I was deeply touched and honored when S. Catherine Marie asked me if I would preach the homily at her funeral. Katie was always so very supportive of me and my ministry, and I can’t think of any better way she could have expressed her appreciation for my ministry and the gifts she recognized, encouraged and nurtured in me than by asking me to preach at this liturgy.

When I was asked to select the readings for her funeral liturgy, I began to reflect on my experience of Katie, and I believe from my own experience of her during the years I lived at the Mount, that she truly exemplified what we heard in our readings this morning. She was, indeed, directed to “all that is true, all that deserves respect, all that is honest, virtuous and worthy of praise.” And she embodied what Jesus prayed for his disciples before leaving them to return to his Abba God. She did, indeed, live in God’s love, recognizing with gratitude that she had been chosen by God. She embraced that call, responding with her whole being to the One who had chosen her. And as we know well, Katie bore much fruit - fruit that will remain with all those whose lives she touched through her relationships, her ministry, and especially her music, and will pass down through generations to countless others who never knew Katie personally. Her very life was one continuous song to the God whom she loved and served so well.

Having said all that, the word that immediately came to my mind while thinking about Katie was joy. She was undoubtedly one of the most genuinely joyful persons I have ever known. She truly lived Paul’s exhortation to rejoice in God always. And although music was certainly a great source of her joy, and the primary means of expressing it, I believe her joy had an even deeper root and foundation. And, as I continued my reflection, I found myself drawn to John’s gospel because I believe Katie truly embodied John’s unique understanding of Christian discipleship.

• In the first three gospels, we find the traditional christian belief that life in this world is a preparation for eternal life with God, which only truly begins after death. We often speak of death as the gateway to eternal life, or of entering into eternal life after death.
  

But John takes a radically different approach to understanding the relationship between life in this world and life after death from that of the other 3 gospels. For John, eternal life begins here on earth in our encounter with Christ. He expresses this in so many ways: To give but a few examples...

• In his encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus says “Whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst. The water I shall give will become in her a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
  
• And again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the One who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life.”
  
• In chapter 10 Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish.”
  
• And in the final discourse, Jesus prays, “Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that he may give eternal life to all those you gave him. Now this IS eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.”
  

For John, it is this experience of eternal life - this life in communion with God in Christ - which the believer enjoys here and now in this present life that is the source of the disciple’s joy.

• This experience of eternal life here in this world is the source, as well, of the disciples’ unfailing hope, because they have experienced in themselves God’s fidelity to and fulfillment of this promise of eternal life. And, in my experience of Katie, her life was characterized in equal measure by deep, unquenchable joy and hope. She was truly a Dominican of Hope long before the idea of a new foundation had even entered anyone’s mind. Becoming a Dominican of Hope didn’t change her identity, but only brought her true identity, her true self to deeper, fuller expression.
  

Throughout her religious life Katie incarnated and witnessed to hope, which found its expression in her joy, whether she was listening to classical music, playing the organ, composing music, teaching appreciation of music to others, giving piano lessons, planning liturgies, telling jokes at breakfast, going on vacation with her dear friend, S. Jean Lawrence, or simply enjoying the company of friends and family. Her joy was evident in her ever ready smile, her irrepressible humor and her infectious laugh. And I believe her hope-filled joy and joyful hope was her special gift to me and all with whom she lived and ministered, and is her legacy of love to all of us who survive her in this life.

As we celebrate Katie’s transition, not into eternal life which she was already experiencing, but into the fullness of eternal life in God’s tender embrace, we might want to reflect on what we can learn from how she lived her life.

• Has my encounter with and experience of Christ in my life been real enough, deep enough, to give rise to a never-ending spring of eternal life within me here and now?
  
• Is this present experience of eternal life the source of my hope and joy?
  
• Is this joy evident in my life, giving witness to the genuineness of my hope in God’s unfailing love, and enabling me to live my life fully and passionately, to take risks for the sake of the gospel, to persevere in the face of difficulties, failure, injustice and violence... indeed, to make me a beacon of hope and source of joy for all whom I encounter on my journey?
  

And so, dear Katie, Dominican Woman of Hope and Joy, thank you with full hearts for the gift you have been to each of us, and we ask you to continue to accompany us, your sisters and brothers as we continue our journey, until that day when we will join you and all our Dominican sisters in that great cloud of witnesses, that communion of saints, in the fullness of eternal life and joy. And I would like to end by inviting all of us to join Katie in a song (“My Song Will Be For You Forever” on Where the River Flows by David Haas) that in substance characterized her whole life and relationship with God, and hopefully characterizes our own as well.

Mary Schneiders, OP