TRIBUTE TO DONALD

I don’t remember the first time I met Father Castle, I only remember my first experience of him. 

I was desperately seeking Truth, and he pointed me to Christ.  I remember sitting with him in the front entrance of Calvary, barraging him with my questions and doubts about the existence of God.  He (in my mind at the time) rambled on and on about the Bible and who Jesus was.  None of it made sense to me, except the very last thing he said.  He told me to ask God to reveal himself to me.  So I did, in my car in the parking lot in the pouring rain. And on the drive home, I had my first and probably most profound experience with God.  Father Castle was the first person to point me to Christ.  He set me on my path. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about Father Castle lately.  He died on November 23^rd, 2008.  As I seek more of my purpose related to social justice and who God wired me to be, what I keep sensing underneath my thoughts and feelings, is love.  Radical love.  And so I remember him, because Love is simply who he was.  He loved, and he loved incredibly well.

Here are some specific things about him that I recorded shortly after his death.  This is how I remember him:

• Before serving communion he would say "All God's people are welcome", with his arms and heart wide open.  He loved everyone - the homeless, the rich, the broken, the felon, the adulteress, the Muslim.  He saw no status, color, or denomination - he saw the human heart.  He saw God in everyone, and he loved and honored us in a way that was almost un-human.

  

• At his funeral service, Reverend Emily shared the advice Father Castle gave her when he turned over his leadership to her.  "Just love them, and let them love you,” he said.  This was his ministry.  Love.  So simple.  So profound.

• The one that hits me the hardest though is this:  As he lay in his bed, days before his death, his wife Carla asked him if there's anyone he wanted to see.  "No", he said.  She asked if there's anything he wanted her to tell the people.  "Tell them I love Jesus", he said.   TELL THEM I LOVE JESUS.  Not “tell everyone I love them”, nor any ‘pastoral advice’.  “I love Jesus," he says. What an unbelievable declaration.  That’s all anyone ever had to know about him.  “I love Jesus.”  And that he did.  It's almost as if he proclaimed those words with joy and in victory over his pending death.

I think that hits me so hard because for so long, I remember being so confused about why he was going through so much pain in his dying days.  Why did he get cancer?  Why was he the one that had to suffer so much!?!?!  It confused me, and it hurt. 

But what I’ve come to realize, but not fully comprehend, is this:  He suffered for us.  Out of his never-ending, undying love for us, he suffered for us.  He loved Jesus even through his suffering. 

John Willets, an incredible man far more eloquent than me, wrote this about Father Castle:

I have a hole where Donald was and it's been there for some time. I don't think it will ever get better and I'll learn to live with it. There are more holes in my life than the one he leaves, but his is the newest one. Julian of Norwich has been on my mind as I think of Donald and our relationship. She thought she was dying and all her family was present. The priest held up a crucifix at the foot of her bed and through a feverish delirium, she conversed with Jesus. He asked her if she was well pleased that he had suffered his death for her. "Yes, dear Lord, blessed may you be," Julian replied. Jesus said to Julian, "if you are well pleased then I am well pleased for if ever I could have suffered more, I would." Yes indeed, Donald was like that and he lived that very promise for three years. Am I well pleased that he stayed for three years and suffered for us? Yes, Donald, we are well pleased. We are well pleased because you showed us that you could do it because Jesus sustained you through the suffering. You have shown us that we can withstand all there is to withstand in our lives, and we are well pleased you loved us so much.

That pleasure alone will sustain me in the pain of the hole he leaves. And also like Julian, I know that all will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of thing will be well. Praise God for the life of my friend and colleague, Donald. He resides in heaven with God's holy angels and indeed we will know exactly where to find him. He taught us all well that the simplicity of life is that God loves us.

I’m in tears right now after reading that again.  There’s nothing else to say.  I am forever grateful for him and the life he lived.  He will be with me always.

I LOVE YOU DONALD!