Fr. Larry talks about him leaving

when I was 16 years old I heard the gall of God to to enter the Seminary and I did even though nobody would recommend me so I had to go back a year and I studied for the svds the Society of the Divine word and their missionaries because when I was in eth grade I they came to speak at our uh Catholic grade school and I signed up and that was part of their vocation uh club and so right after high school I wanted to go and be uh go right into Seminary and my father who wasn't Catholic was dead set against the absolutely not so thank you Father and so I did all the things high school kids do I became bad and all that kind of stuff I had a girlfriend her name was Gail and Gail was a redhead enough said and so we sat there and uh you know we're dating and all this kind of stuff and yet uh again I came to a deeper conversion because Billy Graham I was watching Billy Graham one day and he challenged us and I gave my life to Christ with Billy Graham and then so I go to Seminary and I study for this Divine word uh group and I loved the this group they were a great bunch of people people and I was two years here at St Mark's High School Seminary which doesn't exist anymore then I went to Epworth Iowa and that was their seminary in Epworth Iowa and uh it was fantastic time we used to have you know the svds was uh SVD the the founder was Arnold Janson and he gave up smoking so nobody in the order was allowed to smoke so SVD would say smoke V don't so V drink and and we did and so we would have these parties and we had a fine fine time and yet the Lord was working on my heart about going back to the dases because a uh and we were allowed to drink at 18 in those days in Iowa anyway so about going back to the dases of Erie though I'm from Pittsburgh and it was on my heart my spiritual director was director of the Seminary later on became Bishop Len Olivier who was the auxiliary Bishop Don in uh Washington DC and he was a CR creel uh man and so he says Larry you got to go and make a retreat and if you go on a retreat because you feel still called back then I'll support you so I went on a trapis monastery new melery they have a trais monastery there and I spent uh uh 7day silent Retreat now I know you can't imagine me being silent for seven days but it happened and then I my spirits directory he picked me up and he said well and I said ah I still feel called Len to to leave this here and go to the dicese of Erie and he started to cry and I said don't do that that isn't helpful to me when you do that kind of stuff so then I remember coming back and I'm kneeling in front the Blessed Sacrament and I said Jesus please is this what I want or is this what you want you know just tell me so because it was that was hard decision and so I'll sat there I'm I'm sitting in the chapel Epworth Iowa kneeling in front of the Blessed Sacrament and again as I've always went to the word I said speak to my heart show me Lord what do you want and then I open it up to this passage John chapter 15 verse 16 and 17 you did not choose me I chose you and I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit so it was like instantly okay I knew this was of God I knew this is what I had to do and so I went to my director and I saysi have to leave and I'll never forget I left at Christmas so I was only there one semester and as I'm leaving at Christmas everybody's coming and are walking me out my last day in seminary and I'll never forget one of the brothers came because we used to have Religious brothers there and a brother is just like a religious sister they're not ordained but they work and they H pray and they take bows a poverty chasy obedience like everything else but anyway he come to me and all these people are walking me me out and he came and give me a hug and he says well good luck on your lonely life because that's the only thing dios in priesthood is thank you you know and so I never forget like really and again the difference between a Dian priest and a religious order priest is religious orders they live Community a diois and priest creates Community huh that's what we do that's what I've done here the last 22 years and the reality is is that we're called not just to be into ourselves but to create a family create a community but we know that everything comes from what God calls us to do God chose me I did not choose him God chose you you did not choose him CU sometimes we can think that our following of Jesus is something that we do it's something from you didn't have to be born first of all when you were born you didn't have to be a Christian only 33% of the world is Christian we're the minority you didn't have to be a Catholic you didn't have to be here and yet the god of the universe chose you and then he didn't just chose you so you could follow him like go look at Jesus thank you that I'm your follower it's very good the last thing he did was called you and me to be selfish people he said isn't about me and Jesus he said you didn't choose me I chose you and so why did he choose us he commissioned us to go forth and to bear fruit and I've talked a million times about this here to bear fruit means we feed others right it's not about feeding us it's not about getting things for ourselves it's about feeding others so we as a community we have done that right we have sat there and we take care of the poor every day someone comes here we take care of them we've got a food a clothing store we have done Lots because fruit isn't fruit unless it feeds somebody else the Apple that loses the fruit the Apple that falls to the ground it doesn't feed itself but it feeds us and so we always got to remember that if you and I are following Jesus it's never about me and what I want it's always about how do I feed others huh and that's always what we got to be open to you know like again last week when I was called by the bishop and I said you have to leave I said I don't think so you know and so it was not a good day and so all last week I couldn't sleep most nights and then Sunday I couldn't sleep at all I went to bed at 9 9:30 at 1:30 I was still wide awake then I finally fell asleep till 4:00 in the morning it was fantastic and so I thought okay I got to write a letter to the bishop and of course I did so at 5:00 in the morning I'm sitting at the computer and I emailed him a letter sharing with him all the things that were going on in my heart and so he got the letter then at 10:30 he emailed me back and says great letter why don't you come in and we'll talk yes Bishop so I went in at 4:00 and we had a fantastic talk and it brought me peace and I said the biggest problem of course is leaving St Joe's and you know all that reality out there after 22 years of my life come on and he says Larry as you did at St Joe's you need to do with his other parishes and so it's a much much bigger reality there's all kinds of stuff going on and this is what the Lord has called and he I didn't choose him I didn't choose what to do he did and then to go there he says I was about ready to retire people you know that and now it's kind of like I have to be a young priest again and I got to start doing all these things to have other people come to the Lord have other people to feed them to sit there and help them to grow to bring them closer to the god of the universe and this is God's Will and it's God's will for all of us that our job is never about just making our community a great Community it's about feeding people that aren't part of our community that's what Holiness is and again it's sad some a lot of times it's sad because we like to keep things the way they are but that isn't life God always calls us to go beyond ourselves to do he has plans for us and if we're going to follow him and we're going to be his disciples we got to be open to those plans again at first when Jesus was told to go to the Cross he said no but then he said your will be done but when you look at Mary when Mary was told to be the mother of God she said Fiat let it be done to me and that's where we got to get to her Fiat was more that I want God's will more than I want my next breath it isn't like okay if God wants me to do it I'll do it it's like okay God I will do anything you want I exist to please you I exist to do your will I will do anything you you call me to do and so when he calls us here that you didn't choose me I chose you I commission you to go out and to bear fruit fruit that will last then anything you ask the father in my name he will give you and that isn't about he will give you what you want he will give you what you need to love others he will give you what you need to bear fruit and then the last line in a is is again and again love one another as I have loved you this is my commandment that you love one another huh and so again earlier in John chap 15:9 it says as the father has loved me so I loved you and if you go to daily mass that's what we talked about today to let us know how much we're loved and after it says the father has loved me so I love you remain in my love just as I you will remain in my love if you keep my Commandments just as I keep my father's Commandments and remain in his love all this I have told you that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete that when you and I sit there and know that we're loved by God intimately then we will have joy so I told all those poor people this morning they hate me because I yelled at them for other reasons today but it happens can you imagine me yelling at anybody anyway but as I sat there and says I want you to go home today and I want you to ask your spouse am I a person of joy and say you got to be honest with me because I father Larry said you got to be honest so then they were all praying for my death this morning can you imagine and as they were praying for my death this morning I said listen if they say you want the real answer yes no thank you don't go wacky over that sit there and think that okay if I'm not a person of Joy the reason is cuz I do not know how much I am loved and so what does that mean that I got to spend time more in his love and then when you and I are so truly loved by God then of course we sit there and will be people of joy of course then when God calls us and asks us to do something we know it's because he loves us and he has a greater plan is that correct yes so if God loves us he wants us to be people of Joy he calls us to do things that'll bear fruit to give life to others and he calls us to be people of love now we do this by being members of a community but we do this by not just by being members of community but by going out of the community so all these years I have done this so many times by going out every weekend we will get done a little bit early tonight because again I have to drive to Cleveland and uh get a hotel and then wake up at 3:00 in the morning get to the airport because I have to be on the plane by 5:20 and fly to Providence Rhode Island to do a Men's Conference Saturday I'm going to do two talks in the morning get back on the plane get back to Cleveland about 7 o'clock I think or six o'clock I don't know and then drive back here to have masses because a mass on Sunday because we have first communion so it's always been going out and feeding others but always coming back here now it'll be going out and feeding others CU again when I talk to the bishop I says the biggest concern Bishop is these people have been so good with me for 22 years that he he said to me never once which I can't believe it still never once anybody write him a letter complaining about me being on the road really never once good people because they knew that I had to go out and do what I went and I said to the bishop the new place they're not going to be open to me going out in the road and he goes that's what I want you to do you can't stop doing what you're doing huh so the first thing you're going to do to tell them that first weekend is I will doing two Ministries I'll be on the road bringing Christ to others and I'll be the pastor here and I go oh are you going to support me in that yes okay then I'm okay with all this then and so the biggest thing for all of us though tonight is we got to make sure that we immerse ourselves in the love of God don't ever tell God what to do I've tried it doesn't work don't ever sit there and get mad at God because he didn't do what you prayed about you thank God for he answered the prayers of our hearts for his glory not for our comfort and that's what we all got to be doing so again we praise God we worship God we honor God because he gave us what he wanted we did not choose him he chose us it's he who makes the plans it's we who obey the plans this is what we must do so please as we move forward there can be no sadness come on there can be no upsetness with the bishop I was meeting with somebody I was going to write a letter to the bishop don't do that because this is God's will it's God's will we've been praying for God's will so we shut up and do God's will that's all we do we're like Mary Fiat let it be done to me we know that this is calling all of us to go out of ourselves to always be more concerned about other people than we are about ourselves to bear fruit the fruit of love this is what God is calling us to and this is what we can all do so we are here tonight to worship almighty God and know and listen to him when he says you didn't choose me I chose you and then don't get upset because remember what he said right before that it's the father has loved me so I love you so again we're going to go and kneel down here and I'm just going to encourage as always is that we spend a few minutes and let God love us it's his love that brings us the greatest healing it's his love that transforms us it's his love that makes us say yes let it be done to me as you will and then when we do that it's his love that makes us people of joy you got it you get it you're going to live it it may each you know his love today and forever amen let us kneel now in the presence of the Lord and let him love us for a while

Channel: Fr. Larry Richards

Views: 77,167

Keywords: catholic, catholic podcast, catholic youtube, catholic speaker, catholicism, catholic faith, catholic talk show, Hope, The Reason For Our Hope, Father Larry Richards, Our Hope TV, Fr. Larry Richards, Fr Larry Richards, Anchored in Hope, Catholic Mass

Id: OuxCQZcbDvU

Length: 18min 21sec (1101 seconds)

Published: Mon May 06 2024