Good Morning, digital neighbors! Blessed Sunday to all! As I often tell my parishioners, this is my favorite day of the week, and when we worship, it is the best hour of that week. Someone recently shared with me my final bulletin letter to Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM), and I thought I would share it here. Consider it a window into my ministry and into my pastoring style. Have a blessed Sunday, dear digital neighbors!

BLESS THIS DAY
This day is full of beauty and adventure. Help me, Lord, to be fully alive to it all. During this day, may I become a more thoughtful person, a more prayerful person, a more generous person, and a more kindly person. Help me not to be turned in on myself but to be sensitive and helpful to others. Let me do nothing today that will hurt anyone, but let me help—at least a little—to make life more pleasant for those I meet.

When night comes, may I look back on this day without regrets, and may nobody be unhappy because of anything I have said or done or failed to do. Lord God, bless this day for me and for all of us. Make it a day in which we grow a little more like Your Son.

Dear Parishioners,
As I type this final bulletin letter, I have nothing but joy in my heart for my time here as your pastor and spiritual father. For 4,222 days I have been blessed to shepherd this family of faith and come to know so many faithful people. It is not without its sorrow—we all want good things to continue, we want good people to remain in our active lives—but life on this side of Redemption is always filled with change. We are a pilgrim people, and pilgrims are always in route to a final destination.

Just because we are pilgrims does not mean that we don’t build community, form bonds of family, friendship, and communion. The bonds of communion are essential preparation for our final destination (provided we let grace and mercy bring us home). These little brushes with communion prepare us for the communion that is eternal and the home that is lasting. Thank you all for the blessing you have been in my life and priesthood.

I had no idea what this assignment was going to be like when I was asked to accept it on December 5, 2011. It was an unexpected call and change, but I accepted it as a gift from God. For two and a half years, Mom and I were blessed to live in our little house by the side of the road, and I was blessed to continue living there for the next nine years. Getting to know our parish family and the local New Melle community has enriched my life much more than I ever imagined back in the newness of 2012. I was always hopeful and trusted in God, but one never knows what the future holds, and our imagination as adults is often tempted to prepare for the worst rather than hope for the best.

The antidote to that temptation is trust—trust that the same God who blessed us in the past is going to bless us in the future. He is never not with us. He is called Emmanuel for a reason, and we need but open our eyes a little and awaken our slumbering hearts to catch His humble movements in our lives. I have been so blessed countless times to catch Jesus passing by in the moments of my life and in so many of your lives. God is good. God loves us. God is present to us. That message is there every day in those subtle brushes of faith. It is okay to weep in the moment at changes and losses, but my tears are so small compared to the joy God has given to me at Immaculate Heart of Mary and with this parish family. It is good for us to be here. Thank you for making this one of the happiest times of my priesthood.

Love, Fr. Tom

IHM at Thanksgiving 2022