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Irish Capuchin Franciscans

3 days ago

Homily preached at the Requiem Mass for the Repose of the soul of Sr. Stan by Br Richard Hendrick

My friends a truly great soul has passed from this world.

We all know this.

We would not be here today if we didn’t believe this.

We gather to honour her life and her work and to pray for the safe journey of her soul home, home to the house of the Father of Love.

We trust that, after a life time spent leading people home, home to a life of dignity, home to a place of rest for their spirit and soul, home to a secure dwelling for the homeless, she will be welcomed into the only true and secure Eternal Home we can ever have with those words of the Christ who Himself walked homeless upon this earth, “Come you blessed of my Father and enter into the inheritance prepared for you since the beginning of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me to eat, thirsty and you gave me to drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, sick or in prison and you came to see me…”

I think it is fair to hope, indeed, to pray, that those were the first words Sr. Stan heard, as early on Monday morning with a deep and gentle breath she passed into the arms of Love… She who brought so many home here on earth, she who was a home of the spirit to so many, had now gone home.

The Gospel passage proclaimed today, a passage chosen by Sister Stan for her funeral, as were all the readings today, is one charged with divine power and grace that overturns the social order and invites one to know the Power of Christ as the Lion as well as the Lamb. The mission of the Messiah and of his followers is made clear from the proclamation that marks the beginning of His ministry; it will be to reach out to those left behind or thought of as “less than” by society. It will be a mission of healing and reconciliation, a mission of justice and peace, a mission to the margins. This is always where real, authentic Christianity begins. The holy ones of all times and places have always known this. It is the apostolic call of our baptism made flesh, a call that knows the Gospel is only truly preached when written in fiery letters of deeds rather than mere cold words upon a page.

As far back as Saint Brigid, as recently as Mother Mary Aikenhead, Catherine McAuley, and Nano Nagle, our country has been blessed by women who have heard the Gospel as the Good News to the poor that it truly is, and who have gone into the darkest places of society to illumine it with the liberating light of Christ. This is the light spoken of in our first reading today, the light of truth revealed as love, the Light of Christ. Sister Stan followed in their footsteps, as indeed does every religious sister who tries to live this Gospel call as fully as possible. Sister Stan knew this call, she listened to it her whole life and it’s right to say she gave her all to its demands living her vocation as a sister of Charity, of Caritas: the love that goes out in response to those in need.

Sister Stan was dedicated throughout her life, like so many of those great, courageous, and holy women of old to this virtue of Love as mission, to Love that goes out and finds the loveless and the unloved and then loves them back into wholeness. It is a love that bestows indomitable courage to go beyond the boundaries and even to get into trouble for the sake of the Kingdom. It is a love that has steel in it, and brooks no opposition once convinced of the right course of action, (as Bishops and Superiors and even Politicians can attest to), and it is a love that burns, it consumes the heart of the one who gives themselves to its call. This is no mere sentimental love. No, it is the love that is born in the heart of a woman on fire with Divine Love, Caritas Christi Urget Nos… the Love of Christ urges us, compels us forward as Saint Paul taught, words so profound that Mother Mary Aikenhead had them inscribed upon the Coat of Arms of the Order she founded, the Order Stan belonged to.

Of course, were she visibly here today, we all know she would give that little derisive toss of the head, (a Kerry mannerism through and through), and she would laugh at being named in such a list of holy women, or described in such a way, and then with that gentle twinkle in her eye that belied a will of iron, she would go and do just what those sisters of old had done before her in their own times, all while insisting that we would join her in the work.

Indeed, over the past few days since Sister Stan breathed her soul into the hands of Love, we have read, and watched, and listened to, so many stories and commentaries that have listed her many, many good works and extraordinary achievements, her advocacy of the poor, the homeless, and especially of women in society Her founding of Focus Housing, the Immigrant Council of Ireland, the Young Social Innovators, and, latterly, the Sanctuary Spirituality Centre, will all remain as testimony to the legacy of this powerhouse of good who swept into so many lives and, sometimes, even without them even realising what was happening, pulled them all in her wake, transformed them to the good, raised them up and allowed them to see themselves, to know themselves as beloved, as worthy of respect, as full of potential for good that perhaps they never even suspected was within

Yes, Stan - like the very best leaders - didn’t stand on ceremony or politeness! You would meet her, (or, more likely, she would summon you to a meeting), and she would suggest an idea that she thought needed to be done. She would get your agreement that, yes it, whatever it was, certainly sounded like something that needed to be done, and then you discovered that she had volunteered you for service and you suddenly found you were working with her on some new project you were sure you didn’t have time for, and not only that but you were happy to be doing so.

But if the work we honour today as her legacy was the daily doing of Stan, the being of Stan is even more important…

Her being was simply, fundamentally, her commitment to Christ. She was Sister Stan and the Sister part was important, not as a title to command respect or deference, indeed it was never used as such, but as an indication of a heart given fully in love to Christ. This giving of her heart to Christ, to Divine Love, underlay everything that she did and was. She breathed His presence in prayer every day. She met Him in the Holy Eucharist, and she encountered Him with reverence in everyone she met and in every place she went.

I remember on one occasion as she taught her meditation courses she was asked by one of the participants, “But Sister Stan how do you meditate?” She gently explained, and then demonstrated, that her inner prayer over the years had simply become the breathing of the name of Jesus over and over in each succeeding present moment. I will never forget the stillness that we all entered as she taught that prayer. It was like suddenly descending into a pool of divine presence, and so I have no problem in suggesting that she had reached that level of prayer and contemplation that most of us only hope to get to one day. From the time I really got to know her, some 25 years ago, it was clear that for Sister Stan her prayer fuelled her work, and her work had become prayer.

Nowhere was this seen more beautifully than in the Sanctuary centre that she and Sister Sheila created together. There the stillness of meditation bloomed in the very midst of a noisy city, and an oasis of peace was born that has nourished so many people over the years. As a true mystic, (and I can hear her laugh in my ear at being given that particular epithet), Stan knew that the encounter with stillness is where the encounter with the Divine begins, and so founding a centre firmly within the Christian tradition, but open to the wisdom present in all traditions allowed many who felt themselves to be seekers on the edges, or those who felt alienated by more institutional ways of finding meaning, to discover gentle and welcoming ways into being present to themselves, and ultimately being present to the divine mystery at the heart of all things. Stan knew that the question of which doorway one finds into stillness isn’t the important thing, the actual encounter with stillness is … for as the psalmist says, Be Still and you will know…

In that place where Sisters Stan and Sile were, dare I say, a dynamic duo of contemplative presence, a community was founded that welcomes people of all ages, cultures, faiths, and belief systems. It is a community built on the fact that in a world even as terribly divided as we seem to be today, we can always sit in silence together, we can always create a garden together, we can always tell our stories together, and we can always, always, simply be still together…

Perhaps that is her message, her legacy to us all here today, that we would try to find a place for stillness in our lives, and then from that stillness allow the love that goes out, the Divine Caritas, to arise within us and consume us, just as it consumed her, so that we too would become people of courage who don’t take no for an answer when it comes to defending the dignity of the downtrodden, when it comes to reaching out to or speaking up for those on the margins of society. This is a commitment we can all make to Sister Stan, even as we feel her absence from this life, even as we grieve, even as already we miss her.

But, as Saint Paul reminds us, the Christian community does not grieve as those do who have no hope … the Scriptures remind us of this constantly, and today’s Funeral Mass, as filled with real loss and grief as it so for so many of us who made up that extraordinary, rag-tag extended family of Sister Stan, is also filled with hope.

It is filled with the hope that burned in the heart of Sister Stan her whole life. Hope kindled first in the faith and love passed down by her family, hope matured in her living out of her baptismal vocation in the community of the Sisters of Charity, and hope fiercely declared and passed to all those she worked with over the years as both as a campaigner for social justice and equality, and as a woman who did not take no for an answer from anyone or any institution when there was a question of love or dignity to be defended or a person to be helped.

So, we hope! We hope as Stan hoped! We hope by becoming hope for others just as she became hope for the hopeless.

I remember hearing a child who, on coming to the Sanctuary one day, and looking up at the street sign above the gate asked if Stanhope Street was so called because that’s where Sister Stan lives! Well, out of the mouths of babes…

I, for one, will look up at that street sign from now on and be reminded of Stan and of the Hope that she lived, and indeed was, for us all, and perhaps all of us together here today could resolve to live this way each day, to be a little more like Sister Stan, to live from faith once more, to become hope for the hopeless, to be on fire with that Divine Caritas, the love as charity that goes out to others and meets them in their need. For as our faith teaches, in the end there are only three things that last, faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love. ... See MoreSee Less

Irish Capuchin Franciscans

1 week ago

It was with great sadness that the Irish Capuchins heard of the passing to the Lord of Sr. Stanislaus Kennedy earlier today.
As an extraordinary advocate for the homeless, and for all those who suffered from many other kinds of deprivation and social exclusion, Sr. Stan showed the reality of the power of the Gospel to bring liberation and new life to all when lived with authenticity and grace. She was a great friend and collaborator of many of the Capuchin friars, such as the late Br. Kevin Crowley and our current provincial minister Br. Richard, and her contribution to the life and ministry of the Church in Ireland will be missed greatly.
We trust that her legacy will continue in Focus, the Sanctuary Centre, and in the many other initiatives and programs she founded. We offer our sincerest condolences and prayers to the Irish Sisters of Charity, to her family, and to her many, many friends and colleagues.
May she rest in peace and rise in glory.
Ar a dheis Dé go raibh a hAnam dílis ... See MoreSee Less

Irish Capuchin Franciscans

2 weeks ago

Our Capuchin confrere, David Couturier, is a well known author and educator in the United States and beyond. He writes insightfully and deals with often difficult to handle social and theological topics in a skillful way. This article is an excellent reflection written to mark the 1700 anniversary of 'The Council of Nicea' from where we get the 'Nicean Creed' recited at Sunday Mass. Read, enjoy, reflect and share:

drive.google.com/file/d/1DaVwWI30ozHpk_qoXWJJ6hMG3ALeZzi5/view?fbclid=IwdGRjcANo1BFjbGNrA2jT-GV4d... ... See MoreSee Less

Irish Capuchin Franciscans

4 weeks ago

This week the Padre Pio Apostolate travels to Ferns for the annual Padre Pio Mass there. In advance, Br. Kevin Kieran gave an interview about Padre Pio and the work of the Apostolate Team on the Simply Divine Programme. Thanks to Patricia McNally and all the team in Ferns. You can listen here: on.soundcloud.com/ZEKKjA842gAc9AZU6N ... See MoreSee Less