I thought it would be nice to sing you a song on my way out, as you know I like to do. It has been a tremendous five years for me. I thought originally, I was only going to be here for four years. I really think that this last year has been a tremendous blessing. It has been just a last year of grace for me. I have truly enjoyed getting to have five years with you. Over the years, the one thing that I have come to realize, without a doubt, is I can accomplish nothing on my own. I cannot do anything on my own. What I love about this parish, and what I love about the people of St. Joseph’s Parish, is you have been wonderful to me. You have been so good to me. You have been so good to Father Martello. I can already see how good you are to Father Tim. You are so generous. Not only with your time, talent, and treasure but also your willingness to, first of all, put up with me and all of my antics, but also to support the many things that we have done together.
We hear in the Gospel today how Jesus went from town to town. I could not help but think about that. That I was only supposed to be here with you for a little while. And during that time, my hope and my prayer is that in some way I have helped you come to know Jesus more. That you have come to know His love. That has been my hope, desire, and my purpose for being here. Over the years, what I have also realized is what a wonderful parish you are. There are just three things I want to say to you.
First of all, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for how good you have been to me, for how much you have helped me and how much you have given to me. I just feel tremendously loved and supported as a priest by all of you. I want to say thank you, first of all.
Secondly, I want to apologize to anyone that I may have hurt, disappointed, or offended. Part of my personality is I just get involved in a lot and I get overinvolved and I disappoint people. if I have disappointed you or if any of my Homilies have upset you, I just hope that it never gets in the way of Jesus because that is who I have always wanted to show you. if I have ever gotten in the way of God’s love, I want to apologize for that.
Thirdly, I just want to tell you that I love you. I truly do. I love St. Joseph’s Parish. I love my time here. This has been a time in my priesthood that I will always treasure and that I will never forget.
The first story is about Father Martello. It involves parishioners as well. When I was getting to know Father Martello, I was not sure what to make of him. I do not know about you, but sometimes he looks a little bit gruff and a little bit irritable. You never know with Father Martello what you are going to get out of him. But when I came to the parish, the first thing he did was open his arms like this and gave me a big bear hug. He just gave me this big, huge hug, and I knew from that moment on that I was really just going to be welcome here. He made me feel welcome here.
Over the time, as a priest, you are busy. You are working a lot and doing a lot. Sometimes Father Martello wanted to have fun. He loved to just enjoy people. I was getting the hint that I was not spending enough quality time with him. It was actually the parishioners that told us about this show called “The Big Bang Theory.” It was a parishioner that gave us this set of the series. Father Martello and I watched the entire series while he was here. It was one of the things that we loved doing together. It was just great to be able to laugh at the end of the day.
We also liked going to the movies. At the end of Father Martello’s time here, I drove him everywhere. I was his valet. It was kind of like ‘Driving Ms. Daisy,’ except I was driving Father Martello. I would drive him to the movies and other places. There was one night where the men’s group took us to dinner and a movie. Some of the men were going to dinner but not everybody was going to the movie. Some of the men were going to the movie but not to dinner. One group took us to the movie and another group was taking us home. The group dropped us off to see the movie. There was another car taking us home. It was a fall day and it was dark and rainy. Father Martello had his black trench coat on and he had that black hat on that he wears with the feather. He looked like something out of the Mafia.
We were coming out of the movie theater, and Father Martello was getting a little impatient because our driver was not there yet. Why aren’t they picking us up? I see lights flashing, and I said, “Oh, good, they are here!” I took him over to the car, opened the front door and got him in the front seat. I closed the door and I jumped in the back seat. I looked in the front and it was not our driver! When I looked at the driver, I smiled and said, “Care to chauffer two priests?” He looked back at me with the meanest look ever, and he said, “Get out of my car.”
I got out of the car and I got Father Martello out of the car. As I was walking away, this little ten-year-old girl went up to the car and she said, “Daddy, who was that?” I mean, could you imagine, expecting to pick up your ten-year-old granddaughter and Father Martello gets in the car? That is one of my favorite memories with him. It was all because of people; people taking us to dinner; people taking us to a movie; parishioners really making us feel loved.
My second story has to do with Father Tim. It was actually my first real encounter, actually his first real encounter with me. Now, I have to say that I really do try to have a good Homily. I really try. And I pray. I ask God, please just give me something, use me as your instrument and speak to me, tell me what you want your people to hear. That is my prayer and I pray all week. I ask God just to give me an idea. I start the Sunday before. Today I will be preparing for next Sunday’s Homily. I will make a Holy Hour with the readings. I will pray and ask God to give me an idea. And guess what? He makes me wait until the last minute!. I swear it is not always my fault. You cannott always blame it on me because God does not give me the ideas sometimes until late in the game. One Sunday he gave me the Homily idea a week before. He gave it to me a whole week before. The idea was the reading about how it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.
The idea came into my mind: What if we actually had a camel? I could show how absurd it is, how big a camel is and how tiny a needle is. I just thought, this sounds like a great idea, God, right? I had a whole week to prepare. I put it on Facebook. I put it on social media. I said, hey, I need someone to find me a camel. Now, you know me, these requests come out every once in a while. I need someone to find me a camel. Within 24 hours I had a camel and I had a Homily. I was all excited because I could actually enjoy the week and not agonize about coming up with a Homily. But I forgot one thing: I didn’t ask the pastor for permission.
Friday came and I realized I had not told Father Tim yet. Now I think this was his first weekend here. I said, “Hey, Father Tim. I have a question to ask you.” He said, “Yes, what’s wrong? What are you so nervous about?” I said, “Well, I have this thing I have been meaning to ask you and it slipped my mind. I forgot to ask you.” He said, “Michael, just get it out. What do you want?” I said, “Well, I got a camel for Mass this weekend.” He said, “What do you mean?” I said, “I got a camel. I was going to use this camel for my Homily.” He said, “Like a real camel?” I said, “Yeah, I got a real camel, and I was going to use it for my Homily. Don’t worry, it’s all taken care of.” He just looks at me confused, he goes, “Michael, how does a camel slip your mind?” And I said, “Well, welcome to me as your associate.”
But again, I could not have done it on my own.
The third thing I want to talk about is all the things that we have started together. The first thing, the wonderful thing about Father Martello, is he allowed me just to jump in, just to jump in and do anything. One of the first things that I wanted to do was to start the renewals here. Again, I knew I could not do it on my own. I literally did not know anybody. I was just trying to find twelve men that would help me. I remember after Mass, I was literally grabbing men by the shirt and saying, “I need you for six months. Will you help me for six months?” And one by one I got nine guys, and that was it. And finally we had that Matthew Kelly thing where we gave everybody the books, Matthew Kelly, “Rediscover Catholicism.” We had a series in the hall. I still did not have enough men. I finally just said, “I need twelve men. I only have nine. I need three more. We are not going to leave today until I have three more men.” Then I waited in silence for, like, five more minutes until three men raised their hands.
Well, because of their yes, we have the Men’s Renewal. We have the Women’s Renewal. We have the Men’s Fellowship Group and the Women’s Fellowship Group. We have RCIA. We have the mission team to El Salvador. We have gone on pilgrimages. We have the Palestinian group. We have all these wonderful things. I was able to do the parish mission for two years here. Pray 40 Days, Examen prayer. All of that is because people said yes. My hope is that through all of your yeses, all of the shenanigans that I have put you through, that hopefully you come to know Jesus more. It has not been about Father Michael. It has not been about anything that I have been doing; but really it is about coming to know Jesus more. I hope that you come to continue to know Him more through your love, support, and participation here at the St. Joseph’s Parish.
So my final words to you will be this song.
Will You Love Jesus More?
I feel quite sure if I did my best
I could maybe impress you
With tender words and a harmony
A clever rhyme or two
But if all I’ve done in the time we’ve shared
Is turn your eyes on me
Then I’ve failed at what I’ve been called to do
There’s someone else I want you to see
When we go our separate ways
When this moment is a memory
Will you remember His face
Will you look back and realize
You sensed His love more than you did before
I’d pray for nothing less
Than for you to love Jesus more
I’d like to keep these memories
In frames of gold and silver
And reminisce a year from now
About the smiles we’ve shared
But above all else I hope you will come
To know the Father’s love
When you see the Lord face to face
You’ll hear Him say “well done”
When we go our separate ways
When this moment is a memory
Will you remember His face
Will you look back and realize
You sensed His love more than you did before
I’d pray for nothing less
Than for you to love Jesus more [CHORUS] Will you love Jesus more
When we go our separate ways
When this moment is a memory
Will you remember His face
Will you look back and realize
You sensed His love more than you did before
I’d pray for nothing less
Than for you to love Jesus more
I’d pray for nothing less
Than for you to love Jesus more
