March 19, 2002: Funeral of Anna Hochard

Father Owen's Homilies

Homily for the Funeral of Anna Hochard at St. Patrick’s Church, Corning, KS, March 19, 2002

First of all as pastor and as friend I offer sympathy and the promise of prayers to Anna’s nine children. They were privileged to have their mother with them much longer than most of us. Rosemary did take care of her mother as long as I have known Anna. She will especially miss her presence.

It was my pleasure to know Anna only as an older person who sat in a chair most of the time with her radio and her rosary nearby. When I came into her room for anointing or with the Holy Eucharist she would show a welcoming smile. We would chat. Sometimes she would want to ask that we offer a Mass. This picture is in sharp contrast to the picture that her children gave me on Sunday afternoon.

The children told me of a loving mother who gave wise advice. She is remembered as an excellent cook who could whip up a meal on short notice. Anna had been a chef in an Onaga Hotel once upon a time. She did not confine her use of the rosary only to her later years. It was her constant companion. In fact it was as constant a companion to her as she was to her husband and family. Anna lived 18 years as a widow and would have been 103 years of age in April. Anna was a good and faithful servant who has been called by the Bridegroom. He saw her wait on so many tables that Jesus says to her, Anna, recline at my table and be served.”

I think of Anna as one of those thousands of unheralded older persons who live a quiet contemplative life. They are in their own homes, in nursing homes, monasteries, living with children. They might complain to a son or a daughter that they seem never to be able to finish a rosary because they are asleep! But are they asleep? Have they been resting with the Lord in quiet and wordless prayer? Anna must have been one like that. Who can say how many of us have felt the power of her prayer and did not know it? She will be missed.