by Paul O'Reilly, SJ
"And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time."
My aunt Marion died last year. And at her funeral we celebrated all the good things she had done in her life. That celebration did not come easily. Because all of our minds and hearts were filled with memories of the person we had lost. And when the family met together before the funeral -- about 2000 of us -- good traditional Irish Catholic family - all of us talked about Aunty Marion's importance in our lives - often at the key & critical moments that have made all the difference. I personally will particularly remember how good she was to my father in his last illness.
And one phrase I heard people saying over and over again was "tower of strength". For the whole of our family, she was a woman who we looked up to, who we admired, who we respected and who we loved.
She was 83 and for the last year, she had been very sick; she had several strokes and she was very weak and incapacitated. But that's not how we remembered her. We all remembered her as strong, active, doing things and -- above all -- being in charge. I. I think that is partly why all of us found it so hard to see her so weak and helpless in her hospital bed.
Three days before she died, I went to see her. She was obviously very ill, very weak and she could barely talk to me. But I was delighted that she knew who I was and what she wanted to say to me. But she said something to me that I did not understand: "I will always be with you." She said it twice.
And, in truth, I will never know exactly what she meant by that. But I like to think that she meant something like what Jesus says in today's Gospel - "know that I am with you always - yes to the end of time."
Because our family believes that Aunty Marion also will be with us always - yes, to the end of Time.
There is an Amerindian tribe that I used to work with that has a tradition. At funerals they make no show of grief. No weeping. No outward sign of sorrow. They say: "there is no need for sorrow when a good person goes to God. There is a need for each of us to help fill their place."
So, when one of their elders dies, at the funeral, they dig up part of his or her cassava crop. For them, cassava is the staple -- not just of their diet -- but of their entire way of life. It is their food, their drink, their clothing, their everything -- even their make-up. So, at a funeral, part of the cassava is dug up and the root is divided and shared out among the mourners. Everyone -- man,, woman and child -- gets a piece. And when each of them goes home, they plant it in their own fields. And every time they harvest, they give thanks for all the people who have gone before them, all the people whose traditions they carry on; all the people who have passed on to them all the important things in life.
For us, we give thanks in a special way,
- For the goodness that God has planted in our hearts.
- For the goodness of all the people who have gone before us and loved us and who have passed on to us all the good things in our lives.
- For the presence of Christ in our hearts, he is with us always -- yes to the end of time.
If we walk with His hope in our hearts, we will never walk alone.
Let us stand and profess our Faith in God who is with us always.
Mount Street Jesuit Centre,
114 Mount Street,
London SW1K 3AH.
ENGLAND.
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