Good morning.
First of all, to Ginny, Mo, Richard,
all your family, friends, loved ones - on behalf of our pastor, Father Paul
English, Father Warren and all of the priests, the staff and parishioners here
at St. Kateri parish – please accept mine and all of our sincere condolences on
the loss of your son, brother, nephew, cousin, friend. You are in our prayers.
And on behalf of Patrick’s family, a
sincere thank you for being here this morning.
While there really are no words adequate to take away the pain of
Patrick’s death, your presence here, your love, means so much.
Patrick had a drug addiction.
There, I said it. In her eulogy, Ginny is going to speak about
it. Not proud of it, but not held back
by shame of it either – it is what it is.
Now I deliberately chose not to say
“Patrick was an addict” because I don’t think it’s right, or fair, to define
him, to sum up his life, in that way – only by his addiction. And so we say that
Patrick had a drug addiction; we refuse to let his life be defined only in that
way.
Instead, I asked Ginny to tell me
about Patrick, and she spoke glowingly of a warm, compassionate, sensitive boy
and young man. With an awesome laugh and
great sense of humor. “A kind heart,” Mo
added, “sweet, generous and loyal to a fault.”
Who when most kids rushed home when let out early on September 11, 2001,
instead with a friend rushed downtown to the Red Cross to give blood.
And the
family chose readings for our liturgy today to describe the Patrick they knew
and dearly loved. The prophet Micah’s
words resonated with them in thinking of their Patrick, words that I think are
among the most beautiful in all of scripture – “You have been told, O mortal,
what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do justice and to love
goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.”
And they saw
Patrick in St. Paul’s words of the Letter to the Colossians: “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt
compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” Compassion, kindness, gentleness were all
words both Ginny and Mo used to describe their Patrick.
And so, I think, it’s wrong and a bit
dangerous to define Patrick, to sum up his life, by saying he was an addict. He was ever so much more. And to define a life in that way carries with
it a certain measure of judgment, and I don’t think it’s helpful, or
productive, or even fair, to judge this young man by the addiction that claimed
his life.
Our Blessed Lord teaches pretty
clearly, I’d say, in this Gospel passage I just proclaimed – “Don’t judge and
you will not be judged – don’t condemn and you will not be condemned.” After
all, for most of us, heck truth be told for all of us, there but for the grace
of God go I.
And we are taught to hate the sin
and love the sinner. Or in this case,
hate the affliction and love the afflicted. For make no mistake, that is what Patrick was
– afflicted.
I don’t think anyone chooses such an
affliction. No one wakes up and says “I
think I’ll become addicted today.” No,
like another insidious illness, cancer, addictions start small and
metastasize. If anyone could see where
those little decisions will lead to – those little decisions that step by step
lead to a life-controlling problem – they would surely run away.
But at some point, the addiction
takes control. The only word I can think
of to describe it is slavery. The person
becomes enslaved. The addiction becomes
the master.
But as people of faith, we gather
here today as people of the Gospel, as people of good news – and specifically
two pieces of good news I’d offer to you today:
First, to anyone here who is
suffering from, enslaved to, an addiction, we believe here in a Lord and Master
who is stronger than any addiction, who is stronger even than death. A Master who loves us enough to have given
His life for us, and who could not be bound even by death itself. A Master who wants nothing more than for you to
be free, free from any chains that bind you.
And second – there is one person who
knew Patrick the best, there is one person who loved Patrick the most, and that
person is none other than that same Jesus Christ, through Whom He was
created. Who knew Patrick the person,
and saw in him a cherished son and brother.
Who through a loving mother and father and sister, placed within Patrick
a loving, compassionate, tender heart.
Gave to him generosity, loyalty and humor.
We gather today as a people of faith,
trusting in the love and mercy of that same Lord and Savior. Trusting that now freed of the yoke of
addiction, Patrick has been embraced and welcomed home by that same Lord and
Savior. Confident that Patrick has found
the peace and freedom he sodesperately desired.
To Patrick’s family and friends, all
his loved ones, may this confidence of faith give you solace in your grief. And as St. Paul writes, may
the peace of Christ control your hearts, that peace which surpasses all
understanding, that peace that only He can give.
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