Spiritual awakening and growth

Fr. Joe presided over the funeral Mass of a former Parliamentary Press Gallery colleague of mine this afternoon. Canadian Press photographer Tom Hanson was playing hockey last week when he suddenly collapsed and later died of a heart attack. He was 41.

The ceremony was very moving and, as usual, Fr. Joe’s gift for framing our daily experiences in a spiritual context brought solace to many of us who were still incredulous at Tom’s death at such a young age. I thought it would be helpful to share it with you.

Fr. Joe’s homily focused on how Tom’s life has changed, rather than ended. He talked about how we are given our lives, and our bodies, to use our five senses – touch, smell, feel, sight, and hearing – to develop our sixth sense, our spiritual sense.

I have often thought that funerals are for the living, so that we can say our goodbyes and reflect on the course of our own lives. I know many of my former colleagues to be either agnostic or atheist, so I wondered how they must be grappling with Tom’s death.

So I thought that Fr. Joe’s homily on life being a process of spiritual awakening and growth followed by a bursting forth into the spiritual realm to be very apt food for thought for believers, non-believers, and sceptics, and I wanted to share his message with you.