Fr. Andrew Apostoli CFR - The Comforter: The Spirit of Joy

S OONER OR LATER, I think we all come to realize that we are on a journey, a realization that often comes with age as we are faced with the certainty of our own death and begin to contemplate whats next. Certainly, the individual life journeys of each of us are different, faced as we are with an endless option of paths and choices. But even with all the variety of options and challenges that we encounter, our journeys are still somehow similar in that we were created to end up in the same placein the arms of a loving God. Whether we believe it or not, that is our true destiny.

Like each of you, my journey has been unique. Ive experienced more than my fair share of joy, and I am no stranger to the pain and suffering that we all inevitably confront along the way. Now that Im in my late 60s, I look back and realize that the decisive moment in my journey took place nearly thirty years ago, when I made the decision to leave the corporate world and offer to God whatever modest talents I possessed for the work of His Church.

Not surprisingly, this course of action does not usually reward one with earthly treasure. However, it often provides one with riches of a more enduring kind, and sometimes allows you the company of some of the most exceptional people on the face of the earth. People who have made the conscious decision to serve their Creator completely, giving Him their all, and leaving nothing for themselves. People who radiate love so clearly, yet powerfully, that they truly reflect Christs love for us and, like Christ, inexplicably draw us to them and him. Father Andrew Apostoli, CFR is one such soul. I have come to know him as a wise and holy man of God who has fully dedicated his life to his vocation as a Franciscan friar for over fifty years. I feel very privileged and blessed that he has played such an important role in my journey!

I have known Father Andrew for nearly thirty years, and his friendship and spiritual guidance has meant more to me than I think he will ever know. When we first met, I had just experienced a reawakening to my Catholic faith and found myself coordinating a conference at a place that we have both come to love, a shrine in the heart of Mexico City that marks the spot where the Queen of Heaven appeared to a humble indigenous man nearly 500 years agothe Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Here, the Mother of God spoke of her love and help that was available to each of us. In this Shrine, she left an image of herself on St. Juan Diegos tilma, which has been miraculously preserved for nearly five centuries.

Father Andrew spoke at that conference, and that very same day we became fast and dear friends. We decided then and there to make an annual pilgrimage to Our Ladys Shrine and did so for over a decade, bringing along hundreds of other individuals and families from all over the country. Father Andrews love for our heavenly Mother was apparent even then, and it was truly a beautiful thing to behold. His deep devotion to Our Lady, which was so apparent as I watched him speak about her on those trips, shines through in his many conferences, TV and radio appearances, and writings.

I have also spent a lot of time with Father Andrew in Yonkers, at his New York Friary in the heart of the Bronx. While there I have observed the way in which the younger men and women in this growing religious order look up to him as a spiritual father. With great admiration and respect, they lovingly seek his guidance, deriving benefit from, as have so many others, his deep store of spiritual and practical wisdom. Father has also taken me to some of the mission outlets run by the CFRs, places where I think he feels most at home. There, alongside the men and women of his community, he joyfully tends to the needs of Gods poor and neglected; such missions are oases in the middle of the concrete jungle, places where people are reminded that they, too, are children of God.

Although Father Andrew is always very busy serving the Lord, he has never refused any request that I have made of him. Almost twenty years ago, I asked if he would serve as spiritual director for a new organization I had founded, and, of course, he agreed. Called the Catholic Marketing Network, this apostolate is made up of a variety of individuals and entities serving the Lord in many ways. Since the organization was comprised mostly of lay people who had certain temporal responsibilities that went along with their spiritual activities, I asked Father to help the organization navigate through the often unusual, challenging, and overlapping worlds of spirituality and commerce. Keeping the spiritual element at the fore, Father Andrew helped to create a Eucharist-centered organization while making himself available to the many individuals who have gotten to know and love him as their spiritual guide and mentor in the effort to bring quality Catholic products to Gods people.