Retired Clergy Association (RCA)
February 2022 Newsletter
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Presidential Papers
Very Reverend Father Eugene Pappas
LIVING IS LEARNING FOREVER
“Come let us climb the Lord’s mountain . . .that he may instruct us
in His ways, and we may walk in His paths.”
—Isaiah 2:3
Some of the fondest and nostalgic memories and reminiscences we share are those of our youth and the individuals who shaped and gave us formation for the better part of our days. I recall looking up to various elders in my youthfulness who shared their wisdom, experience, gifts, and compassion to create within me a sense of growth and maturity. It may have been the elementary school teacher whose wisdom imbued you with admiration for knowledge. How often did we silently and possibly secretly seek to imitate these heroes, even imitating their simple expressions and gestures. Imitation is the highest form of flattery. However, they never sought such adulation. Rather, their quest was sharing the “good routing” of God’s plan for us.
Mentors, teachers, coaches, and parents all evidence a similar quality of goodness and discipline toward us through the years. Even to this very day, we sense their indelible mark and influence on our being. Strictness and determination are the hallmarks of the wise and forward-thinking instructor. We dare not forget them! They molded, shaped, nurtured, and pruned the sapling that we were, with eager vision to make us bigger and better than the prototype “they were!” To carbon-copy them was not their envisioned success. To excel them was the hopeful reverie.
Their many gifts opened our ears to hear, our eyes to see, and hearts to dream of even better and bigger achievements. The Prophet Isaiah calls us, one and all, to ascend the hills of Jerusalem and enter the Temple of God’s instruction. Once done, we indeed will walk the path of the Almighty. As a child, we did childish things. Now is the moment to put away childish things and assume a mature behavior of pleasing the Lord. Our real and daily concerns and responsibilities are not be ignored or disregarded. They are to be confronted with the satisfaction that what we do is according to the will and course of the Lord. Follow and surrender to “learning” what God has planned for you from the beginning. You shall rejoice and be glad in it. From the womb to the tomb and long thereafter we shall bathe in the light and enlightenment of the Lord our Divine TEACHER.
Learn the Lenten Lesson.
V. Rev. Eugene N. Pappas,
RCA President
