Joy and The Eucharist – October 5, 2018

Joy Comeau met the world and its suffering with a tender heart.  But she didn’t despair.  She knew life could be very hard and very unfair.  But instead of becoming angry or bitter, she chose to be generous and kind.

Joy died last Saturday and we buried her body on Wednesday.  Her spirit lives on in the heart and mind of God and in the hearts and minds of her beloved husband Tom, her children and grandchildren, her friends and colleagues, and all of us at St. Francis Xavier who were blessed to know and work with her.

Joy joined the parish in 1963.  During the next fifty-five years she served in more ministries than I can count.  As a lector she read the Scriptures with such tenderness and feeling, there would be a catch in her voice and a tear in her eye.  As a Eucharistic minister she would hold the cup or bowl with reverence and care and look kindly into the eyes of each person as they received.  She told me it was her favorite ministry and the last one she gave up as age and illness limited her ability to volunteer.  As an RCIA team member she would tell amazing, heart-felt stories and share powerful examples of God and God’s faithfulness.  I have a vivid memory of her making corsages and boutonnières’ for our new members one Holy Saturday morning.  I was a bit grumpy and overwhelmed by the long “to do” list of Holy Week and Easter, buy Joy was truly joy-filled about making everything special for that special night. 

I also have a vivid memory of what Joy taught about the Eucharist.  Each year she would explain to the inquirers and their sponsors the power and grace of the Eucharist by saying, “it may seem like ‘nothing happens’…you may think that you get nothing out of coming to Mass and receiving Communion…but sometime during the week, when you really need it, the grace of the Sacrament will be there to help you.”  She was right, of course.  Coming together every Sunday to sing and pray and join hands in prayer, to listen to the Scriptures and to share the bread and the cup, to receive Communion is not-nothing.  It is a powerful something.

People keep asking, “how can I stay Catholic?” in light of all the failures of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. I don’t always have a good answer.  But it was easy for me to be Catholic on Wednesday.  I was a Eucharistic Minister at Joy’s funeral Mass and I tried to channel Joy as I reverently and carefully held the cup of consecrated wine and looked kindly into the eyes of each person who received.  I knew the power of the Sacrament. The power to choose to be generous and kind in the face of a hard and unjust world.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.