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Funeral Service – September 2005

Funeral of Chester Kucharski

Chet,

I love you very much.
I am praying for you.
I miss you.
Please never forget that I will always be with you.
I will never leave you.
I love you.

These are the words from a letter Nellie sent to Chet while he was in the hospital in Albany.

My dear family and my brothers and sisters in Christ,

A lot of our understanding, our ideas, our perceptions, our thoughts and feelings are based on what we see. We use our senses —“ and we miss far too much.

That is our human nature. We boil our human nature down to the physical world, the things we can prove. And we face frustration. Frustration because we cannot say what we want to say. We cannot express what we need to express. What is in our heart is often blocked.

Chet and Nellie are true heroes. They are heroic not just for their life’s accomplishments, but more for their life of love.

We missed it. We missed seeing it and knowing it. We missed the role love played in their lives.

Needless to say they faced struggle, hard work, arguments, and tragedy. We saw the affects, but we missed then cause. We saw the frustration, but missed what cannot be seen, proven, known. We missed the love.

Chet’s gift to us is this realization. We can really see it because it is so apparent. Appearances aren’t everything. Love is.

That’s why so many people have trouble accepting Jesus. To the world he was a crazy man, and to many he was a scandal. It took Him a long time to get His followers to believe and understand. Think of poor Thomas in the Gospel. Jesus is telling His disciples that He is going to prepare a place for them. Thomas probably figured it was in the next town.

Can you imagine the hushed conversation that went on? Where is He going? He didn’t tell us. You ask Him, no you.

Then Thomas says: —Jesus, we do not know where you’re going, how can we know the way?— And Jesus answered him, —I am the way.—

Chet knew that Jesus is the way. He found comfort in the church and was strengthened by the prayer of God’s people.

Chet was an amazing man. He is among the last of his generation. A man committed to family and hard work. He loved children. He was generous in his love. He looked after God’s creatures and he tilled the soil. He was a World War II veteran.

Think back to the first time you met him. Think about those all too brief moments when you got a true insight into the kind of man he was. Think of the happy moments, to Barbara making kielbasa and sauerkraut when she knew uncle Chet was coming for a visit. There are many of these.

Think of these strong, resilient men who carried the strength and dignity of being a man. Chet, Frank, Shahan, Willie, and Joe. They are together now in eternal happiness.

Last Friday, early in the morning, Chet was welcomed into eternal happiness. He was washed clean and made new. Mary, our mother greeted him, wrapped her shawl around him and took him to meet Jesus. He is in perfect joy and happiness. He is so happy we cannot even imagine it.

I love you very much.
Please never forget that I will always be with you.
I will never leave you.

These were not just Nellie’s words, but they are Chet’s words to us and they copy exactly what Jesus told us.

I love you very much.
I will be with you always.
I will never leave you.

Amen.

Homilies

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings:

Ezekiel 33:7-9
Psalm 95:1-2 / 6-7 / 8-9
Romans 13:8-10
Gospel Verse: II Cor 5:19
Matthew 18:15-20

Homily:

What jumps out of today’s readings is Christ’s instruction on how we are to correct our brothers and sisters. We like hearing that. It is a sort of permission to act. I can go to them privately and correct them —“ charitably of course. If they ignore me, I have recourse to witnesses and the Church.

This is a grant of power to us. It is a power to enforce the Christian way of life, and the proper order of the community. In the PNCC Constitution we have a right to bring grievances to a Parish level tribunal and if we are not satisfied we can go to the Diocese and the whole Church.

What we fail to recognize in the readings, or miss hearing, is the message that we are to love our neighbor, and the command to the Church to pray as a community.

This is the true power. Our power and strength as Catholic Christians lies in our actions toward our brothers and sisters. Paul tells us: —The commandments … are summed up in this saying, namely, —You shall love your neighbor as yourself.— Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.—

Our strength also lies in following Jesus’ command to pray as a community. Our Lord and God tells us:

—Again, amen, I say to you,if two of you agree on earthabout anything for which they are to pray,it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father. For where two or three are gathered together in my name,there am I in the midst of them.—

On some Wednesday evenings, when we hold Holy Mass, a Novena, and Benediction, there are only two or three here. People would ask, —Why continue?— As Catholics we must! We must pray and implore the Lord as a community. We must gather and receive the graces Jesus died to give us.

At this time of national tragedy, the message of love and worship is much clearer.

I urge you: pray and act with love toward your brothers and sisters. Come to Church, receive God’s strength and follow His will.

Homilies

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – PNCC Youth Sunday

Readings:

Jeremiah 20:7-9
Psalm 63:2 / 3-4 / 5-6 / 8-9
Romans 12:1-2
Gospel Verse: See Eph 1:17-18
Matthew 16:21-27

Homily:

There is a saying that two things in life are certain, death and taxes. God is telling us in today’s readings and Gospel that there is more than that.

In our first reading the prophet Jeremiah tells us that, people laughed at him, and his message, to the point that he broke down and cried.

I think we have all had the experience of rejection. Perhaps it was in romance, in school, or in a social situation. However, we know that Jeremiah did not let up. He continued to spread God’s message even when he knew that the rulers and chief priests wanted him dead. He realized that he could not deny God’s call.

In the deepest part of us we know that we desire nothing more than to serve God. Of course we have free will. We can deny that call, we can cover it up with good things used badly, and we can run away. Jeremiah was stronger than that. He knew that he MUST proclaim God’s message and that he wanted nothing more than to please God.

In our Gospel, Jesus tells us that whoever wishes to come after Him must deny himself or herself, take up his or her cross, and follow him.

This is a tough message for Youth Sunday. You, our young people, are the promise of the future. You are hope and light for all of us. It is hard to imagine sorrow, pain, and the crosses that will come. It is hard to imagine giving up what you think you want for what God wants. By bringing you here to church and by teaching you the Catholic —“ Christian message we, your parents, grandparents, and me, are asking you to take the harder road and to do what God wants.

Being a true Christian today is very, very hard. Using your free will to choose Christ and to follow that inner call God put inside you is almost impossible.

Even though following Jesus’ way is hard, it is not impossible. The greatest part about it is that we will be happy forever because Jesus said so.

Remember that, and remember that we are here for you. This Church, this Parish is your refuge. It is where you are safe and where you receive the support and nourishment you need to do the right thing with your free will.

Let us pray for our youth and for ourselves. Let us pray that we use our free will to do the right thing, even though it may be harder. Let us pray that our SOCL students, their families, and our teachers are nourished this year. And, let us pray that this sanctuary, our Parish, be the starting point for our daily walk with Jesus. Amen.

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