Funeral Mass for Annie Mackin

With Fr. McDonagh and Fr. Paddy Joe Murray I welcome you to this funeral liturgy for Annie.  Especially today we are praying for her family.

Death is always a shock; even more so with it’s the death of someone close to us who has died after a long illness.

We all come here to remember a remarkable lady, to give thanks, even in our grief, for her long life of 84 years, to offer each other, and especially all those who will most miss her, the consolation of our love and our presence with you today; and to offer also the promise of eternal life.

Our consolation will be the happy memories we have of Annie; our sadness is that she has gone from us. Our sure Christian hope is that the Lord our God will welcome her home and that one day we will be united together in heaven. In the depth of our loss and hope we now pray and offer this Eucharist for Annie.

We come to God, knowing we need his mercy and forgiveness, and so in preparing to celebrate the Mass we call to mind our sins.

Lord, you suffered and died in our name. Lord, have mercy

Lord, your heart was moved with compassion for the sick and the bereaved. Christ, have mercy.

Lord, you suffer with your people at the right hand of the Father. Lord, have mercy.

And may almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins and bring us to life everlasting.

Let us pray:

Almighty God and Father of all, you strengthen us by the mystery of the cross and with the sacrament of your Son’s resurrection. We pray for Annie, grant her peace. Welcome her to the eternal joy of the kingdom and give us all new hope in our sorrow that one day we shall all be with you and with each other in your home where every tear will be wiped away. Grant this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

HOMILY

A sad occasion like this today is an occasion to reminisce and to allow the mind to linger on moments from the past. Memories flood back of childhood experiences of being cared for, encouraged and loved. For her loving family the first school you ever attended was on your mother’s lap. This is a time when gratitude for a loving mother wells up in your hearts for a ‘job well done’. It is a time of awakening to an appreciation of the gifts and blessings received. It is only in hindsight that the gift becomes clear. Life is lived going forwards but understood looking backwards.

A mother’s love’s a blessing! The death of our mother brings a new kind of experience into our lives. To be without a mother is to be in a strange and lonely place. And that’s understandable. For our mother is really one’s first friend. One’s longest first friend! No friend we will ever meet on life’s journey will have been so interested or committed to us. No other friend will have known our first step or our first smile or our first tear. No other friend will know us through and through in such an intimate manner as to be called by our name – a name given in Baptism. Annie made you and shaped you. She lived for you.

To her family Annie was a rock – a model mother and grandmother and a great granny.

As Annie has died now a part of you dies as well. You are filled with sorrow because her death leaves a gap that no-one else can fill adequately. We pray that she is with the Lord and we look forward to the day when we will be reunited with her. Christ’s resurrection assures us that if we follow him we will rise again.

Annie Josephine Mackin was born on 7^th October 1927 – one of seven girls and three brothers to John and Ellen Curran.

Annie was a typical young girl who devoted most of her time to work until she met and fell in love with Dennis Mackin. Indeed they were just two weeks shy of 50 years of wedded bliss when Dennis died.

Annie was well known for her sporting prowess and indeed it has been said that her sons inherited her sense of fair play .....I’m not too sure the referees who were in charge of Tullylish matches might agree!

Annie took great pride in wearing the colours of County Down in camogie and she was a feared opponent, not just locally, but throughout the country. You can be sure that Annie and her husband Dennis will be leading the cheers on Sunday as Down go in pursuit of Sam Maguire.

Annie’s life was enriched by a very strong Catholic faith and indeed no day would be complete in Annie’s home without the daily rosary. Her devotion to Our Lady and the Legion of Mary were a source of great comfort to her in her dark days of sickness.

Annie liked nothing more than taking her usual seat for Saturday evening Mass with her aid by her side – Jacqueline Mackin – thank you Jacqueline for everything.

When Dennis passed away in March 2002, Annie lost her ‘soul mate’ and best friend ....we can take solace in the knowledge that they are reunited in heaven.

Everyone received a warm welcome at 45 Miller Park, either by the front door or back door. Many people who attended the wake remarked that Annie spent most of her life on her knees ... .either in prayer or cleaning.

The family can take heart in the knowledge that their mother, grandmother, sister was prepared for her final journey ... a testament to her readiness was the fact that Annie had everything planned for today – even to the choice of music which ahs added so much to the liturgy.

Annie would love nothing more as her legacy for her four sons, five grandsons and five granddaughters and two great-grandchildren than they would continue to embrace their faith and sense of family that meant so much to Annie.

Today we bid farewell to Annie. Despite your sense of loss, you will face the future with courage and hope, knowing that this is what your mummy would want you to do. We comfort one another in the sure confidence that for Annie life has changed, not ended. We also derive comfort from the conviction that she is at peace with God after all her suffering.

May the Lord welcome her to paradise with the words:

“Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master”

But if we are sad today, there is also much to be thankful for. We are grateful for the life she did have, grateful for all the joy she brought into our lives. For you, her loving family, there’s the  comfort of knowing that you were able to show Annie throughout her life how much you all loved her and appreciated her. You knew that time was precious in recent months. All that you could have done for her, you did. There are no regrets. In the words of the singer Garth Brooks there are ‘unanswered prayers’.

It is only to God we can turn at this time to try to find some meaning, some consolation; some hope in the situation we find ourselves in. Prayer will bring us through this time.

It was Annie’s personality, her deep faith, her warm-hearted character that drew such a deep and open response from those who knew her. Annie was loved by all. She was a generous and caring person. Thank you to Jacqueline for all your care and all the help you gave me in organising the funeral.

On behalf of Fr. Martin McDonagh and Fr. Paddy Joe Murray and all of us gathered her today, we just want to say how sorry we are for your great loss – to Annie’s family, Desmond, Patrick, Paul and Kevin, daughter-in-law Mary, Roseanne, Jacqueline and Carol, grandchildren and great grandchildren, brothers and sisters and extended family, you are all in our prayers.

May her gentle soul rest in peace.