By Fr. Chinnappan Pelavendran
On behalf of the parish community of St. Paul’s, I would like to extend our sincere condolence and sympathy to the members of Maria’s family. I would like to assure you of our continued prayers. Life has merely changed not ended. She is now with Jesus, His Blessed Mother, and all the saints to whom she was so devoted. She is now enjoying the presence of family and friends who have preceded her in death.
In the readings, we just heard from the book of Prophet Isaiah, God will destroy death forever, and the Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces. God is so merciful and generous toward his people. In the second reading, St. Paul describes the life of Christians, if we live, we live for the lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. So then, whether we live or die, we are God’s people.
In the Gospel, we have blessedness today. The Beatitudes describe as blessed, those simple followers of God that quietly, faithfully, and patiently wait, thirst and hunger for all that is good under heaven. When I spoke with Maria’s family, the overriding memory of her and the words they used when describing her life were words of simplicity, faith, and love.
Maria Boehm was born on April 7th, 1938, in Romania. During the Russian invasion, the family fled to Germany but they did not want to be communist. While her mother was working for the rich family cooking and gardening, they built a small structure in the garden and moved with her family. During this time, Maria Boehm met her first husband Kenneth who was an American serviceman and Maria married Kenneth on March 17th, 1956. They moved together to America, Maria learned English by watching soap operas. Together with her husband Kenneth, they raised four children. After the death of Kenneth, she married a long-time family friend John whose wife passed away five years prior, and helped raise his children. John and Maria together enjoyed their life by loving each other with their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
In the family gathering, Maria shared her talents as a homemaker; she loved cooking, and food was her way of sharing love with others. She took pride in her flowers, she use to collect angels, she was a devout Catholic, Maria was forever the caregiver, tending to the garden, feeding the birds, and was an Eucharist minister at St. Jude’s Catholic Church at New Auburn.
Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Maria was a gentle and simple woman with a lot of love. Maria was kind and showed no jealousy, she did not seek her own. Maria did not rejoice in unrighteousness, but she rejoiced with the truth. She bore all things quietly, believed all things sincerely, and hoped all things even death. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy, God quietly, mercifully, and gently took Maria home with him. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
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