Funeral homily for Darryl Latendresse

Throughout the time that we spend here on this earth, each of us is given the opportunity to meet all kinds of different people.  Sometimes they come into our lives only for a moment or two, sometimes our paths cross for a number of years at a time.  If we're truly lucky, we encounter one or two such people who truly leave their mark on our souls.  When we`ve encountered such a person, it`s natural that we should want to spend as much time as possible with him or her, for the lessons that are taught, simply by being in his or her presence are priceless.

Those of us who gather today to pray in this church have been given an added bonus: the gift of faith.  This gift is given on the day of our baptism, and it is nourished by parents and godparents, by friends and by mentors.  It is modeled for us by the saints who have lived in times gone by, and by people of our own time who have faced all kinds of challenges, but still choose to greet each new day with renewed hope.

Because we are people of faith, we look to the words of scripture at times such as these, and there we find the advice first written by Saint Paul to the Christian community at Corinth: We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and that it will be the same for those who have died in Jesus.  On the day of his baptism, Darryl died in Jesus, just as we all died in Jesus when we were welcomed into the Church.  The mystery of our faith has never promised success measured in terms of the world that surrounds us; rather the treasure that is ours is made known to us in the form of a promise that when this earthly life is complete, God will bring us with him, so that we shall stay with him forever.

In the meanwhile, the life we live here on earth is a preparation for the life we will live in eternity.  Each of us receives talents and gifts when we are created by our loving God, and it's up to us to develop them, to use them, to learn how to appreciate the beauty of an artist at work, the excitement of falling in love, the pleasure of recreation and the simple joy of spending time with those who walk the path of life with us.  If we’re truly wise, we will learn quickly to appreciate such graces, for the truth of the matter is that none of us knows the length of our days, and far too often, we are called Home far too soon.

Today, Darryl`s family and friends are here to pray with him.  Today, we commend his eternal soul into the hands of the God who created him and who lent him to us for the past fifty years.  Throughout his short life, he learned to live each day to the fullest, to love deeply, and to see life’s challenges as opportunities for growth.  Would that we could all be so wise, and yet even as we come to this moment, we give thanks for the privilege of having known him in this life, of having been able to learn from him.

The road that he now embarks upon is one that we also must walk, each in our own time.  When Jesus himself was preparing to embark upon the path to heaven, he told his disciples that they should trust in God, and trust in Him.  We too must now trust that God takes Darryl to be with him, in a place where he will know the fullness of life and love, where he will rejoice forever, reunited with his father Norman and with all the saints who have gone before us and whose example now shines as brightly as the vault of heaven as a guide for all of us until the day that we too have completed our earthly journey and are at Home in heaven.

Dear friends, let us celebrate this day with joy and thanksgiving.  Even though our hearts may be heavy with grief, our faith tells us that Darryl is alive, that he has once again been made whole and that as we break bread here on earth and share the Eucharistic meal, we have the certainty of our faith to reassure us that even though our efforts in life may seem feeble, each of them prepares us for the fullness of life that is yet to come.