“God is Love”

Funeral Homily for +Mary Mauldin

By Fr. John Koziol, OFM Conv.

August 30, 2011

How many of you came into the Catholic Church through the ministry of Mary Mauldin?

How many of you took one of Mary’s classes or participated in Scripture Sharing, JustFaith, Awakening Faith,

or some other program Mary led or facilitated?

How many of you were in the Confirmation Program, went to the Women’s Luncheon Mary led, or met with her

for spiritual guidance or to work on an annulment?

How many participated in CHRP with Mary?

How many of you in any way were impacted by the life and ministry of Mary McCoy Mauldin?

It is no exaggeration to say that throughout nearly thirty years that Mary was involved in Church ministry, she impacted the lives and especially the hearts of thousands of people.  Mary’s life was a precious and life-giving gift, not only to her family and friends, but to the Church – and especially to this local faith community of St. Philip Benizi.  One parishioner said it so well when I told her about Mary’s death, “She is the rock of St. Philip Benizi, the one we could always count on and go to.”  Another parishioner asked me a few days ago, “So Father, how many people will you need to hire to replace her?”  Of course, we know that Mary can never be replaced!

On behalf of our faith community, I want to express to Mary’s family our deepest and heartfelt sympathies.  Jim, you and Mary have journeyed together for over thirty years.  I know that the two of you had a deep love for each other.  Of all of us, Mary’s death will affect you the most.  I and this community of faith love you and will Alex, you were blessed with a wonderful mother.  You have many wonderful memories.  Cherish those memories and be comforted by the undeniable fact that your mom loved you unconditionally.  be by your side as we manage to move on together without Mary’s physical presence.  Nora, as I mentioned last night, we thank you and your husband Matt, for giving us your beautiful daughter.  I know you are very proud of Mary and you have every right to be.  We will also be there with you in the days ahead.  We will not forget you.  Most of us know Alex, whom Mary and Jim adopted twenty years ago and who brought great joy into their lives.  Alex, you were blessed with a wonderful mother.  You have many wonderful memories.  Cherish those memories and be comforted by the undeniable fact that your mom loved you unconditionally.

Mary had another son whom many do not know well.  Greg is Mary’s stepson, whom Mary loved and nurtured since he was a boy.  It is Greg and his wife Linda who gave Mary grandchildren.  Mary, or “Meme” as she is known to her three wonderful grandchildren, reveled in being a grandmother and only regretted that she could not see them more often.  Greg, I know that you and your family have lost a dear part of your family and we offer you our prayers and comfort.  Mary has three siblings: Matt, Noreen and Michael.  Until my sister died, I had no idea what it was like to lose a sibling.  I know there is a lingering emptiness that will never be filled.  To you and your spouses and children, we offer our deepest condolences.

I met Mary Charlene McCoy Mauldin the very first day that I arrived in Georgia.  She and Linda Kelly, our Business Manager at the time, met me and Fr. Julio at the Atlanta Airport on August 21, 1991 – twenty years ago this past week.  Mary and Linda met us in the Baggage Claim area.  I was dressed in a black, cleric shirt and black pants.  I dressed that way only because I wanted to be more easily identified.  Julio, on the other hand and not surprisingly, was dressed in a colorful, silk shirt and shorts.  Later I found out that Mary and Linda were a little worried that I might be a very “clerical” cleric! 

I can picture it as if it was yesterday: large, kind and cheerful smiles that greeted us and the warm, Southern Hospitality that we received.  I would very quickly learn that hospitality was one of the hallmarks of Mary’s life and through the years, I was the recipient of that hospitality on hundreds of occasions.  Those who know Mary know that she viewed hospitality as one of the most important hallmarks of the Christian life.  Those who went through the Initiation Process with her can attest to this hospitality.  Since Mary’s death, many have told me that it was Mary’s hospitality, warmth and loving demeanor that kept them coming week after week.  Mary often exhorted her OCIA team to practice hospitality.  She believed that the OCIA was not so much about theological ideas or concepts, but about a relationship with the Lord which could best be facilitated through love and hospitality offered by the team.  If the OCIA team loved and cared for those whom God had called, then the Catechumens and Candidates would come to know God’s love and be able to deepen their personal relationship with God.

Although Mary was very well educated – she had a Masters Degree in Theology from Loyola University – Mary’s approach to the Catholic faith was very simple.  I can sum it up in three words:  God is love.  These are the words that will be engraved on the stone that will mark her grave at the Monastery’s cemetery where she asked to be buried.  God is love.  All of theology can be summed up in these simple words.  By the way, when Jim and I went to the cemetery to choose a site, Jim asked the caretaker if there was any water on the property because Mary loved the water.  Indeed there is a small stream flowing through the cemetery.  We chose a site as close to the water as possible. I thought to myself – how appropriate, considering Mary’s love for the sacrament of Baptism.  Mary will rest in peace near a stream which will always witness to her faith in Jesus Christ, the living water which gives all of us new life and quenches all our thirsts.

I was a young priest when I arrived at St. Philip’s in 1991, ordained barely three years.  When I look back at my life, I realize now that I was just a baby priest and I had a lot to learn.  St. Philip’s provided me with the formation in priestly life and ministry that I needed.  I can honestly say that the one person who taught me the most was Mary Mauldin.  I consider her to be my greatest teacher and mentor.  She also became my best friend and a beloved colleague.

But let me share a little story about those very early days here at St. Philip’s.  Understandably enough, the Parish Staff at St. Philip’s was anxious when it was announced that Franciscans were coming to “take over” the parish.  I learned later that they heard that the “Black Franciscans” were coming.  Sometimes that term is used for Conventual Franciscans because we wear black habits.  So naturally enough, the Staff wondered if we were all African-American!  They were also a little fearful about their jobs.  They heard that the Franciscans might come in and reorganize things and that some Staff members might be let go.  During the van ride from the airport, Mary, Linda, Julio and I talked.  Of course, they were curious about us and our backgrounds.  I shared with Mary and Linda that I had been the DRE at my last assignment.  Months later I learned from Mary that she told Linda when they got back to the parish, “Well, there goes my job…I better start packing!”

I didn’t take her job.  Rather, we developed a wonderful, working relationship and worked collaboratively.  We were both young and fairly new to ministry and it was terribly exciting and life-giving.  Our friendship was based on this common excitement and joy about ministry, especially about Initiation Ministry.  I recall being invited by Mary to attend a workshop on the liturgies of the OCIA.  A number of us from the team went with Mary to the three-day workshop.  When we got there, we were invited to sign up for various roles.  During the weekend, we would be celebrating the various rituals of the OCIA process.  Someone, I’m not sure who…but I have a pretty good idea of who it was…signed me up to take the role of a Catechumen.  So, for the second time in my life, I was baptized!  This time however, I was baptized in a huge, make-shift Baptismal Pool, by full immersion!  It was after that experience that Mary and I insisted that we had to baptize our Elect in a pool.

As we heard last night and as most of us have experienced first-hand, Mary was an expert teacher and facilitator.  She absolutely loved to teach and to facilitate discussions…and she did both with such ease…and when she was doing both she shone, and her love of God, the Scriptures, and the Sacraments changed hearts.  Her Spiritual Director of many years, Sr. Barbara Young, said it so well in a recent conversation I had with her, “Mary loved to see people grow spiritually.”  It is so true; she was filled with joy as she saw people fall in love with God and with the Scriptures.  Nothing excited Mary more than when she saw the joy in the faces of her Catechumens and Candidates when they realized that they were loved by God and that God actually wanted to have a personal relationship with them.

We know how important the Scriptures were to Mary.  She facilitated a Scripture Sharing Group on Thursday mornings for over twenty years.  Her love of God’s Word was so obvious as she broke open the Scriptures for us.  We heard one of her favorite scripture passages a few moments ago from the prophet Isaiah; “Just as from the heavens the rain and the snow come down and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, so shall my word be that goes from my mouth.  It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what pleases me, achieving the end for which I sent it.”  Mary made the word of God come alive for us and by doing so, that Word gave us life and bore fruit within us.  Like a priest who has the privilege of nourishing the people of God with the Eucharist consecrated at Mass, Mary nourished us with the Word of God, broken open and made real for us.  Just as the word of God was made flesh in Jesus, so we too are called to incarnate the Word of God through our lives.

As I reflected upon the words of Isaiah, it struck me that we could replace the word “word” with the name “Mary”.  “Just as from the heavens the rain and the snow come down and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, so shall Mary’s life be.  She shall not return to me empty, but shall do what pleases me, achieving the end for which I sent her.”

Mary’s life and ministry has indeed watered the earth and made it fertile and fruitful.  She has helped all of us grow spiritually.  I don’t know if you noticed the plaque in the Gathering Space that Mary had in her office.  It says:  “Mary: Living Fragrance.”  There is a quote from St. Paul that says, “For to God we are Christ’s fragrance for those who are being saved and for those who are perishing.”  Indeed, Mary was Christ’s fragrance to so many of us and her life’s work was to bring as many people to Christ as possible.  Mary’s earthly life has come to an end and she has now returned to the God who formed her in her mother’s womb and gave her life.  Responding so well to God’s call, Mary has pleased God.  Through God’s grace she has achieved the end for which she was sent.  Today, we celebrate the new life that is hers in Christ Jesus.

We all know how precious the Easter Vigil was to Mary and last night Carol and Fr. Greg spoke so beautifully about that.  The second reading for today’s Mass is the Epistle which is read each year at the Easter Vigil.  “Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.  For, if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.”

Today, Mary would want to remind us that this Funeral Mass is not about her.  Oh, she would be flattered, I’m sure, by all the nice things being said about her.  But she would not want us to miss the point that what we are celebrating here today is God’s mercy – God’s grace – the gift of God’s very self – and the gift of the resurrection.  She loved to challenge us to always see our personal story as a part of the bigger story – God’s story…and God’s story is one of redemption and one of new life.  This is what all the Scriptures reveal to us – a God who is always faithful to us and who desires above all things that all be saved, and that all be a part of the mystery of the Kingdom of God.

As was proclaimed in the Gospel for today, “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain.”  In this Gospel, Jesus reminds us that we are his friends and that he has told us everything that he himself heard from the Father.  Mary reminded us time and time again that God’s love is real and that we are most faithful to God who is love when we love one another as God has loved us.  “There is no greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friend.” God is love and we are called to live in love.  Our lives must be marked by love so that when our time on earth is complete, we will be ready to be embraced by love and share fully in the love that is the Holy Trinity.

Mary, we are so excited for you as we contemplate all the mysteries that you longed to understand – that now have been revealed to you.  Our sad hearts are consoled by the knowledge, based in hope, that you are now fully part of the mystery of God, who is love.  What a wonderful time you must be having in the Kingdom that you could only glimpse dimly here on earth.

Dear friends, we are still on the journey.  Our destiny is the New Jerusalem.  Mary walked this journey with us.  She supported us, guided us and inspired us.  She will continue to do so. May God who is love fill our hearts with love and may we one day join our sister Mary in the Kingdom of Heaven.