Edwin Prudhomme Funeral
St. Peter's Church, Gentilly
May 2, 1998
Sympathy to Edwin's family and friends - and it looks like he has many friends.
We gather today to grieve our loss - the loss of Edwin, but we also gather here today to celebrate - to celebrate Edwin's life. We celebrate the short life that he lived with us. We celebrate Edwin's quiet, gentle nature, his subtle sense of humor. We celebrate the loving relationship he had with his parents, his sisters, his nieces and nephews, with all of his family and friends. Edwin was liked and loved by so many people - he seemed to get along with everyone, young or old. He was also teased by those who knew him, but he had the ability to accept that teasing in his usual gentle way - maybe occasionally throwing a barb or two of his own back. We celebrate the way Edwin seemed to enjoy life. He enjoyed snowmobiling with his friends. He enjoyed and loved farming - and he did that from an early age with his dad and mom and sisters - he spent over 30 years of his life farming with David & Kathy Brule. Each of us have our own memories of Edwin and we gather today to celebrate those memories of his life with us.
Even though we are here to celebrate Edwin's life we are still sad. It is difficult for us to understand why he died so young, why a son must die before his mother.
It is not, however, just Edwin's life with us that we celebrate today, we also celebrate our Christian belief there is life after death - an everlasting life that is lived even more fully with our loving God. We may find consolation in our scriptures that remind us that we are gathered here to celebrate our belief that life continues after death. I think Edwin, and people who farm and work the land have an even deeper appreciation of the image in our gospel today. Edwin really understood what it meant to take wheat seeds that that to most people looked as if they were, and plant those seeds. He knew with certainty that by the grace of God and his hard work those seeds would bring forth new life. As followers of Jesus we know, with just as much certainty, that by the grace of God and our effort at living a Christian life, from our death will come new and everlasting life with God.
Edwin died young and he will be missed. A tragic death like this often reminds all of us of how fragile human life really is. This gospel, also carries a reminder for us about our life now. We are reminded that being a follower of Jesus means that we die to our needs and put the needs of others first. That is how our lives produce much fruit in this world. It is by living a life of faith built on self-sacrificing love, that we live the Christian life that we are called to as followers of Jesus. If we work at living that life of self sacrificing love in this world, then, by the grace of God, we can look forward to the day we will be reunited with our loved ones in the next world -- for all eternity.