The Servant King

This is the first of three foundation documents that together capture the happenings that led to the initial institution of the Aidan’s Masterpiece club at St. Joseph High School.  The second is Kathy Kershner’s remembrance of her encounter with Aidan a few days before the accident.  The third is Father Vince’s homily from the funeral Mass.  I told the story of the Servant King three times.  The first was after baseball practice a couple days after the accident.  The baseball and softball teams had gathered to say the Rosary.  At the end, moved by the Spirit, I walked down from the top row of the bleachers where Denise and I were sitting and told the story.  

The second time was at the all-school Mass on March 28, 2018.  The funeral was delayed a few days because Brendan, Aidan’s oldest brother and a graduate of the United States Military Academy, was at Ranger School.  We had to wait for him to finish so he could come home and be present with us.  Otherwise, he would have had to repeat the last portion of the training.  This pushed the funeral to the week of spring break, so the kids asked for the Mass because many of them would be away the day of the funeral.  I told the story to the fully assembled school at the close of the Liturgy.  When I finished, many students spontaneously lined up in front of Denise and I and we spent fifteen- or twenty-minutes exchanging hugs with anyone who felt the need.  

The third time was at the wake service the night before the funeral. A few days after the funeral, we got together with Mrs. Kershner to talk about what to do next.  There was a palpable momentum in the air, and we knew we had to follow through in some fashion on what had happened since the accident.  We began talking about the service club and the name Aidan’s Masterpiece came to us as we recalled Father’s homily.

I have written the story in the context of the Mass presentation, but I never wrote the story down until later.  All three presentations were unscripted and variable.  What follows is an idealized version of what I said based on how I remember it and would have liked to present it.  It is surely longer and more complete than any of the presentations I made.