Well done, good and faithful servant!
There was also a certain prophetess, Anna
by name. She
had seen many
days. She
was constantly
in the temple, worshipping
day and
night. Luke 2:
37
I can’t help it, I’m an old lady magnet. No matter
what parish I’m in, no matter how old I get, there is always an old lady or two
who latch onto me like white on rice. They must see me as an abandoned puppy or
an orphaned child, but whatever it is, it happens over and over again. As one
dies, another moves in to take her place. I once told Archbishop Kelly that one
of my “old lady friends” had died. He responded without batting an eye, “I’m
not worried! You’ll have another one before sundown!”
Edna Mae was one of those women.
I think we have known each other a little over thirty years. I am not sure how
it started, but I think it started when Ed Buchart and his mother, Celanaire,
introduced her and Helen Morehead to me at the Cathedral when I was pastor
there. Masses led to dinners – hundreds of dinners with her, Helen, Edward, Tom
and myself! Birthday dinners! Christmas dinners! Easter dinners! Dinners just
for the hell out it! We consumed large amounts of wonderful food over the last
thirty years.
There are a lot of things
“special” about Edna Mae, but one in particular. We are related! She was descended
from one Breckinridge County Mattingly brother and my mother from another. We were
what you might call “kissin’ cousins.” That gave me a right to kiss her on the
forehead the other day, about 20 minutes before she died.
When I heard that Edna Mae had died,
I immediately thought of two Scripture readings. We read them both.
The first one was from the Book
of Proverbs. It is a description of the ideal Jewish wife of ancient history:
strong, industrious, creative and eternally faithful in her role as mother and
wife. She made her husband and children
proud and the community had a deep respect for her and her husband.
I remembered another widow, an
eighty-four year old woman named Anna from the gospel reading, who liked to
hang out in the temple in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus. Anna and Edna Mae
have a lot in common.
Anna was a widow. She had known
sorrow, but she never grew bitter. Sorrow can do two things to us. It can make
us hard, bitter, resentful, and rebellious against God. It can make us lose
faith or it can make our faith grow deeper. It all depends on how we think of
God. If we believe that God is mean, we will resent him. If we know God as a
friend, we grow even closer to him. Like Anna, Edna Mae loved and trusted God,
even in her losses.
Anna, of the gospel reading, was
eighty-four years old. Even though she was widowed early in her marriage, she
never gave up. She pushed herself, she got out of the house and she went where
she could mix with people and make new friends. Age can take away the strength
of our bodies, but age can do worse. It can take away the spark in our hearts
and make us grimly resigned to a life of despair. Edna Mae, like Anna, never
gave up. She stayed connected to life, to her friends, to her family and to her
church as long as she could.
Anna, in the gospel readings,
never ceased to worship and pray. It
says “she never left the temple” and “day and night she worshipped with prayer
and fasting.” No minimal “Sundays and
holy days of obligation” for Anna. She had an intimate relationship with her
God and enjoyed living in his presence. Like Anna, Edna Mae and God were close,
daily companions and friends. Like most Catholics her age, Edna Mae was
faithful to her religious upbringing even when she was not able to get to church
any more.
Family and friends, we are not
here to mourn the end of Edna Mae’s life. We are here to celebrate her entry
into eternal life. Edna Mae lived long and well. There was nothing more here
for her to do. She squeezed all she could out of this life and prepared herself
for the next. What else can we do, but celebrate with her and thank the God who
created this faithful and committed woman, sustained her for so many years and
now calls her to his side?
Emory, Billy, Edna Mae and Mary
Ellen, I want to thank you for sharing your mother with the rest of us! Be
proud of yourselves for the love and care you showered on her! I thank Edna Mae,
as well, for her faithful friendship over the last 30 plus years!
Finally, I would like to end with
my favorite prayer from the funeral rite. “Edna Mae, may the angels lead you
into paradise. May the martyrs come to welcome you and take you to the holy
city. Where Lazarus is poor no longer, may you have eternal rest.”
Edna Mae, may you and your dear
husband, Emory; you and your parents, William and Edna; you and your many
friends and relatives who have gone before you, rest in eternal peace.
“Well done, good and faithful servant, well done indeed!”
“Well done, good and faithful servant, well done indeed!”
