We extend our deepest sympathies to Peter and Christina Even on the loss of their daughter, Ruth Anne-Mary Even. Ruth was a beloved member of our church in Yanchep. Ruth passed away peacefully on Thursday, 11 August, in the arms of her father. Ruth’s funeral Mass will be held at St Anthony’s Church, Wanneroo at 10.15 a.m. on Thursday, 18th August, followed by a burial service at Pinnaroo Memorial Park on Whitfords Ave.
Ruth with her parents, Christina and Peter Even.
Christina and Peter have been beautiful witnesses to their faith through their love and care for Ruth over many years – and their wonderful family is such a sign of God’s goodness!
Peter and Christina on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary, with their children, Elvira, John, Ingrid, Ben, Maree and Gloria, and their extended family, which includes seventeen grandchildren.
Rev. 21:4 “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be morning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her!
An angel frees the souls from Purgatory (detail), Ludovico Caracci, 1610, oil on canvas, Pinacoteca Vaticana
The Solemnities of All Saints (1 Nov) and All Souls (2 Nov) are particularly poignant to me this year.
I lost my husband to cancer in March, and I remember thinking, as I said goodbye to his body, that Chemistry and Biology could only go a certain way to explaining what had happened. The essence of Bill, his irrepressible cheerfulness and zest for life, his forgetfulness of self, his ridiculous jokes, his kindness and generosity, the way he would give a chirpy greeting to everyone he passed – in short, those elements which made up his transcendent soul – had moved on, and all that was left behind was merely a shell.
As Fr Barron says in his homily,
We are more than our bodies, more than our memories, more than our imagination, more than our senses. There is a mysterious spiritual capacity within us. That’s what the church calls the soul.
Click here to listen:
Fr Barron also has a beautiful take on All Saints’ Day here:
The takeaway message is that once you surrender your life to Christ, you find your deepest self. The saints are those people who have surrendered their lives to God so completely, that they have lit up the world around them with God’s love. Yes, the saints are heroes and role models but they are also still alive, and they are our spiritual friends – and we can ask them to pray for us and act on our behalf (think of St Therese of Lisieux – ‘I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth.’)
Don’t forget Fr Augustine will join with other Northern suburbs’ priests to celebrate Mass for All Souls at the Chapel at Pinnaroo Memorial Park, Whitfords Avenue on 2 November at 2.30 p.m. We particularly remember our former parishioner, Veronica (Ronnie) Spratling, who died on 29 October in Victoria. Our condolences to all the Spratling family.
I have also written a list of deceased members of our parish in the intentions section of the Newsletter. If I have left anyone out, please email me and I will add them to our November list.
It occurred to me that it would be useful to upload some free templates for general use. We now have a new page here. The first template is for a Catholic Funeral Mass – I used this one for my dear husband, Bill Fleming, who passed away earlier this year.
Catholic in Yanchep 