"YOU JUST CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP" #32

 

I'LL NEVER FORGET OLD WHAT'S HIS NAME

One of the most confusing thing about a Sunday Mass for a priest is the number of people who want to inform you about some need, some schedule or some prayer request just as you are about to go up the isle. The bigger the parish, the more confusing it can get. Sometimes, you get home with loose dollar bills people give you for a donation to some charity, maybe a Mass request or even a personal gift. By the time you get home, you can't remember what amount if or what cause. It gets even more complicated for prayer requests 

I remember one event in particular in particular. Someone asked me to add a family member to the petitions read at Mass. They do not realize that they may be the third or fourth person in a row with an emergency request because they are facing a crisis.  Sometimes, I can remember who made the request, but not what the request was about!

In one of my smaller parishes, a woman by the name of Nancy approached me and asked me to pray for one of her family members. I agreed to add her intention at the end of the petitions that the lector read. By the time we got to that point in the Mass, I tried very hard to remember the request details. Rather than admit my lapse of memory, I tried to "wing" it in the hopes that I would hit the target. "Let us pray for Nancy's mother who died this week!" I looked out at Nancy and she was shaking her head and mouthing "no!" I tried again, "Let us pray for Nancy's mother who is seriously ill!" I looked out at Nancy and again she was shaking her head and mouthing "no!" I tried again, "Let us pray for Nancy who will be having surgery this week!" I looked out at Nancy and again she was shaking her head and mouthing "no!" By this time I was panicking, so I said, "Nancy, will you stand up and tell us your prayer request so we can pray for it?" She stood up and said, "Let us pray for Father Knott who can't remember anything and for my daughter who is going away to college! 

----

When I left for the seminary at age 14, I entered St. Thomas Minor Seminary to start high school. We  were not allowed to call home or even go home except for two weeks around Christmas and over the summer months. One day, after I had been gone for several months, I got the chance to secretly call home. I thought my family would be missing me and would be thrilled to hear my voice again. My father answered the phone. When he answered the phone, he asked, "Who is this?" I proudly answered, "It's Ronnie!" In an embarrassing "out of sight, out of mind" moment, he asked again, "Ronnie who?"  I learned a hard lesson that day - with six siblings at home even parents can have so much to do that they can afford to lose track of one or two! 

----

There were moments of great celebration after month's of hard work when I was pastor. After one of those truly successful programs that we had worked so long and hard to pull off, a few staff members and I met in my office to "debrief." I think we may have even opened a bottle of wine for a toast. After the celebration had gone on for a while, I turned to Elaine Winebrenner (Music Director) and supposedly famously said, "It's hell being wonderful!" With that, they looked at me as if they didn't know me and I had just rained on the parade! In my own defense, I was just trying to remind them that "great success" always requires "great effort!" They repeated my observation every chance they got after that day. but we always laughed at it!      

----

I recently presided at a funeral when a family did not even inform me as to when and what time the funeral service would be held. They just expected and assumed that I would be there to lead the funeral service whenever they planned it. When I heard that he had died and I had not heard from them yet, I had to look it up on his obituary in the newspaper to find out. Luckily, I could rearrange my schedule to be able to honor their request. If not, it could have been a real embarrassment for both of us! 

This has happened at both funerals and weddings when people just "assume" you are available and have "nothing better to do" on their schedule. 

I remember standing in front of church greeting people, several years back when I was in a small country parish. A young couple came up to me to show me their shiny new engagement ring. "We are getting married,"  they said triumphantly! I answered, "That's great! Congratulations!" I went on to ask when they were getting married. They answered confidently, "At 10:00 am on October 15!" Trying to show my interest and support, I continued to ask question. "Where is the wedding?" They quickly responded, "Here, of course!" I was beginning to panic since I had not heard of any wedding being scheduled at my church. I just assumed that they had invited another priest they knew, so I plowed on with my questions. "Who is doing it? They shot back in short order, "You!" With so many of their family members and friends standing within ear-shot, I had to hold my tongue. Believe me, it was one of the hardest tongue-holding I have ever done! Lamely, I was able to get this out and get away from them before I "let loose!" Well, I will check my calendar when I get back to the rectory and let you know whether I have anything else going on that day! I went home and started a list of wedding do's and don'ts to publish in the parish bulletin! RULE NUMBER ONE: No weddings will be scheduled in this parish until after the bride and groom have met with the pastor! 

SHOULD THE BAND GET BACK TOGETHER?

 REMBERING OUR "PARISH MISSIONS"

I have conducted over 70 PARISH MISSIONS on various topics in Kentucky, Indiana and Florida. Some I presented alone (out-of-state), but many of them were presented with Elaine Winebrenner and her gospel music group REFLECTIONS.  All of them were "magic" in their own way, but our two "favorites" were the ones we did at St. Augustine Church in Lebanon, Kentucky and the Meade County Fairgrounds in Brandenburg. Kentucky. Once we gathered the gospel music group, we created "regional" and "county-wide" Parish Missions.   

After paying expenses, the money was given to support some of the mission dioceses in the Caribbean. 

Here are just some samples of some of the many Parish Missions we presented over several years. 

HOLY FAMILY CHURCH - LOUISVILLE, KY

CHRIST THE KING CATHEDRAL - LEXINGTON, KY

THE FORMER ST. BARNABAS CHURCH - LOUISVILLE, KY

ST.  AUGUSTINE CHURCH - LEBANON, KY

CATHEDRAL OF ASSUMPTION - LOUISVILLE

MEADE COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS - BRANDENBURG, KY

FROM BEHIND THE ALTAR LOOKING OUT AT THE CONGREGATION

ONE PRIEST'S REFLECTION ON SUNDAY MASS

Father Ronald Knott

As I look out at the congregation every weekend, I don't just see a crowd. I see individuals. In a sea of mostly gray hair, some individuals stand out: young families with small children, immigrants, widows and widowers, special needs children, struggling youth, racial minorities, old people with canes and walkers and even military personnel sometimes.  

I SEE THEM AND I PRAY FOR THEM

I pray especially for those married couples in church with 1,2,3,4 or more kids in tow. They have given up their own comfort and convenience and have committed themselves to becoming servants of their children for several years. They provide them with food, shelter, health care, entertainment, education and protection. They cook for them. They do their laundry, cut their hair or take them to the barber shop, shop for their clothes, meet with their teachers, wash and maintain the family car and teach them how to use technology properly. They take them to endless sports events, make costumes for Halloween and take them Trick or Treating, help them with their homework, serve on boards and committees, take them to the doctor, fund extra-curricular activities, bake cakes, muffins and cookies on demand for school and parish events, volunteer at church, look after their own elderly parents, celebrate their birthdays, decorate the house for holidays, help them with Sacramental Preparation, get things repaired and try to keep things running smoothly around the house. 

I pray especially for the older parishioners, especially widows, widowers and those who are single either by choice, circumstance or divorce. I pray for the immigrants who still struggle to adapt and find their way. I pray for the sick, the home-bound and those in institutions like prisons, hospitals, nursing homes and the military.  

As I look out and see immigrants, I am reminded to pray for them and my many friends in other countries around the world. Because I was lucky enough to lead over 150 priest convocations in 10 countries and because I was lucky enough to establish the "World Priest" program at St. Meinrad serving priests and seminarians from several more countries serving in the US, I know people from around the world and hear from many of them especially around the holidays. I intentionally and regularly pray for them and their families especially that they will be spared the cruelty of anti-immigrant words, deeds and policies.    

I pray with a special intensity for youth and young adults, especially those who are bullied, those confused about their sexual identity, those who have been abused, those with low self-esteem, those who are lonely, those battling addictions, those who suffer from debilitating physical conditions including obesity and those who risk life and limbs serving in the military.  I pray that they will choose to embrace the church especially when they grow into adulthood and settle down.

I SEE THEM AND I PRAY FOR MY OWN ABILITY TO INSPIRE THEM

I pray for my own ability to inspire people to be better disciples through my words from the pulpit, through my efforts to give them the best quality service I can give them and through my example as a friendly and compassionate person at the door when they arrive and leave.  

I pray especially for my own good health. So far, so good! I am lucky. Realizing that I am so lucky, I also pray that if I do have some serious health issues coming up, I will somehow be able to model for them how to handle pain and suffering with as much poise and grace as possible like I have witnessed many of them handling.   

Besides my past blessings and present good health, I pray with deepest gratitude for my faith, my vocation and what I have materially. I do not pray for a bigger house, a newer car, a better job, a better family, another vacation or even for more income. I find myself "satisfied" with what I already have and for the people who already love me. 

 

YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, BUT YOU CAN LEAVE A LEGACY

 

‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;

and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’

Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves

but are not rich in what matters to God.

It may sound a bit pious, but I believe in the depths of my being that I have a “vocation,” a “call” from God to be a priest and to be that priest wherever God puts me. Most, maybe all, of my assignments as priest have not been in places that I would have chosen for myself. I feel like I was being “sent” there!

When I was ordained in 1970, I had spent my whole life in rural areas. I grew up in Rhodelia. When I decided to go to the seminary, I was sent to high school and two years of college in a rural setting outside the city of Louisville. We rarely saw the insides of Louisville during the six years that I was there. After that, I was sent to St. Meinrad Seminary in the countryside of southern Indiana. After twelve years of seminary formation “in the country” and hearing about “city life,” I had my heart set on being assigned to a city parish where I could take advantage of its nice restaurants, movie theatres and “things to do” that I had always heard about! Instead, I was sent to the seven-county home missions down along the Tennessee border.  After ten years there, I was sent to Calvary, a small rural community outside of Lebanon, Kentucky.  Finally, to my complete surprise and deep fear, I was finally called and sent to Louisville to be pastor of our Cathedral. After that I felt called to be a vocation director, a campus minister at Bellarmine University, a seminary department head, an international priest retreat director, a weekly columnist for The Record and finally a missionary in the Caribbean missions. I don’t think I really asked to do most of those things. It seems I was mysteriously called to do them. Most of them seemed to fall accidently into my lap.

I have always felt that God was behind every one of those assignments. I felt that they were the result of my being led to do them, or sent to do them, rather than something I initially thought of doing on my own.

When I was getting ready to retire, it occurred to me out of nowhere that maybe I could start a program for retired priests like myself who wanted to serve either in the missions of Alaska during the summer if they liked to fish or hunt or maybe in the missions of the Caribbean in the winter if they wanted to escape the cold winters up here in the United States. The problem was, I didn’t know anyone in the Alaskan missions or the Caribbean missions. Then one morning, as I was eating breakfast alone at the seminary, I looked up and there getting his breakfast was a visiting bishop from the Caribbean countries of Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. We were the only ones in the cafeteria.

I left the cafeteria without introducing myself, turned around and went back, introduced myself and a few months later I was flying down to volunteer in his two Caribbean countries. It seemed like an accident on one hand and like I was being sent by a higher power on the other. 

I made twelve trips altogether. I never had time to develop the option in the Alaskan Missions. Then COVID hit and the volcano in St. Vincent erupted causing me to have to quit and look for another ministry closer to home. I almost felt that I was being sent home for another purpose, but I didn’t know what it could be!  

After fretting a couple of weeks about what to do next, I was tossing and turning one night when, all of a sudden, it hit me like a bolt of lightning. I had the feeling that I was being sent back home to see what I could do for my own home parishes of St. Theresa and St. Mary Magdalen down in Meade County. Slowly, the dream of a new Family Life Center and Guest House to serve both communities came into focus during the following few months.

After that, I swore off any more “mission projects” until one day I was talking to Sister Stephen, one of our local Little Sisters of the Poor who is from Kenya. Before I knew it, I had committed to build a new church in Kenya in honor of her mother, an illiterate catechist, who instructed hundreds in the Catholic faith. When she grew old and could not walk the great distance to church, she dreamed of having a nice church in her village and did what she could to advance the idea. Maybe you read Her amazing story in The Record a few weeks ago. It will be dedicated next weekend and our own Father John Judie will represent me at that dedication.

Wrestling with today’s gospel text, I realized that I have been wrestling with the question of “what will I leave behind” when “my life is demanded of me” as the gospel today puts it. I have no children to leave behind. As the gospel put it, I have never desired to be “rich for my own good,” but “rich in want matters to God.” Here is what stood out in today’s gospel when I read it.

‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;
and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’
Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves
but are not rich in what matters to God.

My tombstone, already in place in St. Theresa Cemetery down in my home parish, sums up my life as I lived it out these past 55 years. About those 55 years, it says at the top: “Simply Amazed – Forever Grateful.” About the future, it says at the bottom: “Home at Last.” I want to go "home" when this is all over - home to heaven, of course, while leaving my bones in the cemetery where my parents and many close family members lie! I am grateful for the wonderful experiences that God has offered me, especially over the last 56 years of ordained ministry, and I am amazed that God has helped me be able to say “yes” to those offers!

What about you? What do you want to leave behind? What do you want your “legacy” to be? Are you more interested in storing up treasure for yourself or being rich in what matters to God? Your “legacy” cannot be built in a few days or months or years. It has to be built over a lifetime!  A ‘legacy” is not about money. It’s about whether, at the end, you have lived for yourself or lived for others! For most of you, you have lived for your children! Your “legacy” is about how they will remember you! Will you be remembered as a pathetic hoarder of your gifts and talents or a generous sharer of your gifts and talents? You can start building your “legacy” now by turning outward toward others, rather than inward toward yourself! Don’t be like that “fool” that Jesus talked about in the gospel today who thought he could “take his precious stored-up wealth with him when he died,” rather than leaving something behind, rather than giving something back, so as to better the lives of those he left behind! 

My friends! This is the bottom line! When it’s all said and done, will there be anyone to even care whether you lived or died? Yes, will there really be anyone to even care whether you lived or died? That's really the only legacy you can leave behind!

Speaking of leaving a legacy, I would like to leave you with the most challenging question I have ever read. I read it just a few weeks ago. It asked this question. “At the end of your life, what are the very last words you want someone to say to you?” Let me repeat that! “At the end of your life, what are the very last words you want someone to say to you?”

What you hear them say, for good or bad, will probably describe what your "legacy" will be!