Nourished at the table

Here is the reflection I prepared for the funeral we celebrated this morning, remembering the life of a woman of faith who never hesitated to be a joyful disciple of Jesus and to share the joy of her faith with others.

Funeral homily for Hélène Larivière

De semaine en semaine, le peuple de Dieu se rassemble autour de Sa table.  En effet, la table du Seigneur comprend deux tables: celle de Sa parole, où nous cherchons Sa sagesse et celle de l’Eucharistie où nous trouvons la nourriture requise pour notre vie spirituelle.  Depuis mon arrivée comme curé de cette paroisse il y a trois ans et demi, j’ai toujours remarqué la présence de notre soeur Hélène ici, tout près des deux tables, sources de notre rencontre hebdomadaire avec Jésus.
From week to week, God's people gather around His table.  In fact, the table of the Lord includes two tables: the table of His word, where we seek His wisdom and the table of the Eucharist, where we find the food we require for our spiritual life.  Ever since my arrival in this parish, I have always seen our sister Hélène here, sitting physically close to these two tables, fonts of grace and blessing for our weekly meetings with Jesus.

At the Lord’s table, Hélène discovered more and more with every passing encounter, the precious truth that she was and is a child of God (cf Rom 8:14).  With each visit to this table, she learned how to bear witness to the fact that she was and is an heir to God’s kingdom.  This is a truth that she proclaimed at every moment of her life. 

Issue d’une famille canadienne-française, elle a approfondi le don de la vie familiale qui lui a été confié par ses parents.  Ce trésor a été nourri quotidiennement par les expériences vécues avec chacun de ses soeurs, son frère, son époux, sa fille, ses petits-enfants et ses arrière-petits-enfants.
Born of a French-Canadian family, she deepened the gift of family life that was confided to her by her parents.  This treasure was fed daily by the experiences she had with each one of her sisters, her brother, her husband, her daughter, her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren.

Endowed with the sense of generosity and self-giving that is the gift of a large and happy family, Hélène joyfully shared her love for cooking and baking with people of all ages.  A long-time devotee of the Callander legion, she helped to prepare many, many banquets.  In this parish, she was always ready to help with various potluck dinners and even to provide baking for the celebrations of major moments in the faith lives of our children – like the celebrations of the Sacraments of First Communion and Confirmation.

Over the past number of months, I for one have noticed that she has been increasingly absent from the pew she normally chose.  When she did come, and I had a moment or two to speak with her, I would always ask:  How are you? … and she would simply answer: Not so good … and then continue on.  

The prayers that are offered in these pews are rarely voiced with human tongues.  What we heard from her mouth were simple words, but what she uttered in prayer was no doubt a collection of memories more vast than we could ever recount: a time when she was overjoyed to witness new life in the birth of her children, grand-children and great-grandchildren (cf Ecc 3:2); a time or two when she was saddened or wept at the death of those she loved (cf Ecc 3:4); times when she experienced the joy of embracing those she loved, and of watching them embrace those they loved in turn (cf Ecc 3:5)

Like all of us, she faced many struggles, not least of those was her physical health, but even through the uncertainty of growing frailty, she never lost sight of the fact that she is and was precious in the eyes of God.  Jesus spoke to her in the silence of prayer, and he still speaks to us today: My precious children, do not let your hearts be troubled (Jn 14:1).  Jesus has prepared a place for her in the Father’s house, just as he has promised that he will do for each one of us.   Now that her place is prepared, he has freed her from the bonds of mortality and taken her to live with him for all eternity.  The same is true for us.

Until the day that our turn comes to enter the Father’s house, Jesus waits for us, showing us the way, pointing it out in the words spoken from this table of his word: a Word that tells us that we must love others as he has loved us, a Word that tells us that we should never allow our hearts to be doubtful, a Word that assures us that we are his precious sons and daughters; and nourishing us with the food that is blessed at that table: the food of eternal life, his body and blood, which to give us the strength of our faith, and the hope of one day seeing Hélène again in heaven.