We gather here today in Gilford with all of Kathleen’s loved-ones. With Fr. Mc Donagh I extend our sincere condolences to you. Our thoughts and our sympathies are for you. We ask God to send his Consoler to bring his peace to your hearts and to your homes. We give thanks to God for the life that he gave Kathleen and to pray in faith that he will welcome her to everlasting happiness in heaven.
There is as the Scriptures remind us, a time for every season under heaven. As we gather here we reflect on the mystery of time and providence that are in God’s hands: there is indeed a time to die, a time to weep, a time to mourn, a time to keep silence, a time to speak, a time to love.
You have shared memories of who she was and what she meant to you. We mourn her passing, we cherish her memory. Above all you have remembered the humanity of a good person. Today as we gather in sorrow to remember Kathleen, a burden of pain, a burden of loss, a burden of grief weighs heavily on you all. We gather as a community - our presence here today is our way of reaching out to you. (memories)
God knows the reality of deep pain – the pain Kathleen endured throughout her time of illness. We remember a lovely person, a lady who was a treasure to you all. Letting go of her today is not going to be easy for Kathleen was a lover of family, people and life itself. Thank you to all who cared for her and loved her in life especially in her final days at Hospital. Now her suffering is over. As Kathleen 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. When we remember her today we cannot help recalling the things she said and the way she said them, the things she did and her way of doing them but sadness is tinged with hope and expectation. 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. It is only with death that life really makes sense, it’s our leap into eternity, it is God calling us home to be with him forever. At a time like this we come face to face with our own mortality.
Living a truly Catholic life is about waiting in hope and as people of hope we believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Kathleen’s period of waiting is now over. No one can say she got life easy. All those years of worry, suffering and sorrow when times were hard have made of her life a pilgrimage of pain - a journey from birth to death and the reason she could see purpose in the pain or sense in the suffering was because Jesus Christ came on this earth to conquer death and save us from our sins.
She brought love, care and friendship to those who knew her. She died on Saturday after her strength could no longer meet the challenge of life. We commend her to the Risen Lord and Our Lady of Sorrows. May her gentle soul rest in peace.
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 your lives. For you her loving family there’s the comfort of knowing that you were able to show Kathleen throughout her life how much you all loved her and appreciated her. You knew that time was precious. All that you could have done for her, you did. There are no regrets. In the words of 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 Kathleen’s personality, her warm-hearted character that drew such a deep and open response from those who knew her.
You can remember her and only that she’s gone or you can cherish her memory and let it live on. You can try and close your mind, be empty and turn your back, or you can do what Kathleen would want; smile, open your eyes, love and move on. May her noble soul be at God’s right hand.
Eternal rest …
