Reggie Gingras Vigil

Vigil Service for Reggie Gingras

Rom 8:31-39, Psalm 23, John 12:23-26

Barbara, Theresa, Liz, Ernest, David and all of Reggie’s family and friends, on behalf of this parish community, and the whole Catholic Church, I wish to extend to you our deepest condolences.

A week ago, about right at this time, I stopped up to see Reggie. By then, she wasn’t really conscious, only slightly opening her eyes for just a brief moment when I first leaned down to speak to her. But I continued to talked to her briefly and prayed over her. And then again on Holy Saturday, before coming here for the Easter Vigil, Nancy & I stopped at the hospital and talked with Mike and spoke to Reggie, once again praying for her. As I reflected back on those last two visits to see her, I noticed a connection between what she was going through, and what Jesus went through. Her passion started on Thursday when she entered the hospital, she knew it was going to be her last time there. Just like Jesus started his passion on Thursday, and told his disciples it would be the last time they would all be together to share a meal. On Friday, as Reggie was going deeper into unconsciousness, Jesus was suffering on the cross and died. But unlike Jesus, perhaps in Reggie’s own way, so as not to take anything away from Jesus’ glorious resurrection, she waited until Monday to take her last breath. I believe Reggie was a true disciple of Jesus.

In the first reading from Romans, we heard “If God is for us, who can be against us?” That is the way Reggie lived her life. She not only believed that, she knew God was for her. But not just for her, but also for her family, her friends, in fact, everyone she encountered, from the manager of the Rolling Stones, to the new friend she just met in an aisle at Wal-Mart. When anyone met Reggie, she had a way of making you feel like you were one of her best friends. I can image, 2,000 years ago, when someone met Jesus, he made them feel like they were one of his best friends.

My first encounter with Reggie was not too long after we joined the parish. Our daughter Cathy started playing her saxophone at the Saturday Evening Mass. One Saturday, Reggie came over to Nancy & I, and told us how much more she enjoyed the Mass when our daughter played. Imagine how we felt after hearing such a complement from Reggie?

But we really didn’t know Reggie all that well, which we discovered when we would bid on bird feeders at the annual Basket Auction. We never got one when Reggie was there because she always out bid us. So it wasn’t until she joined the “Sass Mass Class” that we really got to know her. This “class” was the group Nancy & I facilitated, of many small groups, to learn about the changes to the Mass, and about the Mass itself. And in typical Reggie fashion, she invited one of her friends to drive her to class and join the group. And because of Reggie, Nancy & I can say we have a new friend. At our group last gathering, we had a potluck meal, and Reggie brought two pies. Nancy & I must have done an okay job because one of those pies was for us to take home. If you ever had one of Reggie’s delicious pies, you understand when I say the pie didn’t last 24 hours in our house. There’s even a rumor that her pies were so good, they might have gotten her out of a speeding ticket or two.

Feeding people was just something Reggie did. If you were ever at her house, you always were offered something to eat. Sunday morning crepes at Grandma’s always won over oatmeal at home. Even a repairman working on an appliance at the house, often was served a three-course meal. Feeding people, another example of Reggie being like Jesus.

Just as Jesus always found the good in people, whether a tax collector or a sinner, Reggie also always found good in every person. If one of the kids would say something bad about another person, she always pointed our something good about that same person. Just as Jesus loved ever person he encountered, Reggie loved every person she encountered.

Jesus performed many miracles, from raising the dead to curing leprosy. Reggie performed plenty of medical miracles too. Like the time she had to stich up Leo when the ax head fell off and split open the top of his head. Or the time she had to fix mangled toes caught in the spokes of a bicycle wheel. Being a disciple of Christ is sometimes messy work.

Prayer was always an important part of Reggie’s life. Every week, when the kids were growing up, Leo lead the family in the rosary, while they all knelt on the floor. The rosary was important to Reggie. On our first visit to see Reggie after we returned from our pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Rome, we gave her a rosary. At our request, our daughter Cathy made several rosaries for us to take on the trip. They went with us to all the holy places we visited and were placed on the site of Jesus’ birth, on the rock of Calvary where Jesus died. They were in the Holy Sepulchre, the site of Jesus’ burial and resurrection. I even placed them on the altar over then Blessed, now Saint, John Paul II tomb in St. Peter’s Basilica. They were blessed both by our Bishop and Pope Francis. She credits that rosary with healing her during one of her hospital stays last year. She told us holding that rosary over her heart while praying is what cured her. She knew the power of prayer and prayed all the time. Again, just like Jesus.

Reggie always had a garden, and like most things in her life where she liked order, the rows of the garden had to be straight. So she would make Leo drag a ladder across the garden with one of the kids on the ladder to mark the rows. But she also planted other seeds. On one visit to her house, she told me about this young man, a friend of one of her kids. After serving them a meal and she started doing the dishes, this young man came into the kitchen to ask her some questions about faith and God. He told her God could never love him. She told him God already loves him. She encouraged him to join the church. She was so proud when he joined the church, got married in the church and had his kids baptized. By planting that seed of faith, she changed his life for the better, better than he ever imaged his life could be. This is another example of Reggie being a disciple of Jesus, and following his example.

Reggie lived her life as a servant of Jesus. As we heard in the gospel reading, “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be.” I think these words describe the life Reggie lived. She demonstrated what a modern day disciple looks like and how a disciple lives their life. I take comfort in the last words from the gospel, “The Father will honor whoever serves me.” I believe the Father is honoring Reggie. And we can honor her to, by following in her footsteps. By doing what she did, by knowing God is for us, by being Christ for others, by feeding the hungry, by loving unconditionally as Jesus loves, by doing what God asks us to do even when it is messy, by praying every day, and by planting seeds of faith in others.

I know, if Reggie could stand before us right now, and say just one more thing to us, it would be “I love you.” And in response, I would say, Reggie, nous vous aimons, (new vo say mo) – we love you.