You just never know what you might find out about somebody. That is, until you ask, and after you ask, until you listen. A recent conversation with a woman in my home parish demonstrates my point. At the beginning of the conversation, I was in a rush to get some facts for a story. By the end of the conversation, I was simply amazed at the extraordinary life story that had been revealed to me. Father Harold Hammerstein is celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of his ordination this year. He is a Benedictine priest, a monk of St. Meinrad Archabbey, but he lives in a private home in Evansville and provides special assistance in our parish. Father Harold lives with a niece, Jane Ann Reinitz, and she was most gracious when I asked for her comments about her uncle. To be honest, I had fallen into the trap many writers and reporters fall into, when a deadline approaches. I made what I thought would be a quick phone call. I thought I already had the story, I just needed a quotation to dress it up. Boy, was I wrong. I did not have the story. I just had a few dates and places. Father Harold is a native of Evansville. Monk of St. Meinrad. Ordained in July 1948. Been in Evansville since 1978. Says the early Sunday morning Mass at St. Ben’s. When I gave up thinking that I knew enough, I started to learn something. “He’s great, he’s my best friend,” his niece said about him. “You could not ask for a better priest, a better man, a better friend.” He went to Europe in 1946, taking the first ship to leave New York after World War II. He went to the Benedictine Monastery at Einsiedeln in Switzerland. Jane Ann passed the phone to Father Harold for more of the story. I thought I knew something about Einsiedeln – that it was really a great honor to be ordained in a monastery built on the site of a hermitage established in the ninth century. When Father Harold told me his memories, I learned it was an honor, and I learned too how it was hard to get food in those early post-war years in Europe. After ordination, Father Harold continued his education in Rome, then returned to Indiana. He taught at St. Meinrad and then became a parish pastor. He came back to Evansville to help care for his ailing mother. He was there the day she died. So was Jane Ann. Father Harold’s mother was her grandmother. Jane Ann now watches over her uncle (but she still calls him Father Harold, of course). “I feel like I have done what Our Lord has asked me to do, to take care of my family,” she said. I asked Father Harold if he had any advice for young men considering the priesthood. His advice was typically universal, applicable for all of us. “Try to do the will of God in your life, whatever it brings to you,” he said. “Always pray. Ask God to help you.”
* * * In reflecting on this conversation, I realize that I have been given a gift. I was given admission into a family. Maybe that’s what Jesus meant when he said, “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him” (Matthew 11:28). The self-revelation of another person is priceless – and you just never know where it is going to lead you.
* * * Take the time to capture family stories for yourself or for your children. Take the time to listen to another. If you need an excuse to ask personal questions, an upcoming birthday or anniversary is a perfect opportunity. Take the time to listen to the revealing stories of Sacred Scripture. The words of the Son will lead us to the Father.
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