Below is the beautiful homily given By Msgr.
John Michael Campbell at St. Louis Church Gallipolis on February 12, 2019 at
the Funeral of our Former Pastor (1980-2011), Msgr. William Myers STD (1939-2019). May he rest in peace. The appendix has a tribute given by the Knights of Columbus Council 3335 of Gallipolis to its former chaplain.
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| Msgr William Myers STD |
We
gather here today at Saint Louis Church which Fr. Bill loved so much - to give
thanks and praise to God for the life and priestly service of Fr. Bill. In, the Gospel today, we are taken back to
Easter Sunday morning. 1) The apostles
and disciples were locked in the upper room hiding in fear - that what happened
to Jesus just might happen to them. 2)
Two of those disciples decided to leave the city. Early in the morning they snuck through the
empty streets of Jerusalem on the road to Emmaus. 3) As they go their way, a stranger came up
to walk with them, but they did not recognize Him. He began to speak with them about the events
of the past few days, and He began to enlighten their grief by recalling events
from the Old Testament Scripture like the words of the Prophet Ezekiel: ”O My
people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them.”
4)
Then he reminded them of the three times that He raised people from the dead: a) The Son of the Widow of Niam; b) The
daughter of Jairus; c) Lazarus His friend – the brother of Martha and Mary, who
had been dead for four days. And He
reminded them of the cemetery visit when he greeted Martha and Mary, the
sisters of Lazarus. Do you believe that
I can do something about your brother?”
They said: “Yes Lord.” Then He
said: “I am the resurrection and the life.
If you live and believe in me you will never die. Do you believe this?” - then He called
Lazarus back to life.
If Jesus can raise
three people from the dead, then He is who He says He is, and He made the same promise
to Fr. Bill and to each one of us.
Death is not the end, it is the beginning. God has spoken His Word to us; we hear it in
the Scriptures and in the teachings of our Church, and with Martha and Mary, we
respond to it by saying, "Yes, I believe; it is true!" God has broken the silence about death, and
has conquered it! Death was not part of
God's original plan, and it is not part of his plan now! Death came into the world because of original
sin – mankind’s NO to God…….1) I want to be independent! 2) I want to make my own decisions. 3) I will determine what I can and cannot
do!
Death
is not from God; it is from original Sin – our turning away from God. Yet God did not leave us in death's
power. Jesus – the Second Person of the
Blessed Trinity came to us at Bethlehem – not to be cooed and coddled by Mary,
Joseph, a few shepherds and three astrologers.
1) He came to go to Calvary and die on the cross for us…..to bring us back
into a relationship with the Father; 2) to repair what happened with Adam and
Eve in the garden; 3) to burst open the very gates of Heaven and take us by the
hand and say to the Father: “These are
my beloved brothers and sisters. These
are the ones who are faithful – these are the ones I want with Me in My
Kingdom!”
Jesus
Christ, who died and rose again, has conquered, crushed and destroyed death
forever! Because of this, we followers
of Christ are not and cannot be silent in the face of death! We proclaim “Christ is Risen!” Death has been conquered!
Many people think that the story of human life is,
"Birth, life, and death." For
Fr. Bill Myers and for all of us, the story is not "Birth, life, and
death", but rather, "Life, death, and Resurrection!" Because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ,
Death does not have the last word; life does! Death is not the last period after the last
sentence of the last chapter in our personal story. There's another chapter to come! Death is not the end of the human story; it's
the middle. The end of the story is
Resurrection and life that has no end!
This
Funeral Liturgy is not the last farewell that we give to Fr. Bill. Today we do not say good bye, we say: “Go
with God. You have served Him well and
faithfully in the priesthood in this life – now you will celebrate in the
Divine Liturgy of Heaven.
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| Fr. Bill had a devotion to St. John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests. During the Year of the Priest 2009-10, he placed an image of him on a stand in the church. St. John Vianney made the cover of Columbia Magazine published by the Knights of Columbus. |
While he was with us, Fr. Bill
served faithfully as a priest……a lifetime of
parishes and assignments, each with its particular challenge......each a new
demand upon his generosity and zeal. Over
the years, Fr. Bill learned well, lessons never included in seminary courses: 1) How to accommodate to the demands of
people; 2) how to be compassionate
and Christ-like after exhausting hours in the confessional; 3) how to get up in
the middle of the night and hurry to the bed-side of a dying parishioner; 4) how
to lend strength to the discouraged, to bring comfort to the lonely and to
share the tears of the grief-stricken; 5)
how to be patient and deal with aging and his own mortality following the
example of Jesus Christ; 6) how to be the force behind the construction of a
beautiful hall for the parish of Saint Louis; 7) and, honestly, how to tell a
joke and roar with laughter.
We
come together today in this parish church of St. Louis –which Fr. Bill loved so
much– around this altar to celebrate with and for Msgr. Bill Myers. We come here so that just as Jesus opened the
eyes of the disciples in Emmaus as He celebrated the Breaking of the Bread with
them, He might once again Break Bread with us and open our eyes so that we
might know that what awaits us and what Fr. Bill now has……a share in the
Liturgy of heaven with the great High Priest, the Risen Lord Jesus Christ. As Jesus accompanied the disciples on the
journey to Emmaus, we accompany Fr. Bill on his journey to the House of our Father.
We thank God. At this altar today, in this Church of Saint
Louis which he loved so much, 1) we thank God for Bill’s priesthood and his
joyful attitude, and 2) we commend him home to the loving mercy and
peace of God our Father. We
thank God for all the privileges of Bill’s priesthood–– for these many years being
Our Lord’s willing servant and priest, His messenger, His friend…….the human
instrument Our Lord has used to bring to His people His mercy, His peace, and
His saving love.
A prayer of gratitude, too, for the bishops, priests and
lay-people who have enriched his life by their friendship and their love,
sustaining him in his priesthood, always there to encourage and to lend support
and strength. As he celebrated the
Sacrifice of the Mass on this altar and on all of the altars he encountered on
his priestly pilgrimage to the House of our Father, Bill knew that he was never
alone. The Risen Lord accompanied him
and invited him to a more intimate sharing in the one priesthood of Jesus
Christ through the nourishment of the Holy Eucharist……the Breaking of the Bread”.
In
each of his assignments, Fr. Bill offered more and more of himself so that
finally, last Tuesday afternoon he totally emptied himself into the loving
embrace of the Risen Lord whom he so faithfully served. Thank you, Bill for your friendship, support,
encouragement, and for your priesthood.
May you now hear those words of Jesus our Risen Lord; “Well done good
and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord.” May you pray for all of us as we continue
on our pilgrimage to the House of Our Father until in the words of St. Thomas
Moore: “we all meet merrily in heaven.”
And Bill, seeing you, and hearing your laugh once again will be a great
part of that merriment! ADIOS!
Appendix
A Tribute of Council 3335 to Its Chaplain Emeritus
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| Keith Elliott stands at attention as part of the honor guard at the casket of Fr. Bill. |
Knights of Columbus from Pomeroy, Marietta, and Gallipolis
served as honor guards at the funeral of 4th Degree Knight Msgr.
William Myers S.T.D. (1939-2019) on February 12. He was laid out in his favorite vestments
from Jubilee 2000 Holy Year with its logo that he dedicated his life to:
“Christ Yesterday, Today, Forever”. Bishop
Jeffrey Monforton presided and at least a dozen priests concelebrated in the
packed church.
Fr. Bill was the pastor
of our St. Louis Church (1980-2011) and chaplain of our Council 3335. It was he who spearheaded the revival of our
dormant council in the early 1980s. An
entrepreneur of sorts, our Parish Hall with a time capsule inside was built
during his tenure. It took two years of
fund raising and prayer every Sunday. Fr.
Bill faithfully served and loved the members of St. Louis Church and they reciprocated
that love. He hatched, matched, and
dispatched hundreds of people in Baptism, Matrimony, and funerals.
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| Knights from Cambridge, Marietta, Pomeroy, and Gallipolis served as an honor guard. Bishop Jeffrey Monforton presided with a dozen priests concelebrating. |
A gregarious and jovial priest, he made
everyone feel welcome as they entered the church. He had a gift for communicating love and
warmth. Fr. Bill never met a person he
didn’t like. Never at a loss for words,
he was good at one liners and always gave his homilies without notes, preparing
them in his head. Our shepherd was
always generous with his time, talent, and what little treasure he had. He was a fierce pro-life warrior and must
have gone on close to 30 marches in Washington, D.C.
He was
so personable. Recently, I ran into a
man who related that he transferred into Chaminade High School of Dayton, Ohio in 1957 or so in
strange surroundings. The first person
who welcomed him was a kid named Bill Myers.
Msgr. Myers was involved in the
community and was well respected by Catholics and Protestants alike. He was ecumenical, serving as a member of the
Gallipolis Ministerial Association and dialoging with our Bible Belt Protestants
either orally or through letters to the editor of the local newspaper, using
the pen name, Cozette, the name of his cat.
Rev. John Jackson, pastor of the Lutheran Church, was a good friend and
roasted him unmercifully at a retirement get-together in our Parish Hall.
Fr. Myers knew how to enjoy life and his
priestly vocation. He was a fun loving
guy; his stand-up comedy act at Jozette Baker’s farewell was hilarious. Fr. Bill was a regular at the Bob Evans
Restaurant and would bring an entourage from St. Louis Church for breakfast after
daily Mass; the waitresses miss him.
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| While in California, Fr. Bill visited the Catholic great books liberal arts school, Thomas Aquinas College and tracked down his former parishioner Stephanie Sebastian on the right in 2014. |
He loved to travel and organized numerous parish visits to shrines around the country and even in Europe. That included leading a large group in 2002 to World Youth Day in Toronto, Canada where they saw St. Pope John Paul II whom he deeply admired. Being a Notre Dame fan, he went to a few games in South Bend and took three of my teen aged children and me there. When in California, he visited Stephanie at the beautiful Thomas Aquinas College and when in Florida, visited our son, John-Paul at Ave Maria University.
To God and with God, pastor and friend. Goodbye, until we see you again at that great
St. Louis Church party in Heaven. You’re
invited dear reader; MAKE SURE THAT YOU GET THERE!
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