This is a site where Father Nicholas shares his homilies and other talks that he gives.
He can also be found on Facebook as "Father Nicholas Amato" and on Twitter as @FatherNicholasA.
To
Delia, and Bruce and their children Christopher, Emily and Gregory.
To
Joseph and Judy and their two daughters Lauren and Lindsay.
To
Partick and Lauri and their children Kali, Kara, and Brian.
To
Julie and Dave and their children David and Olivia.
To
Jeannine youngest and her daughter Angelica.
To Jeannie’s great grand
children Annabelle (2 yr) and Skylar (6 months)
We gather with you to celebrate the
extraordinary life of Jeannie whose life touched ours in so many ways.
We too, with you, mourn her passing. We too feel her loss.
Eyes As Windows
It was
William Shakespeare who said, “The eyes
are the window to your soul.”
What
he meant by that is that if you look deeply into the eyes of someone you love
you can find in them an expression of their souls. By the same token there is a
reverse action whereby our souls can find expression by using our eyes to feast
and savor all we see.
So the
eyes become a two-way passage for love received and love given. We have all
been face-to-face with Jeannie’s beautiful eyes that gave rise to her warm
smile.
As we
celebrate the new life she has in Jesus, I’d like to ask two questions: (1) What
went into those eyes and touched her soul and (2) What came out of those eyes
that touched ours?
What Went In / Sources for Faith
Jeannie
was a woman of great faith and it was Jesus in the Eucharist and the example of
the Blessed Mother both that fed her soul.
By her
faithful attendance at weekly Mass, she understood first-hand what Jesus meant
when he said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me, and I in them.Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father,
so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.”
Added
to the love of Jesus was her special love and devotion to the Blessed Mother.
Delia
knew that devotion very well as Jeannie, for the 30 days of May each year, would
make a crown of flowers for the statue of Mary that Delia had in her bedroom.
And of course, there was a larger daily crown of azaleas each morning for
Delia’s classroom Madonna.
What Came Out / Tangible Gifts
This
deeply grounded faith in Jesus and Mary came forth from her soul in many ways
to touch our hearts.
It
showed itself in the devotion and creativity of her sewing. There was
the time when Delia was dating Bruce and Jeannie made her a new pair of slacks
out of a set of old green curtains from the attic. So beautiful were they that Bruce
thought they were rich and that he would never be able to keep up. Little
did he know at the time the source of the Feeney wealth!
Sewing
was something Julie learned at a very young age. By the time she was
in high school and taking sewing classes, she would come home and teach her mother
some of the latest sewing tricks.
The
tricks continued to help Jeannie turn "trash into treasures." Sewing
was the medium through which she shared here creativity with all her children
for each of them is creative and artistic in their own way
Jeannie
saw her being a Stay-at-Home mom really as a profession. She made homemaking
something to be espoused and in doing so, she shattered the conventional wisdom
that
said if a woman didn’t go out to work, she was lazy or unmotivated. The kids knew
differently because there wasn’t a lazy bone in their mother’s body.
When
David and Olivia were little, they would stay with her when they were sick and
couldn’t go to school and Julie had to go to work. Many a sick day was
spent just hanging out with Ma and Pop for the children.
She
would make them scrambled eggs great grilled cheese sandwich, homemade Macaroni
and Cheese and watch “The Price is Right.”
What’s not to love! Why not feign illness and get out of school just to be
with Ma and Pop!
Sewing, Homemaking and finally, There for Others. Jeannie
and Joe had a wonderful marriage. They never had eyes for anyone else for sure.
They were each other’s rock and best friend. Her care for Joe’s father's mother
and sisters was incredible, with many people thinking it was her own mother and
sisters.
How
she honored Joe in her care of his loved ones. Their faith-filled marriage weathered
many a storm as a young couple with the death of a son, Kevin, of crib death. Tragedies
and challenges had a way of bringing them closer together as a couple.
They
worked together and did without material things so their children could be
educated and become all they could be.
Most
recently, Jeannie was there for her grandson Chris and his wife Nancy, as Nancy
faced a serious health challenge. Jeannie put all her energy in her faith in the
Blessed Mother to help them get through this tough time.
Approaching the End/Beginning
Jeannie’s
passing over to the other side of life came gently and sweetly. I spoke to her
by phone on a week ago today and though she was no longer able to speak, Julie
assured me that she did hear my words and that she understood and was even
smiling.
She
died at 3:22pm and I was on the phone talking with Joe at that very moment.
What an honor it was to prepare her for her passage home to the Father.
What
touched me was what happened to Angelica the night Jeannie passed. Angelica was
lying in bed and very gently reached for the ceiling.
She
told Jeannine that grandmom was right there. Right there. She then pulled
her hand to her heart and said she is even closer though, because she is right
here.
