A humble servant of God
The following is an excerpt from a featured article also on this site, entitled: A Warrior and Apostle for Courage
Fr. Harvey with Brendan and his family
At the time of Father Harvey’s 2003 visit, Brian Smith the founder of the Emmanuel Covenant Community was dying. I was thrilled that Father Harvey, who had met Brian at the Canberra Conference in 1998 , was willing to visit him at home and provide comfort and a blessing. He was a humble servant of God who had pastoral sensitivity, great erudition and an ability to succinctly educate his audience. All this without using powerpoint, overheads and whiteboard. No mean task given our more technological age and dependence on these items.
Father John used our house as his base and was accommodated for sleeping purposes three doors down from my place with another Emmanuel Covenant Community household: a household who truly lived by Saint Paul’s exhortation in Romans 12:13 “Share with God’s people who are in need and practise hospitality.” Father John had no airs and accepted our arrangements in good grace for he was earnestly focused on the way of the Lord.
Father John also made use of my City Counselling office for meeting with any same sex attracted person – who was not necessarily a Courage member - but wanted time with Father. It was a delight for me to be able to assist this humble man.
What also struck me about this man was that in his last visit to Brisbane he was in his eighties and displayed enormous energy. His passing reminded me of two other venerable men from Brisbane who also died in 2010. Doctor Charles Elliott, eighty seven years on 2nd January and Father Bill Murphy, ninety two years on 6th February. Both these men had enthusiasm, apostolic zeal, humour and great love. In my last meeting with Father Bill – in January 2010 –we spoke about the Jesus we meet in receiving the Body and Blood of the Lord. Father Bill’s final words were about the Resurrected Jesus. I was to meet him again at an unspecified date at his place. Instead he went to his heavenly reward and I will now have to wait until I am called to my heavenly reward to meet him again!
I mention this because in our day and age some would dismiss the old as being of no account and redundant – yet all three men mentioned above had the energy of God and the power of love which reached out to all and sundry – surely a gift that we must not neglect in our aged brothers and sisters wherever they are in our society and communities. I would encourage whoever reads this article to cultivate a wholesome relationship with a mature venerable brother and or sister. It can be an unexpected pleasure, and to paraphrase C.S.Lewis, one can be surprised by a joyful friendship.
Saint Paul loved Philemon and wrote a beautiful message for him. I would like to honour Father John Harvey in the same way because this is what he did in Brisbane and I was privileged to be a witness. Verse 7. “Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.”
May the soul of Father John Harvey rest in peace. Amen.
PLEASE READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE