FatherRon.com

I have a special story for us. I believe there is a powerful lesson for
all of us in this story:
Harry never even vaguely considered himself a minister in his
church. “Come on,” he would say. “The people who give out the
Eucharist, the ones who lecture, maybe they are ministers, but me…. I’m
just an usher.
A young priest in Harry’s parish had given a talk on the “ministry”
of a greeter, but Harry wasn’t buying that “malarkey.” He said he was
just trying to “give the pastor a hand” by taking up the collection,
steering people to Holy Communion and saying hello to parishioners
when they came into church.
Harry believed that, until one cold March night he came home
from work and his wife told him the pastor called. Harry returned the
call and the pastor told him that a letter had been received at the rectory.
The letter was simply addressed to “Harry the usher.”
The priest said that since he was the only usher called Harry,
would he please pick up his letter. Harry, intrigued by the request,
complied and on the way home ripped open the envelope and in the dim
light of the car read the following:
Dear Harry, I don’t know your last name, but I guess that’s fair.
You don’t know mine either. I’m Gert, Gert form the 8:00 am Mass. I am
writing you for a couple of reasons, and I hope you will understand. One
of the reasons is to ask a favor. I am not particularly close to any of the
priests in the parish but somehow, I feel close to you. I don’t even know
how you got to know my first name, but every Sunday morning when I
walked into Mass you smiled and greeted me and called me by my name.
We would exchange a few words that were perhaps meaningless to most
like how bad the weather was; how much you like my Easter hat and
how late I was on a particular Sunday.
I don’t have any close family left, Harry. My husband has been
dead for 16 years and the kids are scattered. Not too many people smile
and greet an old lady like me, but you did.
Harry, in the little time left to me, I just wanted to say thank you.
Thank you for the thoughtfulness; for remembering my name is Gert; for
the smiles and little laughter; the consideration and the conversation.
Now for the favor, I am dying Harry. My time is running out. It is not
important that you come to my wake, but what is important to me is that
when they bring me to church for Mass for the last time, you will be
standing at the front entrance. It wouldn’t seem right if you weren’t
standing to say “Hello Gert.” “Good to see you.”
If you are there, Harry, I will feel assured that your warm
hospitality in my home parish will be duplicated by Peter, Jesus, and
Mary in my new parish, my new home. I hope they will say as you
always did, “Hello Gert.” “It is good to see you.”
The lady who wrote that letter recently was buried from her parish
church. Harry did stand at the entrance. He smiled and said the words
Gert wanted to hear as he gently touched the coffin. Harry gave Gert
Eucharist.
Eucharist, when will we learn that Eucharist is so much more than
the ritual, following along the missalette, an obligation, a passive
congregation, a me and God experience, a place to be entertained, a how
fast can I get out of here happening.
Eucharist, so much more; two sides of the same coin. Jesus present
in the Bread and Wine, and Gods’ word, the flip side, Jesus present in
the people. Eucharist, so much more. When will we learn

As I read through the Scriptures – each week – certain words,
phrases – just seem to pop out at me and cause me to wrestle with
them and see how they speak to my everyday life. An example of this came in the Second Reading of Paul to
the Ephesians, “Be Imitators of God.”
How can I do that I thought? I started thinking about people in
my life experience that had impressed me by the way they were
trying to imitate this Compassionate God that we talk so much
about.
I have a very powerful memory of some people of faith just like
those of us here, putting flesh and blood, hands and eyes, a heart
on the Compassion of God.
Some years back, I had the opportunity to attend a convention near
Stanford University on Parish Life Today. A lot of people from 4 or 5
different states – very practical workshops on various aspects of Parish
Ministry I chose to attend one A A workshop entitled, “Ministering to Persons
with AIDS and their Loved Ones.” The speaker was Fr. Tony Maguire,
at that time the pastor of Most Holy Redeemer in San Francisco’s Castro
District, the heart of the gay community.
The description of the workshop went like this:
How a parish of “gays and gray” became a healing presence to a
community ravaged by AIDS? This was done by means of growth in
prayer, (liturgical, personal, devotional) and by developing service
programs inspired by unconditional love and by opening the parish to
the real needs of local community.
Fr. Maguire began to explain how all this took place.
A. The parish leadership began to realize there was a problem.
Many young gay men dying all around them. What was the
parish doing to minister to these people, children of God. The
leadership believed all people deserve to die with dignity and
with support and care of people around them.
B. The first thing the parish began to do was to pray – the petitions
at Mass often mentioned the names of people with AIDS and
their families. They reframed an old church practice called the
40-hour devotion and prayed for healing. What they found was
that the more they prayed as a parish – the more their hearts
become open – more sensitive.
C. What happened next was a process of education. Through
lectures by doctors, nurses and psychologists they started
dealing with the prejudices – phobias – questions/fears people
had. This was a very slow process – which is ongoing. What
all this did was to build some bridges of understanding between
people.
D. They developed and trained working groups, 60 home care
volunteers, (regular people like you and me), who made
personal visits to people who were dying of AIDS. They
brought them to Church, gave them attention, and listened to
them. 80 support volunteers sent letters, cards, and hot meals to
the families.
Maria Sorentino, an 80-year-old Italian Nonna had been in the
parish for 50 years; her ministry, hugging people in wheel chairs.
When someone would question her, she would say “MA!” They are
people – just like me and you.
E. Fr. Maguire made it very clear that there were limits to the
parish’s involvement. There was a clear moral line, anything
and everything was not okay. That line however never got in
the way of compassion.
Some real miracles began taking place; — people became more
open to the Church that they had been away from for years. They
experienced a more compassionate and hopeful and sensitive
church.
Grieving parents found a place where they could come and express
themselves. One lady said, “I come here each week from San Jose,
(50 miles away) to find the support I need to cope with my son who is
dying of AIDS. I can’t say anything in my own parish.
F. Fr. Maguire ended his presentation by quoting a male prostitute
who was dying of AIDS, whom the parish was ministering to:
–“In this death bed – I have finally found human love that I
spent so long looking for. In this death bed through these
people, I have finally found my God.”
Be imitators of God – Be compassionate, love one another. It does
not say love one another (if) they are healthy – young – good looking
– get good grades – agree with your moral standards – live like we
think they should live.
It simply says: LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
Thank you, people of Most Holy Redeemer, for being
Imitators of God.
Thank you, people of San Carlos, for also being Imitators of
God.