Thirtieth Ordinary

Matthew 22: 37 – 40

Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence. This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: Love others as well as you love yourself. These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs on them”.

In the summer of 2020, our parish, and the world, lost a vessel of unconditional love when Matt died of brain cancer at the age of 55. Matt adored his wife, Katie, and was an incomparable dad to his three kids. Though not Catholic himself, he actively supported Katie in raising a Catholic family and all five could be found every Sunday morning in their favoured front pew at our church.

Family and friends gathered for a funeral Mass with the hymn “All Are Welcome” resounding in the naïve: “Let us build a house where love can dwell and all can safely live”. That is precisely what Matt and Katie did in their 31 years of marriage. They built a house where love could and did grow and safely live.

On that funeral day, as I looked at Matt’s family, standing in their usual front row, I felt like we were seeing the magnificent love of God made visible in our midst. Katie, strong, honest, and unassumingly good; Parker, the oldest son, born with a brain disorder, who had grown up in the parish, teaching us all the gifts of specially abled people; Lily, the daughter of colour who was adopted as a baby, and exploring spirit who found a niche on the Costco staff and who returned to live at home these last few months to be nearby; and Reed, adopted as a baby, now matured beyond his school years, who began his remarkable eulogy with: “I am my father’s favourite black son”.

There they stood that February morning in their pew, shoulder to shoulder, holding each other’s hands as the hymn resounded in the naïve. This beloved family embodies the broad, vast, and inclusive love of God. And in their generosity, they have called out the best in us all for nearly 30 years.