Reflecting on 83 years
A reflection for Sunday November 12, 2017
By Rev. Fr. Bob Johnnene OFM
Mission Saints Sergius & Bacchus/ Order
Franciscans of Mercy
This coming Thursday
November 16th, I enter my 83rd year of life.
As I look back and count
the numerous blessings that God has bestowed upon me I realize how truly
blessed God has been too me.
Today’s first reading from
Wisdom, chapter 6 tells us; “Wisdom is
radiant and unfading, and she is easily discerned by those who love her, and is
found by those who seek her. She hastens to make herself known to those who
desire her. He who rises early to seek her will have no difficulty, for he will
find her sitting at his gates. To fix one's thought on her is perfect
understanding, and he who is vigilant on her account will soon be free from
care, because she goes about seeking those worthy of her, and she graciously
appears to them in their paths, and meets them in every thought.”
Throughout my entire life
I have attempted, by asking God in prayer, to gain the wisdom and knowledge I
needed to know God’s will for me, and I still continue to seek that gift from
God in spite of realizing that he has provided me the insight as I traveled my
highway of life.
To begin with, when I came
into this world, according to my mother, there were serious doubts I would
actually make it, since she had lost two
other children before and even when I was born, I was dehydrated to such a
degree that the first 6 months were questionable, but since then I have been
blessed with relatively good health and blessed by God to overcome, so far, the
four cancers I had.
My most difficult thing
today is the effect on my body of the Accute Stenosis which makes walking or
standing for long times painful and stressful.
I was blessed to have parents
and family that exposed me to the arts especially music and theater, and who
traveled.
I was at the 1939 World’s
fair, saw the original production of THE KING AND I with Gertrude Lawrence.
By my 13th year
I had traveled and visited 44 of the contiguous states.
I received an excellent
education from devoted nuns and priests and eventually entered the seminary in
my junior year of High School.
I was on the verge of
being ordained a Josephite priest in 1957 when they recommended that I take
some time off to be sure of my vocation, so, I followed my second love,
Theater.
I never became famous, but
I did get to work with people like Julie Andrews, Liza Minnelli, Hal Prince,
Carol Burnett, Elizabeth Montgomery and got to write, produce and direct a show
that was on Broadway.
It was during this time
that I met the woman who would become my wife and the mother of my three
children.
God always kept me
centered whenever I was thinking the gifts He gave me were my own talents and He
did something to get me back on track.
The desire to serve as a
religious was never too far from me and I kept up on my theology, the changes
of Vatican 2, while teaching in Catholic Schools often serving as a Director of
Religious Education.
Sometimes when the rug was
dragged out from under me and I became
very upset and depressed God would save me from doing something drastic and lift
me up.
On one of those occasions
when I was at the bottom, I tossed open the Bible and read the page that it
opened to and there was an answer. It was in the book of Job.
I realized that if we keep
our trust and faith in God and not give up and blame Him, He will lead us to
where He wants us, and He did.
I prayed the following
prayer; “God, what is it you want from
me? I am not good on subtle hints God, I need you to push me, no shove me where
it is you want me” and he led me back to teaching and parish ministry eventually
being ordained a Deacon in 1980.
In 1986 Cardinal Roger
Mahoney founded a ministry within the Diocesan offices to the GLBTQI community
and Divorced Catholics and began working with it as well as my teaching &
parish ministry.
In 2001, at age 67, I
decided it was time to retire and move back to Massachusetts to be near my
family.
I returned home to
Massachusetts finding that there was not much being done in ministry to the
LGBTQI and Divorced Catholics community in New England and so I felt inspired
to found one.
After my mother was called home to the Lord in
1987 I had been submitting application too various religious orders but always
received rejections because; “You are
over our age limit for admission” or some other excuse but I continued my
quest.
I began Mission Saints
Sergius & Bacchus in 2002 without any church sponsorship after discovering
the Saints while on a retreat and felt it was God’s who was inspiring me to do
so.
Much to my surprise, I
received a letter from the Servant Franciscans of the Immaculata which since
has become the Franciscans of the Annunciation of the Infinite Love of God.
They had reviewed my records and transcripts, conferred with my references and
decided that I was worthy to be a member of their order and to be ordained a
priest.
On 8/15/2003,
the feast of the Assumption of Our Blessed Lady, I was ordained and now I am in
my 15th year, the 6th year of the REFLECTIONS TV show.
As a child, I often
visited the Franciscan church here in Boston. I even remember a Franciscan
Priest Fr. Fulgence, guided me when I had serious doubt and questions about
God’s will for me.
Now here I am, entering my
83rd year of life, realizing that everything in my life had been a part of
God’s plan, that I probably would not have the faith in God that I have now if
I was ordained back in 1957.
I realize that my entire
life before my ordination in 2003, was God’s way of giving me the wisdom I
would need to be a good servant to His children.
I pray that whatever time
God has left for me on this earthly plane, I totally give myself over to serving
him and those children He places in my path.
This Thursday as I begin
another year of life I pray that in some way, with the continued help and
Wisdom of Almighty God through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit I may be able
inspire, all those who have felt rejected unwanted and alienated from God and
the Church by the dictates of mere men who are prone to make mistakes, back
into the Mystical Body of Christ the Church.
I enter my Autumn days of
life with prayers asking forgiveness for the mistakes I have made along the
highway of life and Pray that anyone I may have hurt along my life’s journey will
forgive and pray for me.
May God’s wisdom
continue to guide me in all I do so that I serve God with my entire being.
Please Pray for me. Amen.
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