Gratitude, YES, for all the big things that stand tall thick with abundance... the Pastoral Care Chaplains...the St. Jude Center...the BGH volunteers... my dear parishioners at IHM...my Mom and Dad! I cannot help but applaud their presence in my priesthood!

Gratitude of deep thankfulness for the bite-sized pieces in my life! I had not thought of them, those little snippets of time so easily consumed in the hurry and blur of pretentious days...

Helen doing the books to the penny...decorating the church, Faith/Al and company, sometimes on the spur...John and Florence and Catholic Charities...Elaine's frogs! Kitty and her baskets...Mike, Bible Camp, etc, etc, etc...Judy cooking at a moments notice... Rose doing laundry and God knows what else...Donna and Shirley calming the volunteers... the holiness of death and family grief.

Those little moments assumed and presumed slip quickly through the fingers of my busy life, hopefully with the knowledge you are loved and appreciated.

25 years suggests - grey hair? I hardly think so. - Wrinkles, as my niece Janae lovingly reminds me! Wrinkles in my hands all beckon me to wisely consider these fleeting moments of grace you all have shared with me freely. These graced moments quickly come and go – nieces and nephews, NYC, all becoming responsible adults...getting married, making me a great uncle! Great nieces and nephews and the cycle continues. One moment Glen is serving, the next he's an accountant...an ethics consult helping a family member accept... a loving letter from a grateful stranger.

Friends that keep me honest - Bonnie, Ellen, Ken (JT), Ann, Beatrice Rose and her famous collections...the list is endless, all making a priest holy and humble... a fading crescent moon in a royal blue sky the backdrop for the IHM gardens.

I turn to gather finely layered remnants like these in the come and go of my days, and discover with surprise how quickly my inner room is a harvest place of gold.

So to my Mom and Dad, Marsha, Denny, Diane, Dale, John and SIL (Nancy), nieces and nephews, great ones as well, THANK YOU for a lifetime of little moments... to my Immaculate Heart of Mary Family, THANK YOU for 10 years of those little moments... to my BGH-Kaleida Health Family, THANK YOU for 26 years of those little moments. You all have made me a happy and "holy" priest.

- Fr. Richard