2nd September

Preparing for Mary Henry’s funeral, like any funeral, was a fascinating tour through her life. Many of us have heard Mary’s stories, but when you put it together there was barely a time when she was not helping others in some way, whether her nursing or looking after her mother. Even in her later years in the boots and coat, her life was filled with her prayers for others, and early on her role as a Eucharistic Minister. As I said yesterday, she instinctively knew what it was to have a vocation, to be called to serve. She became what we tend to call a ‘character’ in later life, and towards the end struggled to look after herself, but she never lost the certainty her faith gave her, that Jesus, her Guardian Angel, Mary, the saints were with her every day. That was enough. There are people we see as ‘odd’ perhaps often when they reach later life because they are different, they stand out. But that should never let us miss the example they give of what it is to be a Christian. Perhaps to be a real Christian these days does mean that you are odd.