In the midst of winter, Cluny Sisters in Rhode Island and Connecticut gathered to remember and celebrate the life of our dear Sister Anne Marie.  We gathered at St. Augustin Church in Newport for a time of visitation and viewing ending in the evening with a prayer service.

 

Wake time, sorrow-sharing time.

Wake time, Storytelling time.

Wake time, Vigil-keeping time.

Wake time, embracing time.

From the Irish Wake Prayer:

Our Lady of the Wake

We were consoled by those dear Affiliates, Associates and Friends who gathered to keep vigil with us and share memories, telling stories… tears and laughter!

 

The following day we gathered once again to celebrate a Mass of Christian Burial.

Father Mark Sauriol presided and invited us to read Sister Anne Marie’s Obituary backwards, beginning with the story of a very successful sister to those who didn’t have faith in her.

 

Sister Genevieve Marie Vigil, Provincial of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny followed with remarks that captured Sister Anne Marie well.  Here are some of her reflections:

 

One of qualities that anyone who knew Anne-Marie knew that kindness was a hallmark of who she was.  She saw the needs of others and through her instinctive acts of kindness made each day simpler and easier for others.  They felt accepted by her and responded.

 

As we all know, she suffered from poor health her entire life, yet it sometimes impelled her to move forward in spite of or maybe because of it.  As a teacher, both in California and in Cluny School, as a parish minister in West Virginia, as a high-school chaplain in Hamilton, as a vocation director in the diocese of Providence, she brought a sense of dedication and hard work to each of those ministries.  She saw the good in each person she met, and perhaps because of her own experiences with weakness of body, she could understand the struggles of others.  She was convinced that in each person with whom she was dealing, there was a deep down goodness that was waiting to be revealed.

 

She loved teaching and many of her students credit her not only with teaching skills and proficiencies, but also the life lessons of kindness, hard work, creative ways to approach problem solving and how to see the irony of events in life.  She had a wry sense of humor and often the quips and “throw-away lines” helped us to laugh at the incongruities of life.

 

Her example of faith, in her support of others in their moments of pain in mind, body and spirit helped many see the pain with hope and trust.  She brought this faith to every situation and through her words and example she strengthened the faith of others.  She often acknowledged her own weakness and helped others accept their limitations, trusting that God’s loving Will was present in all that was around them and in their own limitations.

 

As I reflected on my memories of Anne-Marie, the outstanding one was her love of animals, especially cats.  We all have cat stories. She was also  a voracious reader and enjoyed particularly mysteries—these challenged the mind in the puzzle of events, and how these unfolded in the plot. She loved board games, especially ones that involved words.  Her intelligent mind looked for the patterns that could be made and found.

 

As a New Yorker, she had a cosmopolitan view of life, as the descendent of Irish immigrants, she had a sense of the Divine and the mystical, as a daughter she had a deep devotion to Mary, mother of all.

 

Anne-Marie was a good friend to all of us, and I am convinced that she is here in this “thin place” assuring us of her prayers.

 

May our tribute of her be to live the lessons she taught us—

trusting in God’s Providence,

seeking always and everywhere to do Gods  Will,

seeing the goodness in others and

every now and then loving a cat.

 

A true daughter of Anne Marie Javouhey, Foundress, Sister Anne Marie witnessed to our call to become Missionary Disciples in collaboration with all to bring about the Mission of Jesus, that all may be ONE. 

 

May she now rejoice in the full presence of our loving and merciful God.