyone they have to go for it!” The news reporter told us that she began her journey in the 80’s. My first thought was that the 80’s weren’t that long ago; and then I began to count the decades and realized that it took her half a lifetime to achieve this! I began to realize how my brain processes the passing of the years. The eighties, the decade I was ordained in, seems like just yesterday, yet there has been so much that has happened since that time.

This week I mark 39 years of my ordination. My best friend (who is a priest) told me of his family having a 40^th anniversary celebration for him. (That is when I began to think about the fact that I had been ordained 39 years). I can tell you many stories of the things that I have lived through in those years, yet they all seem rather current in my mind. My brother will use the term: “In the way back” when he speaks to his children (and even us) of his earlier years, but I will commonly speak and think as though the events of my history have just happened.  

In all of my personal history I am grateful to have had a part of it shared with you. These have been good years! I have delighted in being part of marriages, baptisms and funerals and all the sacraments. What great grace it has been to walk with you in our journey of faith! This week I have entered into the Medicare years (turning 65 on Thursday) and completed 39 years of service to the Church. God has abundantly blessed me on this wondrous journey called life!