FROM THE PASTOR
My dear parishioners,
This weekend we celebrate a reunion and a farewell. We celebrate the return to public Masses and we also say goodbye to Fr. Robert. For a priest, leaving a parish is one of the hardest parts of ministry. We all knew when we were ordained that we were entering lives of service. We love and serve God by caring for his people. A good priest invests his heart into his ministry, he ‘lays down his life’ for the people of God, and that is a great joy, but it comes at a cost. There will inevitably come a time when we will be reassigned, and we must say goodbye, pack our bags and move on. It is painful to say goodbye, especially if a priest has given his heart to his work. C. S. Lewis wrote in his book The Four Loves,
Partings like this can take an emotional toll on the people as well as the priest. Even though this weekend is a joyful reunion of a community that has been separated for three months, it is also a bittersweet moment as it is Fr. Robert’s last weekend at St. Gabriel. We’ll all have a chance to say goodbye after each Mass. The great consolation in all of this is that the members of the Body of Christ are still connected wherever we are. The Eucharist still binds us together in a profound way. And that is a little taste of heaven.
God bless you all,
Fr. Don