In the "New Covenant" made by our Creator God with humanity, as reported in Jeremiah 31:31-34, every human being can know God from within - because the Holy Spirit is revealing our Creator to all who are willing to know the Lord and trust in Him. We can still help each other along the way; so please feel free to share with others these homilies and your own personal faith in God through Jesus Christ. G.S.
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Anniversary Mass by Fr. Gilles A. Surprenant - MP3 File
July 26th, 2020 (during the SARS Cov-2 / Covid-19 Pandemic)
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Funeral Homily by Fr. Gilles A. Surprenant - MP3 File - PDF File
July 26th, 2019
Father Joseph Albert Earl Sullivan is
dead. He lived among us for a quarter of a century; then was ordained, and with
great enthusiasm – if not always in pleasant circumstances – Fr. Joe served his
God and his Church as a priest of Jesus Christ for over 36 years, and now, he is
gone.
Cathie Macaulay recently visited with Fr.
Joe who found consolation meditating on St. Joseph and Joseph of Arimathea who
cared for Jesus at the beginning and end of his life. How do we cope with our
trials, which can leave us feeling bruised, hurt, perplexed, and even revolted?
Our heart goes into emotional shock when the full intensity of our feelings
could very well kill us. I am grateful today for the gift of being able to pray
for Fr. Joe on July 26th, the annual Memorial of Saints Joachim and
Anne, Mary’s parents and the grandparents of Jesus.
We are here to pray for Joe, Fr. Joe,
yes, but also to pray for ourselves and our loved ones. The apostles and
disciples of Jesus became a close knit family that loved and supported one
another. Fr. Joe found much comfort and consolation with many people of faith,
but especially with his family. He cared about his siblings and their children
and took to heart their concerns, troubles, and joys, and was grateful for
their love now that he was no longer able to go out to them.
Father Joe firmly believed that Jesus
rose from the dead on the 3rd day and that extraordinary signs marked
the days of Jesus’ passion and death, the days of shock, fear, and waiting, and
the amazing days of Jesus’ appearances. Fr. Joe must be delighted that he died
July 20th, 50 years to the day after human beings first stepped onto
the dust of the moon. Unlike those who see no evidence of God in space, Fr. Joe
saw evidence of God’s presence and action among the stars, yes, but more simply
in the ordinary events of life, as the early followers of Jesus did.
In 1983, shortly before our respective
ordinations to the priesthood, I got caught up by Joe and his buddies in their
enthusiasm over “Star Wars” and went with them to see “The Return of the Jedi”.
I remember Joe telling us how he had counted over 3 dozen religious signs,
symbols, or allusions in the Star Wars films. To put it in those terms – considering
all that he went through in his life – we could say that all along the way, “the Force has
been with Fr. Joe” and he waged a valiant battle against
the “dark
side”. So have many of us in our local Church.
Our Church’s troubles were a deep shock
for Fr. Joe because of his great sensitivity and love for people in general, parishioners,
the Church, God, and also those most affected. The “dark side” ever seeks to
exploit human weakness and to destroy all that is true, good, and beautiful. For
the sake of the innocent we must all remain ever vigilant to resist all
manifestations of evil. The “dark side” attacked him in his body, but Fr. Joe
remained steadfast in his resistance. Many of us felt frustrated with Fr. Joe’s
lack of progress in his physical therapy and thought he should try harder. I
cannot count the number of times that I felt angry or incensed at the troubles,
obstacles, and delays this man had to suffer. Fr. Joe had reason to feel
betrayed, hurt, angry, or depressed, but he resisted being pulled in by
trusting in his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Joe also remembered Yoda: “Anger… fear… aggression.
The dark side are they.
Easily they flow, quick to
join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny,
consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan's apprentice.” No. Joe
walked the way of grace and in prayer he tried to bring his emotions to the
Holy Trinity with trust.
Joe took interest in what was going on in
the world. He felt the trouble, suffering, confusion and ill will, the
expansion of the dark side, but with trust in Jesus he kept turning his
attention to the Father in prayer. It is daunting to feel the world’s pain. It
costs us to be shocked as people of all ages, especially the young, put a
premature end to their lives. It takes our breath away; we may be loath to slow
down and pray because it hurts too much to look directly at all that pain.
It is a challenge for us to relax with
trust and let God fashion our lives through events that come our way. We hesitate
to open up completely to anyone. This is why no one knows the complete Joe
Sullivan except God. Each person in Joe’s life touched different depths in him
and brought out different expressions of his person. That is true for every
human being. One person brings out my tenderness, another brings out my
enthusiasm, yet another stimulates my interest or teaches me something new, while
yet another triggers my irritation or activates my love, and a seventh unlocks
my sense of humour. No one knows all of me, or all of you, except God.
God wants us to have the peace and joy to
know and love our whole self. Then we may be freer and more willing to love
others better and to love God back for all the love He gives us. I give thanks
to God for using Fr. Joe to bring me to face parts of myself that I had been
avoiding. I believe that we who are here today all have reason to thank God for
the gift of Fr. Joe.
Joe struggled more valiantly than Old
Testament Job this past decade. It becomes evident how little control we have
over any aspect of our lives. It is quite literally true that from day to day
and from moment to moment we are constantly waiting on God, waiting on divine
providence to manifest itself, waiting for the Father to show us his will; so
that, like Jesus, we may give thanks and let the Holy Spirit empower us to
accept to live fully all that life brings our way.
John in his Gospel describes Jesus’ passion
and death on the Cross as his glory. This was the shocking way the mercy
of God became fully visible as He freely surrendered his life in a most
terrible death in order to demonstrate how serious
God is in his love for us. God loves us so much and He respects
our freedom so much that He will even allow us to put him to death.
As Jesus
visibly disappeared at his Ascension; so now Fr. Joe too is gone from our
sight. Now Fr. Joe enters into the communion of saints. We will continue to be
one in mind and heart with Fr. Joe through prayer and in all the good that we daily
choose to do with him and with Jesus. Jesus won the victory over evil and death
and He offers all of humanity to share in his victory. Fr. Joe wants us to continue to share fully
even now in this new life introduced by Jesus.
“O my Jesus, I trust in
You. O my Jesus, I…. Where You have gone we hope to follow.”
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In the "New Covenant" made by our Creator God with humanity, as reported in Jeremiah 31:31-34, every human being can know God from within - because the Holy Spirit is revealing our Creator to all who are willing to know the Lord and trust in Him. We can still help each other along the way; so please feel free to share with others these homilies and your own personal faith in God through Jesus Christ. G.S.
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© 2006-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2006-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
