Welcomed home

Funeral homily for Helen Collins

Whoever comes to me, I shall not turn away.  These words of Jesus, written in the gospel passage we have just read, help us to understand the welcome which awaits all of us when our earthly pilgrimage is ended.  From the day of our baptism, our God welcomes us, loves us and waits for us.

The funeral liturgy that we are celebrating today allows us to gather in the presence of God.  God is the master of this household, he is the one who welcomes us here, just as he welcomed Helen on the day of her baptism.  God is the one who welcomes us to sit at his table, this Eucharistic table, where we share the meal which he has given us.  God is the one who speaks to us through the scriptures that we have heard today, comforting us in our moments of doubt and sorrow, holding us close to his heart and reassuring us that our dear sister Helen, who we return to him today, will rest forever in his presence.

Helen was well known in this city, and in this parish.  In her younger years, she must have been a force to be reckoned with.  From what I’ve been told, I believe she worked in various capacities for the government, she fulfilled the role of secretary, she was a saleswoman, she was a mother and wife, a grandmother and a great grandmother.  There were even some hand-written notes on the material I was given, probably written by Helen herself – instructions which she wanted to make sure we had so that all the details of her funeral would be tended to.  She did this so that none of us would have to worry about these details.  She did this because she loved her family and those who were closest to her, and she knew that when the time came, she herself would know the fullness of love, and wanted us to be able to stop, even for a moment, to celebrate and remember the love that we have had the privilege to know, and to share with her.  Dear friends, here, in the presence of our God, we experience the fullness of love, for only in God, the author of life and of love, can we truly know the depth of perfect love.  We experience this love in various degrees through the gestures of kindness that we experience here on earth, but only in God’s presence can we truly come to appreciate the depth of perfect love.  Today, we give thanks, because after her 87 years of life on this earth, Helen is now experiencing the fullness of this love which she longed to know, in the presence of our God, and with all those who have gone before her.

From her place in heaven, Helen now waits for us, just as God waits for us.  As we too await the day when we will see Helen, John, Charles and our God in heaven, we have the assurance that the promise of our God is not in vain.  He invites us to sit at this table, a preparation for the heavenly banquet spoken of by the prophet Isaiah in the first reading we heard today.  When we think about the banquet that is described in Isaiah’s retelling, perhaps we can easily bring to mind the many meals which Helen prepared, and the many many people who were welcomed at her table.  Yet, the heavenly banquet is even more than any earthly feast, for the food that we will receive at that table is not something that will fill our stomachs and make us regret having consumed that last mouthful.  Rather, it is a food which feeds our souls, which lightens our step, which fills us with the certainty that God, our God loves us, that he waits for us with endless patience – a patience that can endure even our own choice to turn away from him at times … a patience that outlasts every human effort, and is still searching for us until we eventually come Home.  Saint Paul speaks of this divine patience in the second reading we heard today.  In his words, we believe that having died with Christ in baptism, we shall return to life with him on the day of Resurrection.

So dear friends, let us give thanks to God today for the life of this lady who we commend to His mercy.  Let us remember with joy the many years we have been blessed to share with her, and let us look forward in hope to the day when we will see her again.  In the meanwhile, let us welcome one another as God has welcomed us into his family, let us love one another as God has loved each one of his precious children, and let us wait together in hope for the day when we will see God face to face.