Funeral for a friend

Here is the text of the homily I prepared for the funeral of one of our close family friends which was celebrated today.

Funeral homily for Salvador Chaves

We have all come to the church this afternoon - friends and family members of Claudette, Sal and Tara - to thank God for the gift that God granted to all of us in the person of Salvador Chaves.

God grants many gifts to his beloved people every day. Sometimes these gifts are unperceived, but if our hearts are open and if we have the eyes to see them, we will always be on the lookout for them, always aware of them and always grateful for them.

Eighty years ago, when Sal was born in Georgetown, his parents recognized in him the gift that God had prepared for them.  They loved and cherished him, yet God loved and cherished him even more. As a young child, he was introduced to the Sacraments of Baptism, Reconciliation and the Eucharist: the precious gifts by which our God welcomes us into his family and constantly reassures us that we are his precious children.  Every time we ask for forgiveness, there is great joy in heaven, and every time we receive the Eucharist, we receive the bread of life (Jn 6:35), the body of Christ himself who reassures us that if we come to him, we will never hunger ... we will never thirst.

Sal was in his early twenties when he received yet another gift from God. When he met the love of his life: Claudette;  there was a smile in his heart and on his face that has never faded.  Eight years his junior, he was considered somewhat of a rebel when he asked her to marry him. Others questioned the wisdom of this decision but Sal and Claudette knew that God had a plan for them to be together. For fifty-six years, they were happy together, and God's happiness was evident in and through them too, especially in the smile they both wore.

God shared his gifts with Sal and Claudette on many occasions throughout their life together, but none was more joyfully received than the gifts of their two precious children: Sal and Tara. In them, Sal saw his future, a glorious future, like a new heaven and a new earth (Rev 21:1) that has unfolded every day since these two bundles of joy first arrived. Even on the day when Tara and Dan were married, when most fathers might have been nervous about having to share their little princesses, he reassured Tara that he wasn't worried at all. He was happy. He was beaming.

Our God never gives a gift so that it can be kept; God's gifts are meant to be shared with others; Sal knew this very well.  Neither Sal nor Claudette are strangers to celebrations. Many of us here today are well acquainted with the annual garden parties they hosted at their home in Caledon East. Regardless of the physical location of their home, Sal and Claudette have always been happiest when others came to visit, yet even the warmest welcome extended by human hands and hearts pales in comparison to the welcome that awaits us all when we complete out earthly journey. The eternal dwelling that awaits God's precious children when we reach our heavenly homeland is perhaps the greatest of God's gifts.  It is indeed a new Jerusalem, a beautiful place, like a bride adorned for her husband (Rev 21:2).

Always concerned for the good of his family, Sal recognized the talents that God had bestowed upon him and he used them to work tirelessly: first as a jockey and painting advertising signs in Guyana, then later as a truck driver and a courier when they came to Canada. In later years, Sal owned his own trucking company, a testament to his dedication to taking care of those he loved here on earth. Sal also broadened his interest in the world of the arts beyond the artist's canvas to include an array of musical instruments such as the accordion, the harmonica, the keyboard and the bass guitar. In time he began to share these musical talents also with the people who gather here in this place to praise God.  In fact, I'm told that last Sunday, on the day after he had completed his journey home, Sal's place in the choir was left vacant in memory of the harmonica man.

We who have gathered here today now offer our prayers for our beloved brother, yet we already know that the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment can touch him now (Wis 3:1). Two years ago, he was diagnosed with colon cancer. He didn't react well to the treatments but he continued even then to demonstrate his characteristic attitude of gratitude for all that he had received.  In fact, he was fortunate enough to be granted two further years to live among mortals. Earlier this year, he discovered that the cancer had spread to his liver. Over the past few months, he suffered the effects of bodily deterioration but he never lost sight of his faith. Every week, the parish priest would visit. In the comfort of his home, Sal received the gift of the Bread of Life and the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick: balm for his soul and the outward sign of God's closeness to His beloved people at the time of their greatest physical weakness.

Throughout his physical suffering, Sal was always aware of the gifts he had received from God.  Even as he breathed his last mortal breath, he smiled and his last words to Claudette were: I love you.  In his beloved wife, he found a companion for life.  In his precious children, he saw the promise of a world that can be.  In the relationship with his heavenly Father, Sal found hope, the most precious gift that God has given to his people. Our hope for Sal is full of immortality (Wis 3:4).  God has tried him and found him worthy (Wis 3:5) so we commend him to the mercy of God and rejoice with him today as the promise of everlasting life that was made to him on the day of his baptism is now fulfilled.

From his place in the new Jerusalem, Sal now watches over all of us, playing his harmonica and his accordion with all the angels as they sing in perfect harmony: 

O Lord, I am not worthy that you should come to me, but speak the word of comfort, my spirit healed shall be.