Giving thanks for God’s blessings and the people who have crossed our paths

Back in 2006, as I prepared to leave the Diocese of Little Rock for the Diocese of Joliet, my calendar was full of “farewells.” I discovered that my emotions were on overdrive. Folks had been so good to me in Arkansas that I had many reasons to be grateful. Signs abounded that God’s love was at work there. I also discovered that the best way to say goodbye is to give thanks, over and over. Conscious and careful thanksgiving is a powerful way to see God’s footprints throughout one’s life. That lesson was driven home for me one spring day before I left for Joliet, as I visited Memphis (my hometown, where I served as a priest for 22 years) for the funeral of a priest friend.

I did not go to the cemetery immediately after the funeral Mass, planning to go later so that I could have some quiet time by myself. Mid-afternoon the sun was shining and a strong breeze was blowing across the 80 beautiful acres that comprise historic Calvary Cemetery in Memphis. Everything was in bloom, and it was a glorious day to be there.

Visiting family and friends

My first stop was at the graves of my parents. Knowing that after moving north my opportunities to visit would be less frequent, I wanted to spend a few moments there. It was the perfect place to think and pray. I thanked them for all they did for me: rearing me, loving me, guiding me, sacrificing for me, forgiving me and supporting me. I’m sure I don’t know the half of it. I also asked them to pray for me, as I do every day, that I will be a good bishop and generous in God’s service. I truly feel their prayers.

Next I visited the graves of some elderly friends I knew many years ago in my first parish assignment. Before his death, I had made a promise to Mike that I would visit his and Marie’s graves each time I stopped by my parents’ graves. Back to that in a moment.

Next I drove to the section of the cemetery called the “Priests’ Mound,” a hill topped with a marble altar and crucifix surrounded by the graves of priests who served in west Tennessee. I began at the most recent grave and stopped at each one, circling around the altar until I reached the graves of those who had died long before my time. At each marker I remembered something about the priest and asked him to pray for me.

Please don’t think I was sad that afternoon, or that spending so much time at the cemetery was a morbid farewell. To the contrary, I was at peace, realizing stop after stop that I have been blessed by good parents, good priest mentors, good friends and good example from saintly parishioners. In so many words, God said to me, “See how good I’ve been to you?”

Painting portraits of God’s goodness

Back to the elderly former parishioners whose graves I always visit. I once wrote a column about them (see November 2014 edition), explaining that in the late 1970s I visited their home monthly on my First Friday Communion call route. I have always recalled those visits as full of sweetness and faith. I can picture the two of them in their simple home, deeply in love with one another and with the Lord, as if it were yesterday.

Do you know what I discovered after writing that column? I never met Marie! She died before I was assigned to the parish. At first I was taken aback by that discovery and thought there must be some mistake on the grave marker. I remembered her as clear as a bell. I could picture her sitting in their living room. But there was no mistake. I had never met her.

Not long afterward, I told my secretary about this strange experience. She commented, “Isn’t it wonderful that Mike’s love for her was so strong that even though you never met her, his telling you about her was filled with such tender detail that he painted a beautiful portrait of her in your mind?” That’s exactly what had happened. His grateful love had etched a lasting image of her in my memory.

That’s why it’s crucial that we give thanks in loving detail for God’s blessings and the people who have crossed our paths. Not only are we giving God his due for all he’s done for us — we’re also painting portraits of his goodness in our memories, portraits that stay with us throughout life as never-failing evidence of his abounding presence. 

Send your prayer intentions to Archbishop Sartain’s Prayer List, Archdiocese of Seattle, 710 Ninth Ave., Seattle, WA 98104.

This column is taken from Archbishop Sartain’s book A Journey to the Heart of Jesus: Guideposts Along the Way. Published by Our Sunday Visitor in 2014, it contains 56 essays written for the (arch)diocesan publications of Little Rock, Joliet and Seattle.

Northwest Catholic - July/August 2015