Affirmation: Father Michael Becker
Posted here are my prepared remarks for this talk.
Though I didn’t read directly, it pretty closely matches what I ended up saying (a recording of which you can find below).
Good morning everyone.
I want to first briefly thank Dede, this was kind of a late addition to this morning’s agenda. I also want to thank my four brothers who our class elected as RA’s, who have been so good at organizing opportunities for us to do things like this these past few weeks, who put up with the fact that I kind of took the choice away from them regarding this morning in telling them that I would be doing this.
Last night, our class got a chance to spend time in the chapel saying goodbye to our underclassmen brothers and the priests here. Afterwards, a group of us seniors went down to the Mississippi River for a sort of ‘last hurrah’ around a campfire. We ended up sharing graces from our time at SJV, with a focus on this year. What struck me was that, for a large number of us, such a grace had just taken place — not only that time together, but two things kept coming up in particular:
First, how honored we all felt to be able to partake in SJV’s communal goodbye to a man that we have all come to look up to so much. That man, sitting here is Father Becker — so, again, I just want to repeat, from all of us: thank you, Father.
The second thing that came up repeatedly was what Father did for us that night — as we were giving our goodbyes hugs and talking with the other guys in the house, Father came up to each of us and gave us what we all experienced as heartfelt and authentic affirmations. Hearing from such a man the goodness that he saw in each of us really touched us all. This is but an example of what I want to affirm Father Becker for this morning for all of us — again this week for the priests and seminarians — but, more importantly, to make sure that our families get to hear just how integral he has been to our experience.
When I reflect of my time at SJV on a holistic level, my ‘starting point’, as it were, is usually the very first Vianney Visit I went on as a sophomore in high school. A little bit of honesty here: I came up on that journey (almost) entirely because it was a few days off from school. What I found here in Saint Paul, however, has truly changed my life forever.
Within the span of the two or three days that we spent up here, I fell in love with SJV. And, in no small part at all, this was because of the authentic holiness that Father Becker exuded. I couldn’t have verbalized it accurately at the time, but it was the sanctity that radiates from him that really first attracted me to seeking to actualize the dream of vocational discernment that resided in my heart. I don’t remember any particular thing Father said or did; rather, it was his obvious love for Christ, passion for His Gospel, compassion for His People, and dedication to His Church that I admired — and, unbeknownst to me at the time, virtues that I craved to have myself.
Over the course of these last four years, Saint John Vianney Seminary has come to mean so much to me — and to all of us. Just speaking for myself, from that first visit until now, as I leave, it has really come to be home for me. I want to repeat and emphasize something that I think every SJV man can attest to: in no small part, Father Becker is responsible for this, and I am thankful to you, Father, for this. Of course, in a general sense, you are the one who has set the stage for such an atmosphere; without your constant encouragement of each of us, our House would have nothing near the Christ-centered foundation that it does.
But, I want to also share this morning what this has looked like for me personally. For those who do not know, I have had the privilege of having Father Becker in formation for two of my four years — the only man in our class who can say this. It is especially in this role that I have personally been able to experience the man — and where he has come to fill a void that I’ve always had on my life — that he has truly been for me father. Coming in, I did not realize how much I needed this in my life — and, to be honest, I was even a bit defensive about it when I entered.
During my New Man Year, Father John Whitlock — who is now Lansing’s Vocation Director — preached a line that has struck me profoundly: “We must first become good sons, and then good brothers, if we ever hope to be good fathers.” This statement, even if it some time for me to realize all that it entails, has stuck with me ever since. That first ‘condition’, as it were, that he offers — “we must become first sons” — has always resonated with me, but an important truth that did not occur to me until later was that, in order to do this, it means we must each first have a father; no man can be a son apart from his father.
A great grace that I have received during my time at SJV has been a totally new sense of God as the Father — but, in order to prepare myself for this — so, to no small consequence — I had to first encounter the earthly fatherhood that I have received/am receiving from a number of heroic men who have stepped to try and fill that natural gap in my life. Again, I count Father Becker at the very top of that list, and, this morning, I want to express my immeasurable gratitude to you, Father, for that.
I am thankful for all the support, encouragement, affirmation, and paternal love that you have provided for me. This love has been life-changing; because of it, I have found out more completely what it means to be a son, which has led me to be able to accept the divine sonship Father Whitlock; this, in turn, has fostered a confidence in me to be a father — regardless of what form that takes — that I simply did not have when I entered.
Lastly: during this past ‘evaluation season’, Father greatly affirmed me for the gratitude journal that I’ve kept here — which was actually something that he encouraged me to start when I was a second year. Father, you should know that your name has been listed on that almost every day since I started writing it. Your fatherly love for not only me, but our entire community, has never gone unappreciated — even in the things you do for us that we may not know about, we do know that you have “emptied yourself” in ministry to and for us these past twelve years. For the hundreds of men that have come through SJV since you arrived, this has really made all the difference for us.
While, to be entirely truthful, I think our class mourns that future SJV men will not have the opportunity to receive the same from you here, last night at that bonfire, we also expressed our confident knowledge that you will go on to to help so many of the God’s People who are hurting with the very same type of wounds we are — and that this brought us tremendous joy.
Please know that you will remain in my prayers throughout your upcoming sabbatical and beyond.
Thank you, Father, for, in the name and person of our Almighty God, being exactly that for me and for all of us: a father.
You will be missed — but your impact on us will not be forgotten!
