The Priest Who Made Us Feel at Home

There is a unique kind of peace that comes from being in the presence of someone who has walked with God for a long time. These "giants of faith" offer a quiet, steady warmth that tells you everything will be alright.

I was thinking about this today as we prepare to lay our beloved Fr. Karekin Kasparian to rest. My mind went back to 2015, when I first arrived in the United States and spent a day with him at the old St. Nersess Seminary in New Rochelle, almost like a one-day internship.

He asked me about the bylaws of our Diocese, my ministry, and the parishes where I had served. I shared my experience in Europe and told him how I had used the bylaws of this Diocese as a model when preparing bylaws in Switzerland.

He listened with interest, smiled, and said that perhaps he did not have much to teach me. Then he shared couple of jokes, and we laughed together. But that day, he did teach me one of the greatest lessons of pastoral life: how to make another person feel at home.

He taught it through his kindness, warmth, humor, and fatherly heart. A true priest, a true father, a true servant of Christ makes people feel that there is room for them in the Church, room for their questions, their calling, and their journey.

Fr. Karekin had that gift. He made many people feel at home in the Armenian Church. That day, he made me feel at home.

Our Lord says in John 14:2, “In my Father’s house are many rooms.” Der Karekin spent his life helping people find their room in the Father’s house. He helped them come closer to Christ. He helped them love the Armenian Church and feel that the Church was their home.

And today, we trust that the same Lord whom he served so faithfully is now welcoming him into the eternal home. The priest who made others feel at home is now being welcomed home by Christ.

And I believe with all my heart that Fr. Karekin now hears the sweet voice of our Lord saying “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Master.”

May the memory of the righteous always remain a blessing in our hearts.