Funeral Mass for December 10, 2010d

Funeral Mass for Thelma Blair
(Ecc 3:1-14, 2Cor 1:14-5:1, John 11:17-27)
Shrine of the Sacred Heart, Mt. Washington
December 10, 2010

Prayer → Presence → Practice
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


CONDOLENCES

To Bill and Cathy, Tom and Linda,
To Thelma’s grandchildren: Carla and Stephanie and Shelly, Scott, and Molly,
To her great-grandchildren: Toby and Andrew, Connor and Sean,
And to Susan Cromwell, who was like a sixth grandchild,

Father Vince Conti, the Assistant Principal of Gonzaga High School in D.C., and I join all those gathered here this morning to honor your mother, grandmother and great grandmother.

We offer you our condolences on the occasion of her passing over to the other side of life.

When I think back to my years here as Thelma and Bill’s pastor and their home on Crest Road, I’m reminded of a Currier and Ives Christmas card of a snow covered, warm, snug, little house and opening the front door into a cozy living room with doilies and knick-knacks everywhere.

Thelma used to say that they were all gifts and I used to wonder if there was a single knick-knack that Thelma ever re-gifted? Bill and Tom assure me there wasn’t. Every gift received had a place and there was a ton of them!


PRAYER --> PRACTICE

After ministering as a pastor for 21 years, six of which were spent in this wonderful parish with Bill and Thelma Blair, as of this past July 1st I have been leading contemplative retreats and parish missions full time.

One thing I try to have folks understand when ministering is that there are more people who are contemplative than we might first image.

To pray contemplatively is to move beyond (gesture with right hand) words and images and memorized prayers to a direct experience of God, (gesture with left hand) to have a sort of face-to-face encounter with the Divine.

And once here (hand to hand) one gets “dusted” with the Divine and comes out of that encounter with a new frame of mind, a new way of seeing and acting (gesture right moving away from left.)

I say all this because I believe that Thelma had the gift of divine Presence. Her prayer always began with our standard prayers, and because she did not mind living alone and because she had lots of time for reflection and solitude, she was able to come away to a special place with God.

It was there (show movement of hands and union of both) she was fed and nourished in an extraordinary way. This union was further enhanced by Sue Walker’s regularly bringing her the Eucharist.

You might say her Prayer led her to Presence and her Presence to the Lord led her to Practice, as I said, I new way of seeing and acting.


PRESENCE --> PRACTICE

What were the practices resulting from that Presence?
➢ How about 53 years of great and faithful marriage to Bill and the great relationship they had? Bill who, luckily, was easy going and flexible made a great match for Thelma’s strong will. He learned early it was simply best to follow her – shall we say – lead?
➢ Or how about her attendance at daily mass?
➢ Or raising the two boys?
➢ But there were 5 individuals in the house, not four. Thelma’s mother lived with them from the early years while the boys were growing up
➢ And she was an active member of this parish for all those years

All in all, 96 years of faithful service as a follower of the Lord was her practice, her lifestyle, the lifestyle of one who knew God intimately


SCRIPTURE

In looking over the scripture of her funeral Mass, one might wonder what the insights were that Thelma gained from her experience of God’s Presence to her?

From Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians it may have been secure faith: “We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus”

Or perseverance in times of trial: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day

Or not being swept up in material possessions: “So we fix our eyes NOT on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Or from the first reading on Living and dying: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die … a time to mourn and a time to dance.”

Or finally from the Gospel as Jesus tells Martha, Thelma heard those same words: “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if she dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”


CONCLUSION

Fifteen minutes before Thelma passed, Linda went into her room and found Thelma praying the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary, and ending with the old familiar, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep…”

Thelma then told Linda that she saw two figures in white communion dresses, like two angels, coming toward her.

With that lustrous image before her and those last words from Thelma’s lips, “I pray the Lord my soul to keep” she passed ever so gently over to that Lord whose Presence she would now experience forever.

It doesn’t get better than that!