We gather here in this Church today because of someone who has touched the lives of each one of us. Someone whose love and faithfulness is known deeply by some and known to a lesser extent by others. Someone who has given life and given it abundantly. A parent whose children have always known deep down in their hearts that they are loved. A parent who thinks nothing of traveling long distances just to be with the children. Someone who has always been gracious in welcoming people over to the house. Someone who has delighted in providing food to many of us when we were hungry. Someone who has cheered us on when we are using our gifts well and who has celebrated all our accomplishments. A friend whose great joy has been found just in being with us. This person, of course, is God. God, who gave us the great gift of His only begotten son, Jesus. God who gave us the precious gift of His daughter, Katie Schumann, for 80 years, 11 months and 17 days. Katie whose life on this earth was great because of how much it mirrored God’s own life.
It’s fitting that we gather here today because Katie held a special place in her heart for this Church of God. This is the place where she discovered her identity, where she found out who she was and is as a person. This is where she found her identity as a beloved daughter of God when she was baptized here. This is where she found her identity as a lifelong friend of Jesus when she received her first communion here. This is where she found her identity as someone who is unconditionally loved when she came here for reconciliation to ask for and receive God’s forgiveness. This church is where she found her identity as a wife when she married Ralph here 61 years ago.
This Church of Immaculate Conception, which gets its named from the moment when Mary first discovered her identity as the mother of Jesus, is where Katie more fully found her own identity as a mother when she brought her kids here to be baptized. But Katie was more than just the mother of her immediate family. All it took was one trip to the cottage during the summer with all the people up there to see that this woman was the matriarch of a much larger group of extended family and friends. I remember when I first started dating my now-wife, Julie, and she told me about her great Aunt Katie and what an important person she was. When I met Aunt Katie for the first time, I remember it going something like this, “You’re Julie’s boyfriend, Justin, nice to meet you (handshake). Oh, you’re Catholic? Come here for a big hug.” This first encounter with Katie focused on faith. The last time I saw Katie about four months before she passed away also focused on faith when she went to extraordinary lengths to come to the church to watch me become ordained as a deacon. You see, for Katie, her faith was more than just a private personal matter, it was at the core of her identity and she wanted to share who she was with others. Katie’s life shows us that where you spend your time and who you spend your time with shapes your identity today and shapes who you will become tomorrow.
This church is also where she discovered the identity she ultimately wanted for herself when she heard the words of Jesus in the Gospel reading we just heard today. Listen for the one word in these lines Jesus spoke that really got Katie’s attention. Jesus said, “In my Father’s house there are many mansions. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.” Mansions. Katie really liked the sound of that and she would tell others with a twinkle in her eye about wanting to live in a heavenly mansion. Maybe she wanted to be with Jesus in this heavenly mansion so there would also be enough room for her beloved pontoon boat to be there as well and maybe who knows even enough room for a volleyball court. In all seriousness, I think the main reason she most wanted to be in this heavenly mansion for all eternity is so there would be room enough for each of us in there. Sure, Katie wanted to get to heaven herself, but I got the impression that she saw her role as more than that. I think she believed that part of her life’s mission was and is to help her husband, children, grandchildren, family and friends get to heaven as well.
I believe part of why Katie wanted us to gather here together today is because she wanted each of us to come to more fully know and love this man named Jesus who was such an important part of her life. Gathering us together here today is part of her plan and it is part of his plan to help each of us get to heaven. Katie wants this gathering of her loved ones in God’s house to be just the first of many such gatherings. This is the place and this is the time for each of us to come home to the heart of God. The God who meets each of us where we are, but who loves us too much to leave us where we are. So for some of us, this may mean God is calling us today to say a prayer to him for the first time in a long time for Katie and for what is on our heart and who we want God to help us to become. For others of us, this might mean receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus through the Eucharist in a few moments, so that Jesus might live in us and through us.
This is the Church where Katie allowed God to live in her and through her. We pray that God’s merciful love open wide the gates of God’s heavenly kingdom to welcome Katie into the warm embrace of Jesus in the mansion he prepared for her. We pray that God also show His merciful love to each of one us so that each of us may also be welcomed into this heavenly mansion for a glorious get-together of Katie, Jesus and each of us. Katie has started the beginning of her eternal afterlife and each of us here today are starting the beginning of the rest of our lives here on earth. As we today begin the rest of our lives on this earth, there is one question each of us must answer: When our time here on this earth is over and someone stands up to talk about our life, will it sound like they are talking about God?
John 14:1-4 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many mansions. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where [I] am going you know the way.”