As a
Eucharistic Minister, I bring Holy Communion to the sick and the shut-ins.
After a while, I get attached to them and get to know them. Over time they
minister to me.......teaching and even inspiring me. Thus I would like to not only honor Fred
Young, but also share some of the things he can teach us.......especially his
courage, his faith, resignation to God's will, and trust in His kind
providence. Every life, from the rich
and the famous to the common man, has a fascinating story to tell. Fred Young is no exception and I tried to
include a little bit of that.
EULOGY FOR A MAN ON A JOURNEY INTO THE CHURCH
St. Louis Church, Gallipolis, Ohio July 23,
2013
Two holy women of our parish, Irene
Surber and Ella Bokovitz, visit the sick of all faiths at the nursing homes in
the area once or twice a week. They
befriend the patients, comfort them, pray with them, etc., demonstrating that somebody cares. Some patients are deposited there and left to die with
few if any visitors. After being
stripped of most of their assets, Medicare and Medicaid pay the bills.
One in particular, Fred Young, terminal
with Lung Cancer, had nobody……no family and no friends except for Irene and
Ella, two compassionate apostles that the Lord sent. The two women do not proselytize as such,
but share our faith when the opportunity arises. Fred did not find fulfilling the church services that area preachers conduct at the nursing homes every Sunday. Fred was drawn to our faith in part by the
witness and example of these two beautiful women. He also had EWTN on TV all the time.
Informing Father Tom, our pastor and I
began to visit him as well. After a
couple of weeks, Fred decided to cross the Rubicon and become a Catholic. We all gave him instruction. It was heartwarming to watch him try to make
the sign of the cross. The simplicity of
his faith was beautiful. Often he was
confused between going to the left shoulder first or to the right
shoulder.
When
Fr. Tom realized that Fred was in danger of imminent death, our pastor decided
to receive him into the Church in May.
Several of us were there as Fr. Tom baptized Fred, confirmed him, and
gave him first Confession and First Holy Communion as well. Fred perked up after Fr. Tom administered the
Anointing of the Sick. Since then Fr.
Tom and I would try to bring him Holy Communion in the middle of the week and
Sundays. He recovered from pneumonia in
the hospital, but returned to the nursing home and succumbed to lung
cancer. Before he died, Irene and Ella
prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy in his presence. That is special because our Lord promised St.
Faustina that if the Chaplet is recited in the presence of a dying person, He
will come to him or her.
As an Extraordinary Eucharistic
Minister, it was an awesome privilege to bring Christ Himself and His love to
Fred in the Eucharist, i.e. Holy Communion; to pray with him; and to help him
in a little way for his encounter with our Lord in eternity.
I was supposed to minister to Fred,
but Fred also ministered to me. He knew
that his time on earth was growing short, but he faced it with courage and
faith, patient resignation to God's will and trust in His kind providence. He had discovered the Catholic Faith through
Irene and Ella and lived it. In fact,
this former inspector of the state of West Virginia gave all he had left, his
own body to Marshall University for the education of future health
professionals.
Fred was on morphine and oxygen; he
was weak and slowly deteriorating. I
shared with him the fact that suffering can be very valuable, meaningful, and
fruitful. If accepted in faith with
trust in God, suffering can be a wonderful preparation for eternity. Taken in the right way, the inevitable
crosses of life can make each one of us a saint. One priest observed: “Those who die of Cancer
die like saints” since they have time to prepare. Every canonized saint suffered and some even
prayed to have more crosses. Many times
I would say, “You can reap great fruits with your prayers and by offering your
crosses to the Lord as a dynamic prayer for your loved ones, for the Church,
and for our Country. God knows how much
our country needs prayers. In that way
you can be most valuable.” Indeed he
was!
Fred was ready and will be praying for
us. Thank-you, Fred, for your example
and for what you taught us. Good-by
until we're all together again in eternity.
Ella and Irene, Fred will be waiting to thank you again in a special
joyful way for the treasure he found. There are so many
opportunities to serve God, His Church, and His people.
No comments:
Post a Comment