Reflections for the Funeral Mass for Sister Gregory Rohar, O.S.B.
Monday September 19, 2011

Isaiah 25: 6, 7-9
Philippians 3:20-21
John 17: 24-26

Death presents many questions and its presence in our lives keeps us on the path to “seek our God” daily.  Benedict knew this well when he urged us to “keep death daily before us”.

These readings which we have just heard proclaimed are full of allusions to realities that raise some of these questions:

• What is Isaiah talking about when he says that “….God will destroy the veil that veils all people, the web that is woven over all nations; God will destroy death forever"?
• What does Paul mean about gaining “citizenship in heaven”?
• What does Jesus mean when he speaks of revealing God’s name to people, that he will continue to reveal that name and that he will continue to “live in them”?
• What does it mean that we should rejoice “because we have been saved"?

And the questions go on.

Then, there are the questions that relate to why we are here this evening:

Who will:

• Pray aloud each day for the prioress and the celebrant and for Sister Joan Hentges and the people of Christ the King Parish in Pueblo, Colorado?
• Pray each day for that long list of community members at Mass each day? Father Jim Close accommodated her and undoubtedly embraced her in an eternal embrace recently.
• Who will keep me (us) informed of the scores and schedules of our Chicago sports teams?
• And, of course, the real question is: What will the Cubs do this next year without Sister Gregory cheering them on her on earth? Could it be that in her new life she can cheer them on in a new way? Maybe their luck will turn?

So, seriously, I want to focus these remarks on one of these scriptural questions.

What does it mean to be saved?

A quote that Sister Gregory named as her favorite during our community retreat in 1994 is found on the front cover of our Mass program:
“Fear not for I have redeemed (saved) you; I have called you by name; you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1).

According to Ilia Delio‘s book entitled The Emergent Christ, the meaning of the word “to save”  “In Latin ....salus (salvation) means “health”. To be “saved” is to be restored to health, to be made whole. She goes on to say that “Jesus offered the possibility of wholeness…in response to needs based on relationships of mutuality, dialogue, and oneness….The health we seek requires concrete relationships of compassion, peace, and forgiveness; it requires attentiveness to people.”

Treatises have been and could be written on this concept of what it means to be saved but Sister Gregory’s life speaks to us of some of the attributes that it takes. She knew what it was to be called by name and, in turn, to call others by name. Delio goes on to say that “…Salvific Love that heals and makes whole is born out of infirmity. Salvation takes place in what is weak and fragile.”

Sister Gregory’s life speaks for itself.

She was strong, even in her weakness,:

• lived through many illnesses and graciously hung on to life for many years,
• was patient and pleasant even in midst of suffering,
• was very definite in what she liked and didn’t like and she took all graciously that came her way,
• mourned the deaths of each of her nine brothers and sister and was particularly sad when her last sister, Theresa, died a few years back, and
• never lost her interest in life.

She was a relational person. The fact that she--with help from her faithful assistant, Sister Ann Sharp--sent out some 80 cards at Christmas time shows her strong desire to keep up the relationships that were important to her.

• She was faithful to family and to friends and to community. She kept in touch, especially with her nephews, Steve and Mark, and was so proud of them and of all her necies and nephews and great-nieces and nephews. Sue Remsgar remembers that when she accompanied her in her illnesses in Pueblo that her nephews used to visit regularly and she thoroughly enjoyed their teasing. She would be so proud of Beth, her great neice for being here today to represent the family and for her offering to share her musical talent in Sister Gregory's memory.
• She enjoyed people!
• My experience of her is that after our morning prayer, she would always reach out to greet her friend, Sister Mary Frances, as I wheeled her into the infirmary dining room.
• She was very loved by her students. People remember that she was one who played ball regularly with the boys on the playground.
• She loved her native state. When the Catholic schools in Pueblo were closed, our community kept a presence in the parishes after the schools were no longer there. Sister Gregory (and others) began a preschool program in the parish at that time.

Sister Gregory was embraced by beauty.

• Johnette shared with me a story from her own childhood when she first knew Sister Gregory - it seems that the J. Phillips Photo Studio in Pueblo featured her portrait photo in their window for a long time and her striking beauty was admired by many.
• She prided herself in selecting and using just the right colors and type of yarn for the beautiful doll dresses she made
• We know that she was creative – People tell me that she loved to take care of plants, loved to cook, and, of course, she so enjoyed various crafts
• How are you? She would almost always answer, “pretty good,” no matter the circumstances.  Sister Gregory definitely had a positive approach and a positive spirit and was ever hopeful (especially about the Cubs)!

Always giving (candy….)

• Her hands were never idle.
• Always thinking of others, regretting the times when she had nothing, not even candy, to offer to them.
• Just recently, as was her regular practice, she had Sister Ann send Sister Karen $10 “for the poor.”

And on the flip side of wanting to give, she was always grateful for the smallest things given to her, for our presence with her.

Sister Gregory never gave up on life. The way in which she died speaks to that fact. Friday morning, I understand, she was at the breakfast table. She responded to several people clearly around the middle of the day and, then, “went to sleep” and died peacefully that evening.

So, tonight we celebrate life – Sister Gregory’s life in Christ in God and ours in that same reality.

We live our own lives with death daily before us and this allows the questions that surface for us to lead us more deeply into the wondrous mystery of God in which we, too, will be saved as we become more and more whole.