September 25, 2011 A VISIT FROM HOME
It has been a wonderful and refreshing experience to have a visit from home. There was company, there was laughter and it was a joy to be on the altar with a friend, a brother and a bishop. This is who Bishop Essien has been to me.
We go way back to the seminary several decades ago. And so there is a ton of things we could reminisce on. It all came rushing to me and I saw a playbook of my life in the several conversations we had. The heartaches of discerning your vocation, the silly mistakes, growing pains, the early challenges we faced as young priests, some of the tough assignments like working in a rural parish or in the delicate work of priestly formation and several more.
Gosh, how much a visit from home can lead you to roll the tape of your life all over!
It was fun and cool to be invited by Larry and Lila to eat out, see the power plant along the Mississippi and the apple groves in the Gays Mills countryside. Bishop was thrilled, especially by the Mississippi because way back in school his teach had drilled the class on how to spell Missi-ssi-ppi correctly. We had fun. Thanks for the generosity Larry and Lila.
At a dinner the generosity was felt particularly as Bishop Callahan used the opportunity of Bishop Essien’s visit not only to express his appreciation for the visit but for the gift of eight Ghanaian priests working in the Diocese of La Crosse.
It is amazing how a visit from home enables you to recall wonderful memories, have a palpable feel of the homeland and brings you in touch, in a refreshing way, with the new families you have become a part of.
And talking about families, how can I not mention the Fillas of Middle Ridge for all their generosity, love and encouragement over the years I have spent ministering in this beautiful “God’s Country”!
~Father Francis