Beloved Family:
Praise be to God! At the first session of our AFF Great Adventure Bible Timeline, held on Wednesday, October 9, over seventy people came together to engage Sacred Scripture. At the time of composing this column, we are anticipating substantially more folks to join us this (Wednesday) evening. The “host” of this series, biblical scholar Jeff Cavins, has been a prominent presence in Catholic media for decades. He has a powerful testimony as a “revert” to Catholicism which is inspiring and encouraging to everyone, perhaps in particular to those who have grieved over a family member or other loved one who has stopped practicing the Catholic Faith.
In the timing of life, on the very date of our second session (October 16), Jeff and his family will have celebrated the Mass of Christian burial for his dad, Robert Eugene Cavins. For those who use the Hallow App, Jeff has offered a moving tribute to his father—the Daily Reflection for the above-mentioned date. It lays forth the narrative of his father’s knowledge and professional accomplishments, coupled with exceptional humility, his numerous health challenges and most importantly, the legacy of his faith and his love for his family. It includes an encounter Jeff had with his dad, at the point when he was returning to the Catholic Church; it was a moment of powerful healing following a past event of painful words spoken and heard. I would like to share an excerpt, in the hope that it will move us to reflect on our own relationships with our dads and to make it our priority to share with the people we love, the difference for good that they make in our lives. The excerpt takes up at a point when, having experienced a fall, his dad is no longer able to work at a local Home Depot:
About six months after that fall, I went to the same store where he worked at to buy some filters for the furnace. As I was checking out, I asked the guy behind the counter if he knew Bob Cavins. His face lit up, and with a big smile, he said, “Bob? I love the guy. Everyone liked him, and he was the easiest guy to get along with. Why?” “I’m his son.”
…I went out to the car and once I got in, I just sat and thought about my dad working at Home Depot. I thought to myself, “I don’t think that guy knows who my dad is.”… I went back into the store, and the man looked at me as if to say “Any problems?”…I said, “Do you have a minute?” He said, “Sure.”
I asked him how well he knew my dad. He gave me a few lines about how nice he was, and he seemed to know his electrical department very well, and how everyone got along with him, but that was about it. …I asked, “Did you know my dad was vice president at Honeywell?” “Why, no, I didn’t,” he responded. I asked, “Did you know my dad’s Ph.D. was related to inventing lasers, and his work was mostly top-secret projects among other amazing endeavors?” He said, “Wow, no…I didn’t!” I said, “I didn’t think you knew any of this, but I just wanted you to know who my father was.”
…I went back out to the car, and there I sat, thinking about my dad. And then it hit me…it took a son to reveal the father. Then I thought of Jesus and realized it took a son to reveal our Heavenly Father!
It was around that time that I was teaching the 24-week Bible Timeline course at St. Hubert Church in Chanhassen, Minnesota. St. Hubert’s was the parish Emily and I were married in and it was my parents’ parish as well. I would typically go in prior to the nearly one thousand people coming to study the Bible.
On the third night, I walked into the Church to set up my 12’ by 3’ Bible Timeline Chart in the front, just three steps below the altar. There was a man, but I couldn’t make out who he was and he was setting up my Bible Timeline Chart for the teaching that night. The I realized, it was my dad. He decided to come to the study and, as an engineer, took it upon himself to set the stage for me to teach.
The truth is everything my father did for me was to set the stage for the Lord to work through us. Today is his funeral, October 16, 2024, and his coffin sits right where my Bible Timeline was set up!
Let His Peace be with you,
Fr. Stephen
