24.9 F
Saint Paul
Friday, March 29, 2024

Gratitude — in the growing, giving and goodbye

Bishop Andrew Cozzens
Bishop Andrew Cozzens, bishop-designate of Crookston, preaches at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul during the annual Candlelight Rosary Procession Oct. 1.
Bishop Andrew Cozzens, bishop-designate of Crookston, preaches at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul during the annual Candlelight Rosary Procession Oct. 1.
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

“How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me? The cup of salvation I will take up, and I will call upon the name of the Lord. My vows to the Lord I will fulfill in the presence of all his people” (Ps 116:12-14).

Whenever I reflect upon my life with God, I am filled with gratitude and often reminded of these words of Psalm 116. I remember well the moment of my own ordination to the diaconate, the moment when I would make my definitive commitment of my life to the Lord through a promise of celibacy and obedience. I was lying on the floor in St. Mary’s Chapel at The St. Paul Seminary during the litany of saints, and the thought that went through my head was: “Lord you have been so very good to me in my life, I am sorry that all I have is one life to give you back, but I give it all to you.”

Bishop Andrew CozzensThe Lord, in his goodness took me, at his word and when I surrendered my life to him. With his grace and by his invitation, he has taken me to places I would never have imagined, and now he is taking me to Crookston. When I was 23, I served as missionary with our own NET Ministries (the National Evangelization Teams) in the diocese of Crookston. My team did about 20 retreats all over the diocese. If you would have told me then that one day I would return to Crookston as the bishop, I would never have believed you. However, as we should know, with the Lord nothing is impossible.

The day that my appointment as the eighth bishop of Crookston was announced many people whom I met that day said, “Thank you for saying yes.” I have to admit that the thought of saying no never occurred to me. Did St. Peter get to say no when Jesus met him by the shore of the sea of Galilee and said to him, “Come and follow me, I will make you a fisher of men”? Was Mary tempted to say no when the Angel Gabriel appeared to her and said, “you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus”? What about Pope John Paul II or Pope Francis when they were chosen to succeed St. Peter? How different the world would be if these figures had said no to God. Do we not know in faith that each of us has an irreplaceable part in God’s plan, that the world would be different if you or I said no to God?

This is the incredible mystery of how God works through us, that he makes us part of his plan for the salvation of the world. And there are people in the world right now who are depending on you to say yes to God. Just as we depend on Peter, Mary, St. John Paul II, Pope Francis, Archbishop Hebda, your priest, your parents, your friends, etc. We depend on each other as we all make up this incredible web which is the salvation of the world. Many people can and do say no to God, and the world is so poor because of those responses. But many others can and do say yes to God, and God’s love pours into the world through each of us every time, every day, that we say yes to his will, especially when it is difficult, as it is difficult for me to say yes to leaving the archdiocese.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has been my home since I moved here to serve on a NET team in 1991. I served on the home team doing retreats for young people around our archdiocese. This made it easier for me to decide to settle here the year after NET when I joined a fledgling group of men seeking to develop a communal way of life for diocesan priests called the Companions of Christ. These small communities of diocesan priests now serve in many of our parishes. After being ordained, I was assigned to our Cathedral, where I learned to love the beauty of the liturgy and the opportunity to offer the sacrament of confession to so many in need of his mercy. Then I was transferred to Faribault where I was part of joining three churches into the one parish of Divine Mercy. I have so many fond memories of working with the young people there.

- Advertisement -

After two years, I was sent to Rome to do doctoral studies. There not only did I get to know Mother Teresa’s sisters, the Missionaries of Charity, but I was present in St. Peter’s Square for the death of St. John Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict XVI. Upon returning to the archdiocese in 2006, I began teaching at The St. Paul Seminary. I was blessed with the privilege of walking with men as they prepared to give their own lives to God as priests and teaching them about the incredible beauty of our faith and the gift of the priestly vocation. Even though I was made an auxiliary bishop at a difficult moment in the history of our archdiocese, I was blessed by God to see how he used those painful experiences to bring about so much healing and good.

I sense profoundly that God is doing something wonderful in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, through the Synod, the incredible vibrancy of our young adult community, the vibrancy and diversity of our parishes and people, our many seminarians and wonderful seminaries. I see the Holy Spirit at work to renew his Church in ways that already impact not just our archdiocese but the broader Church in the United States and the world. I feel so blessed to have had a front row seat to the goodness of God in all these circumstances. I am sorry for all the imperfections and failures, which are many, but also grateful to God that he has at times used me to make present his love.

I could and should thank many people, but I cannot go without thanking Archbishop Hebda publicly for his many kindnesses to me, and the way he has witnessed to me patience, charity, wisdom, forgiveness, courage, and love in so many circumstances. He is truly a man who is open to the good and wants to see it flourish in all its beautiful diversity. I will always be grateful for how he has allowed me to join with him as a brother in leading this archdiocese. I always felt like a valued collaborator. The rest of you who have played such an important role in my life here these 30 years, please know that I carry you in my heart with gratitude and prayer.

How shall we make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for us? Let us keep saying yes to him — and fulfill our vows to the Lord in the presence of his people.

 


Related Articles

SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -

Trending

- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -
12,743FansLike
1,478FollowersFollow
6,479FollowersFollow
35,922FollowersFollow
583SubscribersSubscribe
- Advertisement -