Maria Gratia Gormley

Deceased Sisters

Maria Gratia Gormley - Ireland
26/03/1924 - 30/01/2019

When anyone dies after a long life, our sadness and grief is often tempered with the sense that like Sr Maria Gratia they lived a long and fulfilling life. Sometimes it can invite introspection on our part: how would our lives measure up to that of our departed loved one?

Yet, no matter how long or interesting the life of a person, it cannot lessen our sense of sadness and sorrow. The one whom we loved so much, who meant so much to us, who brought light, colour and enjoyment to our lives has now left us. All of us gathered here today share in that sense of loss, in that grief and sorrow.

Into this sense of sorrow we turn to our friends and community for solace. We can always trust our sisters here in our community to come up with something special. Sr Maria Gratia I’m sure would be very pleased with your choice of readings for her funeral Mass. All of us here can identify Maria in the sentence “So there was food every day of Elijah, for the woman and her family.” (1 Kings 17:8-16)

Perhaps even more so in the second reading where in the letter of St John (1 Jn 3:18) we are asked “let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” For Maria, words counted for little unless they were manifest in actions that spoke from the heart. To me a perfect example of this was in Maria’s proclamation of the word. Maria never just read words from a Lectionary at Mass. No. The words came from her heart and were always proclaimed with passion: very much in line with what we read in Hebrews “the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any two-edged sword.” We see echoes of her life too in the Gospel. The visitation of Mary to Elizabeth – as a nurse and midwife, Maria would have an affinity with the occasion, but more so was that spirit of compassionate caring that was always evident in her life.

Maria was one of seven children born to John and Jane Gormley, of Kiltoom, Athlone, Co Roscommon. What an achievement it must have been for the Marist Sisters back in 1955 when Sr Maria was professed. At that stage she was already a qualified nurse and midwife. Her work took her to a litany of places including Glasgow, Manchester, Raheny and twice here in Carrick-on-Shannon.

Everywhere Maria showed her tremendous zest for life, like enthusiasm for the word of God, living out of it was equally passionate. Religious life for her was not some form of obscure piety, or in any way removed from the reality of life.

Of course, family was very much at her heart: her room here abounded with treasured family photographs that were reinforced by frequent visits from her and to her by family members. The joy on her face in the photo of her at Helen’s wedding captures the essence of how much her family meant to her.

One has also to admire her – even sometimes brutal – honesty. Some maintain that she was honest to a fault. Maria was never afraid to give her honest opinion. I doubt if she had much time for the current fixation on political correctness. Her comments came from her great powers of observation. It was nice to be on the receiving side of her affirmation: but whether one liked it or not, criticism also came in similar measure when she felt it might do some good.

She kept herself up to date through reading – including on current affairs: often surprising people with her familiarity and grasp of political developments, public debate and happenings throughout the world. Her opinions once formed were usually reinforced and rarely changed indeed: “the lady is not for turning.”

Maybe it was this wholeness in life; the balance that she brought to all aspects of life that is so endearing. Then there was her familiarity with and acceptance of the human condition, the realisation that the reality and the ideal rarely coincide that brought her to the conclusion that “he who is faultless is lifeless.”

Today, we bid our farewell to this Marist Sister, to this family member – sister, aunt or grand-aunt or simply friend – that we have been blessed to have lived alongside. We are all the richer for God’s gift of her to this world. Now, that gift – Maria, – returns to our Heavenly Father.

May her gentle and passionate soul await us along with the saints in Paradise.

Homily for Funeral Feb 2 2019

Fr Seamus O’Rourke CC

Deceased Sisters

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