Will we show up and go through it together?

Homily

Funeral Mass for Courtney Hartman Anderson

22 August 2024

Thursday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time B2

Queenship of Mary

AMDG

Will I show up for my family?

It's a question we all have to answer.  Life can be incredibly hard, especially at a time like this.  People have to go through hell.  It's part of the human experience.  Things can be incredibly unfair, so much so that it threatens our faith.  Yet life is still too good to be true, and worth fighting for.  

We're in control of almost nothing.  There is a time for everything, even suffering and death, and we're not in control.  Except for one thing.  Will I show up for my family?

I want to be a part of Courtney's family. I hear she was passionate about her family, and her teams.  Thank God she's a Jayhawk!  As a fan you have to go through the ups and downs, the wins and losses, the pain and the glory, the good times and the bad.  If you're a true fan you'll keep showing up.  

The day of Courtney's funeral we celebrate the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  We crown her today, not because she is privileged royalty, but because she showed up for us. She said yes like Courtney to being a mother, so that Jesus could take our flesh and go through it with us.  We honor her most of all because she showed up for the hardest thing anyone is asked to do in this life, to be there when a child dies.  Steve and Courtney did this for Liesl.  Randy and Kathy do this today.  We're all so sorry things have to be this way, for reasons we can't yet control or understand.

I was so touched hearing how Courtney tenaciously showed up for Liesl's friends after her passing.  There's something good and beautiful worth living and fighting for, and that's what Courtney did.

Courtney showed up for her life, and for that we give thanks and celebrate her spirit, her joy and courage.  When I got to know her just for ten minutes, I could tell she had an ornery Hartman streak in here.  If the priest visiting meant it was time to give up, she would just rather than I get out.  She fought for every last second of her life, beautifully and courageously, sharing in the passion of our Lord to the end.  

Our faith can be summarized in two things.  Will I show up for my family - that's the Incarnation - us being fully present to each other in the moment.  Jesus showed up for us his family, and invites us to do the same.  Then he showed us the way - that's the Paschal Mystery.  That it is precisely through the crucible of suffering and death that new life is born.  This is our faith - if we suffer and die together, we live in confidence that we will live forever.  

Two things - will I show up, and will we go through it together, no matter what?

Courtney showed up and went through it, with love. We honor her be promising to show up for each other, and to go through whatever life may bring, together.

+mj