by Sr. Mary Ann Strain, C.P
A few weeks ago I was asked by our Provincial, Sister Theresina Scully, C.P. to speak at the funeral of our sisters, Maureen Nixon, C.P. She was 85 years old when she died, a Passionist for over 60 years.
The scripture readings we chose for the funeral helped us think about Sister Maureen’s life journey. The first reading from the Letter of Paul to the Corinthians was an exhortation to remain faithful, to remember that our true home is with God. Paul says in this letter, “we are fashioned for heaven and we groan while we are here.” The gospel repeated that theme. Jesus promises that if we follow him we will live forever in his love.
On the day Sister Maureen professed her vows as a Passionist Sister she wanted to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, to become like him, to know him in his life of service, to share in his Passion and death and finally to rise with him alive and whole in the dwelling place of heaven.
And she did.
Maureen served for many years as a teacher, in Rhode Island at the Assumption, at St. Francis in Wakefield, at St. Bernard’s in Wickford, and here in Connecticut at Corpus Christi in Wethersfield. Later in life, she served as a pastoral minister in parishes in both Rhode Island and Connecticut. Maureen was devoted to her family. She spent 12 years caring for her mother in Ireland.
Maureen shared in the Passion of Jesus in a profoundly literal way through her struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. Jesus suffered crucifixion and so in a way did Maureen. Crucifixion was one of the cruelest and most humiliating forms of punishment in the ancient world. Crucifixion was intended by the Romans to be utterly dehumanizing. It stripped away a person’s dignity, their identity in life and finally their humanity.
There is a book called Forgetting Whose We Are, Alzheimer’s and the Love of God by David Keck. He is the son of Leander Keck, one of the greatest scripture scholars in the United States, former Dean of Humanities and now Professor of Biblical Theology Emeritus at Yale. His wife contracted Alzheimer’s at 57. David Keck, a Methodist minister wrote this book drawing on the experiences of his family.
Keck writes that Alzheimer’s is a theological disease because it strikes at some of the assumptions we have about what makes us human; intentionality, self-consciousness and self-direction and takes all of them away. Alzheimer’s snatches away the core of a person’s being.
When someone has Alzheimer’s not only do they forget who they are, but people around them begin to forget too.
But, Keck writes that when someone in a devoted family is ill and cannot remember who they are or to whom they belong, the family remembers. Those who really love the person never forget. Even though others forget that the sick person is a human being, the family continues to lavish care and kindness on the person.
Our community and Maureen’s family didn’t forget her. They visited her and spent time with her even when Maureen became so ill that her only response was to turn her head toward a hand that gently caressed her face.
I wonder if most of the people who passed by the cross of Jesus on Good Friday remembered him, remembered that he was the one they had given a rapturous welcome into the city of Jerusalem less than a week before. Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Beloved Disciple, and the holy women who stood by the foot of the cross remembered. Their presence, their standing with Jesus not only comforted him, but also prevented the Romans from completely dehumanizing him. Their presence said, “Here is a person who is valuable and precious and loved.
Our presence, our standing with brothers and sisters who are unjustly treated, abused and forgotten not only provides help and services, but stands against those who would oppress and dehumanize the most vulnerable among us. We state by our presence that no human life is without value. This prophetic witness is at the heart of our Passionist vocation.
In the Bible, God is the one who ultimately never forgets. God remembers when everyone else forgets who he or she is. God doesn’t forget. In the Book of Isaiah, at a moment of desolation when the chosen people feel alone and forsaken after their exile, they cry out that God has abandoned them. God responds through the prophet in these words. “Can a mother forget her child? Can a woman forget the fruit of her womb? Even if these forget, I will never forget you. See, upon the palms of my hands I have written your name.”
God kept Jesus safe on the cross. God kept Maureen safe.
Today Maureen is at home with the God who never forgets.
A few weeks ago I was asked by our Provincial, Sister Theresina Scully, C.P. to speak at the funeral of our sisters, Maureen Nixon, C.P. She was 85 years old when she died, a Passionist for over 60 years.
The scripture readings we chose for the funeral helped us think about Sister Maureen’s life journey. The first reading from the Letter of Paul to the Corinthians was an exhortation to remain faithful, to remember that our true home is with God. Paul says in this letter, “we are fashioned for heaven and we groan while we are here.” The gospel repeated that theme. Jesus promises that if we follow him we will live forever in his love.
On the day Sister Maureen professed her vows as a Passionist Sister she wanted to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, to become like him, to know him in his life of service, to share in his Passion and death and finally to rise with him alive and whole in the dwelling place of heaven.
And she did.
Maureen served for many years as a teacher, in Rhode Island at the Assumption, at St. Francis in Wakefield, at St. Bernard’s in Wickford, and here in Connecticut at Corpus Christi in Wethersfield. Later in life, she served as a pastoral minister in parishes in both Rhode Island and Connecticut. Maureen was devoted to her family. She spent 12 years caring for her mother in Ireland.
Maureen shared in the Passion of Jesus in a profoundly literal way through her struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. Jesus suffered crucifixion and so in a way did Maureen. Crucifixion was one of the cruelest and most humiliating forms of punishment in the ancient world. Crucifixion was intended by the Romans to be utterly dehumanizing. It stripped away a person’s dignity, their identity in life and finally their humanity.
There is a book called Forgetting Whose We Are, Alzheimer’s and the Love of God by David Keck. He is the son of Leander Keck, one of the greatest scripture scholars in the United States, former Dean of Humanities and now Professor of Biblical Theology Emeritus at Yale. His wife contracted Alzheimer’s at 57. David Keck, a Methodist minister wrote this book drawing on the experiences of his family.
Keck writes that Alzheimer’s is a theological disease because it strikes at some of the assumptions we have about what makes us human; intentionality, self-consciousness and self-direction and takes all of them away. Alzheimer’s snatches away the core of a person’s being.
When someone has Alzheimer’s not only do they forget who they are, but people around them begin to forget too.
But, Keck writes that when someone in a devoted family is ill and cannot remember who they are or to whom they belong, the family remembers. Those who really love the person never forget. Even though others forget that the sick person is a human being, the family continues to lavish care and kindness on the person.
Our community and Maureen’s family didn’t forget her. They visited her and spent time with her even when Maureen became so ill that her only response was to turn her head toward a hand that gently caressed her face.
I wonder if most of the people who passed by the cross of Jesus on Good Friday remembered him, remembered that he was the one they had given a rapturous welcome into the city of Jerusalem less than a week before. Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Beloved Disciple, and the holy women who stood by the foot of the cross remembered. Their presence, their standing with Jesus not only comforted him, but also prevented the Romans from completely dehumanizing him. Their presence said, “Here is a person who is valuable and precious and loved.
Our presence, our standing with brothers and sisters who are unjustly treated, abused and forgotten not only provides help and services, but stands against those who would oppress and dehumanize the most vulnerable among us. We state by our presence that no human life is without value. This prophetic witness is at the heart of our Passionist vocation.
In the Bible, God is the one who ultimately never forgets. God remembers when everyone else forgets who he or she is. God doesn’t forget. In the Book of Isaiah, at a moment of desolation when the chosen people feel alone and forsaken after their exile, they cry out that God has abandoned them. God responds through the prophet in these words. “Can a mother forget her child? Can a woman forget the fruit of her womb? Even if these forget, I will never forget you. See, upon the palms of my hands I have written your name.”
God kept Jesus safe on the cross. God kept Maureen safe.
Today Maureen is at home with the God who never forgets.
