Personalized Funeral

Today at Noon, I had a funeral Mass for a 60 year old woman who was in assisted living with her very hard-of-hearing mother. I thought about what I was going to do to be able to speak to her at the funeral and came up with a creative solution.

I had one of my servers go into the conference room and bring out a chair. After the Gospel, I took the chair and placed it in front of Mary Pat’s mother. I then asked if she could hear me. “Not very good”, she said. At that, my Director of Music Ministry cranked up the level of my microphone and I asked her again if she could hear.

“Yes!” she said. I then spent the entire homily looking at her and speaking to her and letting the rest of the congregation “listen in”. I heard a couple of her nieces whisper, “She’s nodding her head. She can hear him!” as they saw her following along with me.

It was really beautiful to be able to reach out to her that way and I appreciated, not for the first time and not for the last, the vocation that God gave to me to enter the priesthood. I may not have always been the perfect priest and probably will never be. But, times like this? To me, that’s what it’s all about. 🙂

 

One Reply to “Personalized Funeral”

  1. Good for you, Father! It was important that you were able to communicate with her, and since you know how hard it is to accept this loss, I know for sure that this life that we experience here on earth is only the beginning! We have much to look forward to, in the company of our loved ones who have gone before us. As hard as it is to leave those we love, knowing that we will be together again in the next life helps a heap! It helps the grief. And a personal touch by someone who’s “been there” means a lot. God Bless! Pat K.

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