|
Director’s Corner
|
|
Kevin Barr Program Director Saint John’s Hospice
Email me at or call |
Broken, Blessed, Given
Last year, I received a call from Father Joe Meehan. Father Joe was the beloved Pastor at Saint Eugene in Primos for many years. After retiring from that ministry Father Joe had kept busy helping out at Saint Francis in Springfield as well as volunteering at Saint John’s during our busy lunchtime. Father Joe asked me if I could stop by the rectory the next day. He mentioned that he and his brother, Monsignor Fran Meehan, had something that they wanted to give to me for Saint John’s Hospice.
I had already been blessed with so many God given gifts through my friendship with Msgr Fran Meehan. He was my pastor at Sts Simon and Jude for 18 years! More so, he was a mentor, a dear friend, a spiritual director, a lover of the Gospel, an advocate for the poor, a good priest!
As I pulled into the parking lot that next morning, I had a gut feeling that I was about to receive a unique gift from these two good priests! As Father Joe warmly greeted me he handed me an envelope with a large amount of cash in it. Father Joe explained that he and his brother decided to have the chalices that they were given as gifts at their ordinations melted down so that the gold, silver, rings and other precious metals that formed them could be sold and the proceeds given to support the poor. These chalices would no longer be beautiful, ornate symbols that celebrated the gift of priesthood and many years of service and love of God’s people. They would be broken and transformed finding a new, practical and precious way for God’s love to reach the poor.
As I returned to the parking lot I knew that I was so blessed to experience this gift of love, of letting go, of servant leadership. Broken, Blessed and Given – we celebrate this transformational process weekly at Eucharist. But, in a different way, don’t we celebrate this vulnerable flow daily with the broken men who come through the doors at Saint John’s?
The cash was quickly put to use supporting the homeless men we serve daily at Saint John’s Hospice. The story behind this gift continues to be a life-long gift for me.
Thank you Father Joe and Msgr Fran for the gift of your financial support and, more importantly, for the gift of your priesthood that showered so many of us with God’s love, mercy and forgiveness. (Msgr Fran Meehan passed away this past July. I continue to both celebrate and grieve this beautiful man’s life and death.)
[From Saint John’s Hospice Newsletter, September 2011]
|
