April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
REFLECTION
Remembering Father Clifford
On Feb. 16, 2012, Franciscan Father Leo Clifford passed into eternal life. About 10 years ago, I'd been flipping through TV channels and saw a brown-robed priest preaching on EWTN. Within minutes, I felt mesmerized by not only the content, but the delivery of his message. I said to myself, "I have to meet this man!"
I wrote to him in Boston and got a response something like this: "My dearest Richie: You make my little Irish head swell too much. I am 80 years old. I have a heart condition. My preaching days are over. But if you want to have a retreat with me...come to Boston."
I did. What ensued was a close priestly friendship that lasted more than a decade, ending with my seeing him just a few weeks before he departed this earth, just short of his 90th birthday.
About twice a year, I'd drive out to Boston and visit him; but most of the time, Father Clifford and I conversed over the telephone. Whenever I would visit, his phone would ring with persons calling from all over the world. He agreed to engage in a code when I called: I'd let it ring twice, hang up and call back. Sometimes, he'd answer, "Joe's Bar. We are not open yet."
I memorialize him here in a threefold manner:
• Father Clifford the preacher. Locally, I have had a model preacher for my 34 years in the priesthood: Bishop Howard Hubbard. On the level of TV homilists, Father Clifford has been my "hero preacher." His pithy sayings were profound, like, "Sin is in our bloodstream;" "We know we are sinners, you and I. We demonstrate that brilliantly a thousand times a day;" or, "God is insanely, madly in love with you."
That God loves us has been said for centuries; that God is in love with us can only be appreciated by those who have been in love. It brings the discussion of the love of God for us into the emotional domain of our hearts.
• Father Clifford the pray-er. He would spend hours in contemplation before the Blessed Sacrament. It was the sustenance of his priesthood, of his life. Everything revolved around prayer. It was the source of his enthusiasm, energy and exuberant spirit.
• Father Clifford the man of humor. During the three-day directed retreat he gave me when I first met him, I was fearful he might be harsh as I confided secrets of my soul. When I finished, he said, "Richie, having heard all that, I regret to tell you that you are...disgust-ingly normal."
Once, when I surprised him with an unannounced visit, I walked into his room and looked at him without saying a word. He said, "Well, then, from time to time I do have visions."
Father Clifford touched my priestly ministry, my spiritual life and my heart. The hundreds of thousands who heard his homilies might say the same. I still try to watch him on TV whenever I can and listen to his five CDs, collectively titled, "Reflections with Father Leo Clifford, OFM." I ask him to continue to pray for me, for he always ended our conversations with, "There's never a day that goes by, Richie, when I don't remember you in my Mass and in my prayers."
The Church's Liturgy of Christian Death and Burial says it all: "The sadness of death gives way to the bright promise of immortality." May Father Clifford continue his prayer and preaching before the heavenly throne of grace for all of us here below.
(Father Carlino is pastor of St. John the Evangelist and St. Anthony's parishes in Schenectady.) [[In-content Ad]]
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