Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Feast on Life: A Homily Honoring the Life of Sally



There are always a bunch of "firsts" in the life of a rookie priest. In these past two weeks, I've experienced several of them. 

It seems fitting that my companion on all of these firsts was my feisty "Little Italian Lady" Sally Ippolito. 

This was the first time I have been called to the bedside of someone dying and asked to give her last rites. I drove the two hours to the hospital in Lakeland, GA, arriving at about 5:30pm and stayed until 7:30pm. I needed to get home because my spouse was arriving back from being with her ailing mother in France. I met Sally and her family late the next afternoon at Langdale Hospice Center, giving her the assurance that she was loved and could "go home." 

This was the first time since my own parents' declines that I have been involved with a family going through that gut-wrenching and extremely frustrating experience of America's medical system and its ruthless approach to human beings vs. what is the most dignified and peaceful way for a person to die and a family to grieve. 

It was my first time being in the room with a person as they took their last breath. It was my first time praying the vigil at the time of death, and joining in a tradition of taking a swig of Amaretto in honor of a life well-lived.  

It was my first time leading a funeral at a funeral home with the body present and not ashes. And it was the first time... and perhaps the only time... that we didn't hear the standard Easter hymns by the Wesleys. But we did hear Frank Sinatra singing "Never Walk Alone." 

As I told everyone at the start of the service, this was the Episcopal Church meets Sinatra. That was what Sally wanted. And we did it her way. 

Texts: Isaiah 25:1-9; Ps. 121; 1 Corinthians 15:51-58; John 14:1-6

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When I was talking with Guy and Jodie about the service… and what readings we would do… they made one thing clear:

They wanted this to be about life!

Because…let’s face it… Sally was a life force!

We batted around a few ideas… Wisdom of Solomon… meh, nah.

Did we want to do Job?…oh, no, no!

But Isaiah’s 25th chapter…with that description of a banquet…with rich food and wine…

That was the ticket!

And it works on so many levels.

I mean…there’s the obvious that we’re hearing about a feast of rich food… must have been the hand-rolled ravioli.

The tears are wiped away from the faces.

Death is swallowed up…

It’s a regular party up there on the mountain…

We can almost see people kicking up their heels and dancing…and celebrating.

Can’t we see Sally enjoying that scene?!

And we know she is.

But this Isaiah reading works for Sally in another way.

Because…Isaiah is writing to a people who had been through terrible hardships.

They were a people who’d been invaded.

Been pushed around.

Scattered.

Life wasn’t easy for them.

We could say the same for Sally.

She had to learn her English on the streets of New York… because neither of her parents spoke English.

A Jewish family in her neighborhood became like a second family to her. She told me they’d call her their little “Said-lee”.

She faced prejudice among her own Italian-American classmates when they moved to Staten Island because her family weren’t Roman Catholics.

But nobody… and no amount of prejudice… was going to keep her down.

She loved being a member of the police department here in Valdosta.

 She hadn’t finished high school and so they weren’t going to hire her.  

But she was determined!

She earned that G-E-D and made it onto the force as a crossing guard… became the first female dispatcher in Valdosta… and finished her career back helping kids make it safely across the street to Valwood.

She wrapped up her career by earning the Crossing Guard of the Year award.

She had fun on the job…wasn’t afraid of bank robbers…and she’d slap at the cars that wouldn’t slow down in a school zone!

Her life might not have been easy.

But that spark of life in her… that light of Christ in heart… wasn’t going to be hidden away.

And she looked for that same spark in others…and she found it in the friends she made at the Senior Center…and playing multiple Bingo cards at the Knights of Columbus.

Her search for those other lights of Christ is how she ultimately ended up at St. Barnabas…a community that immediately embraced her…and as she told me so many times,

“They made me feel like family.”


The Gospel lesson Guy and Jody picked from John reminds us that in the House of God there are many dwelling places.

So don’t let your hearts be troubled.

This is Jesus’ way of saying to all of us that there’s plenty of room for each and every one of us.

That’s especially true for those who have sometimes felt out of place… or have had to endure more than their share of learning in the school of hard knocks.

In the Father’s house…

on that mountaintop…

in our immortality…

there is a place.

For the dancer.

For the singer.

For the helpers.

For those who whistle when they work and play.

For the hard-nosed and the soft-touch.

For the determined and the doubtful.

For the good-humored and those who need to laugh a little more.

There is a place for every single one of us…

And in that place… there is rich food and fine wine.

And we can begin to experience just a taste of it as Sally did:

By living into…and dining on the sampler platter... right now.

Smiling and enjoying life right now.

Loving each other a little more right now.

Keeping our light shining bright no matter what storms come that try to blow it out.

Jesus showed Sally the way… the truth and the life… and she lived it large for us… and has now taken her seat at the head of the heavenly banquet table.

The best way we can honor that feisty Sicilian life is by putting more of our light and love back into the world.

And feasting at this banquet we call “life.”

Mangia! Mangia!

 


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