A few hours ago I returned home from the funeral Mass for Monsignor William Schwartz and as I recounted the memories made while he was Rector of the Cathedral of Saint Peter and I was the Lay Leader of the RCIA program, I couldn’t help but muse as to how many devoted followers of Jesus I have been blessed to know and love. God has woven a blanket of grace and wrapped me in it. Each person I got to know, whether priest, bishop, pastor, minister… Jesus spoke through all of them. He definitely spoke through Msgr. Bill – a man so close to the heart of Jesus that it was impossible to be around him without feeling the presence of Christ. I was privileged to work with Msgr. Schwartz after I completed the 2-year Diocesan Ministry Formation program. And even though that was many years ago, his loving guidance and wisdom, as well as his love of humor remained with me long after our time at St. Peter’s Cathedral had ended.
Msgr. Schwartz did not suffer fools, yet he wholeheartedly embraced joy. To him being a follower of Jesus was a happiness beyond words… and he could transmit that fact in a heartbeat when he smiled. It was a smile that could light up a room, a heart, a church. His was the honor to serve God 24-hours a day. Today we had the chance to honor him, his work, his legacy. I know the Risen Lord was waiting at the gates to welcome Msgr. Schwartz home. “Well done good and faithful servant, You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” Matthew 25:21.
My faith journey has taken me to many a destination, and at each I found Jesus – alive and well and living through His disciples. My journey began in Catholicism and my natal faith is written on my heart and in my DNA. I have been a student of World Religions since I was 10-years old. And of late I have made my church home at Northeast Christian and Celebrate Recovery even as I return time & again to a Catholic Church..
I have seen God in the eyes of a devoutly Jewish professor who brought out the best of my writing in his classes. In his office, on his wall, there was a picture of an African-American Southside-Chicago Nun and when I questioned him about it, he told me that he took his heroes where he found them – something that has stayed with me to this day. Monsignor Schwartz was one of my heroes, and I will thank God every day for the time I served His church under his authority. In the course of his ministry the Church became real, Catholicism was made to love up on God’s people, and Jesus was present both in the bread and wine and in the love and kindness Msgr. Schwartz poured out into the world-at large.
It was hard to say good-bye today…
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