February 16th Pastor's Message

Read this week's message from Father Don

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Dear parishioners,

It’s my birthday next Tuesday and probably I should be telling you about all the wonderful people and experiences I have been blessed with over the past 70 years. I could do this, but it would not be particularly interesting, for my human life has been quite ordinary… Born in Duncan, grew up in Victoria with two siblings, attended a Baptist Church, studied art history, eventually became a Catholic and then a priest.

Much more interesting, for me at least, has been my 70 years of growth in the spiritual life. 

When I was 16, I realized that the visible world was not enough for me, or for anyone else. The daily flow of earthly experiences was often colourful and sometimes amusing, but it lacked depth. More than that, it lacked any clear purpose or enduring importance. It was a world of things and experiences without significant meaning or direction or goal. Even to my teenage brain “Do this” and “Buy that” seemed a poor excuse for human existence.

Quite early on, the doctrine of creation became important to me. When I came to believe that the world and everything in it was created by a loving and bountiful God, it changed everything. This belief bestows upon human life: a goal, purpose and direction; clear guidelines on how we ought to live; a spiritual foundation for the material world; an exaltation of people over things and the pursuit of values over the completion of tasks. 

My growing experience of the living God has given me a profound sense of wonder and gratitude. It has infused depth and mystery into my lived experience and allowed me not to be overwhelmed by the wounds and disappointment of daily existence. 

Above all, I have grown in the Christian life through my 39 years of priestly ministry. At All Saints, St Joseph’s, St Patrick’s and my other parishes I have had the privilege of serving you, the Catholic faithful. It is in the details of your lives and in our shared worship that God has revealed himself to me. Here I have been drawn into the mysteries of life and love, where God abides. In ministry, I have discovered my own smallness and the greatness of Him who made and sustains all things. Thank you for being such a wonderful part of my life.  

Wanting you to know me a bit better, I have shared a few thoughts on that which has shaped my adult life. The great St Augustine does a much better job of it in this beautiful description of what I have attempted to outline above:  

Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you; now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.

Love

Fr Don (the birthday boy)

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