Reflection This Week
FATHER DICK
Wordsworth would have said of him that he was both a gentleman and a
scholar. Father Dick Osing was certainly a scholar; and while he may
have been uncomfortable being called a gentleman, Dick was truly a
gentle man, a very kind and caring person to everyone he
encountered. He was that and more. He was also, and most importantly
to me, my friend.
Dick and I did not always see eye-to-eye on theological or
scriptural issues. He could spin circles around me when it came to
the Bible. I always found it somewhat bemusing that Dick was not
allowed to be a full Jesus Seminar Scholar because he did not have
an earned doctorate. Silly people. Dick was a scholar of the highest
rank and was a superb teacher to boot.
Dick always said that he did not preach. He taught. He left the
preaching to the rest of us. His task when in the pulpit or in front
of a class, who, by the way, seemed to hang on his every word, was
to help us dig deeper into the scriptures. My task as a preacher was
to take what he taught and try to apply it to our daily lives. Of
course, if we wanted to know just how to apply such deep thoughts to
daily living, all we had to do was follow Dick’s example.
He knew he did not have all the answers but it was his
responsibility to help those he was called to teach to ask the
questions and, with his help and guidance, seek the answers that
would make them better followers of Jesus. They did not have to
agree with him. He never tried to convince anyone that he was right
and they were wrong. He simply tried to lead them, lead us, to the
truth as we would understand it. It was then up to us to live that
truth as fully and as faithfully as he lived out what he believed.
Scholar and teacher that he was, gentle man and friend even more,
husband, father and grandfather, son and brother, Dick was first,
last and always priest. It was his DNA. Priest was part of
everything he did, everything he said, how he lived his life. No,
Dick was not a saint. He would tell us that. No one is. Sainthood
only comes in death when we sin no more. Yet Dick understood,
perhaps more than most priests, sinful and fallible as he was, that
his priesthood colored and informed his total life. He was always a
living reminder of who Jesus was to him. His faith was a lived
faith.
I miss Dick already. There are too many conversations left, too many
issues to probe, too many discussions to have. They will have to be
left to eternity; but then, of course, there will be no more
questions to ask, only questions resolved. My suspicion is that Dick
is now the one who is bemused, perhaps better, amused, having
discovered he was correct on some issues and incorrect on others. He
and Jesus are no doubt having a hearty laugh about it all.
Father Dick, priest, will continue to teach me as I remember him and
think about him in the days and years to come. He will be that
living reminder in death as he was in life that all questions are
fair game, all answers are tenuous, but living a life of love of God
and neighbor and self as fully and as faithfully as one can is truly
all that really matters.
Thanks for your example, my brother. I miss you. I celebrate that
your restless mind is finally at rest and all your questions are
answered as you await the arrival some day of all those you loved
and taught. WJP
