A common blessing in Scripture is "from generation to generation," meaning that a particular blessing or grace will be invested in you from generation to generation. So many of the blessings and graces that we enjoy today come through our ancestors, from the generations that have come before us.The faith and practices that we hold today-- some of those things that bring us so much life and energy-- have been passed down to us through the previous generation. All of us know this well in our relationships with our parents. We know that we bear many of the same mannerisms and interests and joys and even some quirks as our parents. It is amazing to think about how much we receive from them. Most of the opportunities, the lessons, the perspectives that we have had in life, at least early on, have been given to us by our parents and the generation before us. This is a cause for great gratitude-- a gratitude that we should probably express to our parents and all of those people who have formed us into the people that we are today.
In a broader sense we experience this in the Church as well. We receive the faith that we have and hold from our parents and from the teachers, role models, and priests who have played a role in our lives. Being a seminarian I am incredibly grateful for the priests, especially in Baltimore, who have given their entire lives to passing the faith on so that we in our generation can join them in ministry and hope to do half as good of a job as they did for us.
One place in the seminary where this reality of blessings coming from generation to generation takes place is in spiritual direction. Every seminarian has a spiritual director-- and the role of the spiritual director is to spiritually, and even literally in some cases, walk with the seminarian as he discerns God's will and seeks to give himself to God and the Church. The spiritual director listens and helps the seminarian to discern how and where God is active in his prayer and daily experiences. He can also function as a confessor, celebrating the sacrament of Reconciliation with the seminarian. It is a unique and priveleged relationship.
Two weeks ago many of my brother seminarians and I said a temporary good-bye to our spiritual director, Fr. Bill Lyons. Fr. Bill had been fighting cancer for some time and passed from this life in peace, just moments after receiving the Eucharist from one of his best friends.
Fr. Bill was a great spiritual director. He was able to
communicate incredibly well to his directees and the many other seminarians who sought his advice that he was really with us-- he was really walking with us, on the journey to the Father. He was a prolific presence here in the community as well. A few of the guys here have said that he had one foot here on earth and another foot in heaven, because he a unique perspective of patience and hope-- almost like he had tasted heaven so really that he knew that there is really no reason to get worked up about the small stuff, no reason to worry about much at all-- Jesus did come, his Spirit is with us and within us, and he will come again.
communicate incredibly well to his directees and the many other seminarians who sought his advice that he was really with us-- he was really walking with us, on the journey to the Father. He was a prolific presence here in the community as well. A few of the guys here have said that he had one foot here on earth and another foot in heaven, because he a unique perspective of patience and hope-- almost like he had tasted heaven so really that he knew that there is really no reason to get worked up about the small stuff, no reason to worry about much at all-- Jesus did come, his Spirit is with us and within us, and he will come again. And thanks be to God and our ancestors in the faith, we were able to mourn, pray for, and celebrate the life and eternal life of Fr. Bill. His funeral Mass was one of the holiest experiences of worship that I have ever been a part of. It was full of gratitude, of joy, of sorrow, of hope, of love, of communal support. It was full of our faith. It was a blessing to be here and get to know and walk with and learn from such a man and to take part in such a fitting celebration.
I know and have already seen how Fr. Bill lives on and how many of us here are enjoying the blessings that he has helped us to receive and to foster and to cultivate and to learn how to pass on. Thanks be to God that he is so good and that our faith is so rich and that our Church is so lifegiving-- from generation to generation.
Fr. Bill now joins those who have carried the torch of faith well. He now glances to us from time to time to pray for us as we give our lives to carry that same torch. May it set the world on fire!
