Funeral Mass - Earl Millard Woodruff

china for all many friends and family members who have gone before us welcome them oh lord into your life for our many friends and family members who have gone before us welcome them oh lord into the light of your presence we pray to the lord i want to be the other for all who are assembled here to worship in faith that we may be gathered together again in god's kingdom we pray to the lord hear our prayer yeah can i practice now yeah all right hmm i just want to like practice i don't want to like lord hear our prayers testing all right it's on okay god oh is no idea so very close oh thank you oh there it is so um so this foreign good morning welcome to think dominic's into the funeral mass of earl woodruff all the songs we'll be singing today are in your blue glory and praise books in the piece our opening hymn is we walk by faith it's number 594 594 please stand [Music] we but we believe we may not touch his hands [Music] yet in his promises and may your face [Music] and then when our life of faith is [Music] in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit the lord be with you and with your spirit we gather here this time of the day in faith faith in our lord jesus christ and faith in the resurrection that our brother earl will be received in the kingdom of god let us acknowledge our sins and so prepare ourselves to celebrate these sacred mysteries i confess to almighty god and to you my brothers and sisters that i haven't really seen in my thoughts in my words and you know what i have done and what i have failed to do through my found through what i found for all my messages therefore i ask his blessed mary of a person all the angels and saints and you my brothers and sisters to pray to the lord our god may almighty god have mercy on us forgive us our sins and bring us everlasting life amen let us pray oh god almighty father our faith professes that your son died and rose again must forgrant that through this mystery your servant earl who has fallen asleep in christ may rejoice to rise again through him who lives and reigns with you in the unit of the holy spirit god forever and ever amen please be seated as we listen to the word of god a reading from the book of the prophet isaiah on this mountain the lord of hosts will provide for all peoples on this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples the web that is woven over all nations he will destroy death forever the lord god will wipe away the tears from all faces the reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth for the lord has spoken on that day it will be said behold our god to whom we look to save us this is the lord for whom we looked let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us the word of the lord r our son can be found at number 642 [Music] me [Music] beyond my fears [Music] faithfulness [Music] beyond my fears [Music] gently [Music] righteousness [Music] from [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] beyond my dreams [Music] of hatred grabbing me shepherd me o god beyond my beyond my fears [Music] forever [Music] my fears [Music] a reading from the first letter of saint paul to the thessalonians thessalonians we do not want you to be unaware brothers and sisters about those who have fallen asleep so that you may not grieve like the rest who have no hope for if we believe that jesus died and rose so too will god through jesus bring with him those who have fallen asleep indeed we tell you this on the word of the lord that we who are alive who are left until the coming of the lord will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep for the lord himself with the word of command with the voice of art of an archangel and with the trumpet of god will come down from heaven and the dead in christ will rise first then we who are alive who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air thus we shall always be with the lord therefore console one another with these words the word of the lord [Music] oh [Music] i will give you rest [Music] a reading from the holy gospel according to john jesus said to his disciples do not let your hearts be troubled you have faith in god have faith also in me in my father's house there are many dwelling places if there were not would i have told you that i'm going to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come back again and take you to myself so that where i am you also may be where i am going you know the way thomas said to him master we do not know where you are going how can we know the way jesus said to him i am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me the gospel of the lord praise the lord as i was going or reading there history about all that you sent me my attention was drawn and i'm after going through beautiful history my attention was drawn on only on one sentence that says earl lived his catholic faith through service and dedication to his church his family his country and kindness to others that caught my attention and i was like wow what else do i need to preach this this is a preaching for me this is the homily that i think as we reflect the life of earl it summarizes his entire life his love for god for his family for his country and everyone that encountered him you know earl i think will forever be in my memory you know since the first time i saw him coming in the church and every time i i'll see him walking out of the church you know standing there in the vestibule you know greeting everyone an old common you know with his walker and i tell him hi good morning and he say morning and he smiles and walks away you know with tom and susan and every time i'll see him sitting on that side during the months with thomas susan and for a long time you know his his picture be in my mind every time i celebrate a mass and i think one time i turned the other side and i didn't see him and when i turned my eyes to the choir he was seated there with the choir and i was like has he joined the choir to sing and praise the lord i say amen it's great so i mean when you reflect on the life of earl and especially his last moment and i didn't believe that he was a 95 young man working 95 years old young man walking in the church until almost the last time of his his life i remember the day tom called me to go and you know anoint him at the hospital when i reached there he was lying and you know he was smiling he was at peace and i think that's his life that was his life you know when we gather here to celebrate his life and maybe to say goodbye to him you know maybe to you uh mark tom amy you know the grand children and great grandchildren children and all of us gathered here you know it may be a sad moment and it's not easy you know to say goodbye to our loved ones especially when it is like the last moment here on earth but we are encouraged by the word of god the word of god that tells us we have to be people of hope and especially we christians we hope in the resurrection of our lord jesus christ we believe earl trusted believed in his father believed in god did all that he could to cherish his faith and his life in the church and now god has called him he has called him bob to his kingdom you know the gospel today very nice gospel and i thank the family for choosing this because what does jesus tell us you know it was at the moment when him and his disciples he had talked a lot about him going back to his father going home to his father and his disciples never understood what was jesus talking about and they they were worried and jesus today tells them you know do not let your hearts be troubled why because i am going back yes i'm going back to my father where there are so many dwelling places there are so many rooms and i'm going to prepare one for you one for each of you so that when i go there i'll come back and come and take you with me so where i am you will also be jesus look looked at his disciples and in on their faces they were worried what is going to be after he left but he gave them hope he encouraged them you know to remain firm in their faith and i believe this is the faith that all lived and you family are you know attested to that that he lived his family to the full and i cannot test it too because until the last moment he was among us he was with us here in the church only a few you know days before his he died that we didn't see him here in the church and jesus tells us i am the way i am the truth and i am the life this is our hope this is our faith that even when we come together gathered to pray for all papa pray for him we also pray for ourselves that we may be ready and i'm sure all in his life he was preparing for this final moment he was preparing for his death and we thank god that god gave him a long life maybe for us too to be able to learn and i'm sure mark i mean tom mark amy the grand children great grandchildren and everyone who came close to him you have learned a lot from him and the best way that we can live his life is by cherishing those good memories that he has left us us with so that's what we are here to celebrate we may be certain yes that we would wish him to continue living with us but i think we thank god for his life we thank god that god gave him a long life to give us a lesson to teach us a lesson and to leave us with so many memories good memories and today in this month i ask you to cherish those memories cherish them by remembering the good work that he did and therefore we continue to pray for him and continue to pray for ourselves that we may continue to be people faith people of hope and he has taught us a lesson that it doesn't matter the age or the condition i'm sure maybe in his last days you know as he was going through his condition he was suffering yes but that did not deter him from being close to his creator being close to god and always being faithful to him and you know being close to him and i think this is what we can learn from him as we say bye to him but again his memory living in us you know as we continue to cherish them so we pray for him when we continue to cherish all that he has left us with may his soul on the souls of all the faithful departed through the mass of god rest in peace amen you please stand brothers and sisters jesus christ is risen from the dead and sits at the right hand of the father where he intercedes for his church confident that god hears the voices of those who trust in the in the lord jesus we join our prayers to his lord hear our prayer our responses lord hear our prayer for all health care workers that god will keep them safe and that all will appreciate their care and compassion for others we pray to the lord lord hear our prayer for all the public office may they work for justice and true peace we pray to the lord prayer for all who suffer in mind or body may they realize that god is always with them we pray to the lord lord hear our prayer for karen lewicki and mary matt lee law that god will continue to strengthen them in their struggles we pray to the lord lord hear our prayer for pop-pop when baptism was given the pledge of eternal life that god might give him peace and light forever we pray to the lord for the family and friends of earl woodruff that they may be controlled in their grief by the lord who wept at the death of his friend lazarus we pray to the lord lord hear our prayer for our many friends and family members who have gone before us welcome mom o lord into the light of your presence we pray to the lord lord hear our prayer for all that are assembled here in worship in faith that we may be gathered together again in god's kingdom we pray to the lord lord hear our prayer god lord our god give of peace and healer of souls hear the prayers of the redeemer jesus christ and the voices of your people whose lives were purchased by the blood of the lamb forgive the sins of all who sleep in christ and grant them a place in the kingdom through christ our lord amen please be seated as we prepare the altar [Music] oh [Music] r is [Music] foreign [Music] so great [Music] see [Music] hopes and dreams [Music] so great [Music] to see with [Music] me [Music] pray brothers and sisters that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to god the almighty father may the at your lord for the praise and glory of his name for our glory in the good of all his holy church as we humbly present to you these sacrificial offerings oh lord for the salvation of your servant earl we beseech your mercy that he who did not doubt your son to be a loving savior may find in him a merciful church who lives and reigns forever and ever the lord be with you and with your spirit lift up your hearts we lift them unto the lord let us give thanks to the lord our god it is right and just it is to right and just our duty and our salvation always and ever to give you thanks lord holy father almighty and eternal god for it is at your sermons that we come to birth by your will that we are governed and at your command that we return on account of sin so that so that earth from which we to that earth from which we came and when you give the sign we who have been redeemed redeemed by the death of your son shall be raised up to the glory of his resurrection and so the company of angels and the saints we sing the hymn of the glory as without end we acclaim [Music] heaven and earth [Music] is [Music] you are indeed holy oh lord the fount of all holiness make holy therefore these gifts we pray by sending down your spirit upon them that they do for so that they may become for us the body and blood of our lord jesus christ at the time he was betrayed and entered willingly into his person he took bread and giving thanks broke it and gave it to his disciples saying take this all of you and eat of it for this my body which will be given out for you in a similar way when suppose ended he took the chalice and once more giving thanks he gave it to his disciples saying take this all of you and drink from it for this the child is my blood the blood of the new and eternal covenant which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins do this in memory of me the mystery of faith [Music] is [Music] therefore as we celebrate the the memorial of his death and resurrection we offer you lord the bread of life and the chalice of salvation giving thanks that you have held us whether to be in your presence and minister to you humbly we pray that partaking of the body and blood of christ we may be gathered into one by the holy spirit remember lord your church spread throughout the world and bring home to the fullness of church together with the francis of pokemon richard the bishop and all the clergy remember your servant earl whom you have called from this world to yourself grant that he who was united with your son in a death like his may also be one with him in his resurrection remember also brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep in the hope of their resurrection and all who have died in your mercy welcome them into the light of your face have mercy on us we pray that to the blessed virgin mary mother of god with blessed joseph her spouse with your blessed apostles and all the saints who have pleased you through the ages we may merge to be coheirs to eternal life and may praise and glorify you through your son jesus christ through him and with him and in him o god almighty father in the unity of the holy spirit all glory and horn is yours forever and ever [Music] at the savior's command and formed by divinity teaching we dare to say our father give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trace us against and lead us not into temptation but from evil deliver us lord we pray from every evil graciously grant peace in our days that with the help of your mercy we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our savior jesus christ for the kingdom the power and the glory are yours now and forever lord jesus christ who said it to your apostles peace i leave you my peace i give you look not on our sins but on the faith of your church and graciously grant her peace and doing it in accordance with your will who live and reign forever and ever the peace of the lord be with you always and with your spirit let us offer each other the sign of peace [Music] sins oh the world have mercy on us [Music] have mercy on us [Music] you take away the sins of the world [Music] behold the lamb of god behold him who takes away the sins of the world blessed are those called to the supper of the lamb lord i am not worthy that you should enter under my roof shall be healed 45 i'll go over and get the choir [Music] i am the bread of life [Music] and i will [Music] and i will [Music] [Music] for the is of the world you shall live forever [Music] and i will rise through [Music] so [Music] its own a [Music] your children dangers air from rock and tempest fire and fall protect them we're so happy [Music] and see let us pray lord god whose left whose son left us in the sacrament of his body food for the journey merciful grant that strengthened by it our brother earl may come to the eternal table of christ who lives and reigns forever and ever amen please be seated before the final and right of commendation i would like to invite tom and susan to give us the ideology good morning good morning i want to acknowledge um let me just think for a minute joe and ava todd and allie justin and lindsey and our other family members and friends who are on youtube and say hello to dad mom donald mary lou who don't need youtube to see us so now a couple things that my dad would do if he was up here the first thing he would say is sorry to bother you i didn't mean to cause all this trouble so uh so for him from that's uh what he'd say then the next thing you do he was thank everybody for coming father bob brother ken kelly barnett who's doing the youtube streaming chris neal our pianist our fellow choir members and jessica davison in the saint dominic's office who put the pro program and remembers card and many other things so um my dad said thank you a lot he's probably known for saying that um it's interesting though what the sincerity was because he said it a lot but i wanted i know that it was sincere every time he said it in the last few days he had a bad contusion on his right side and where the caregivers came in to change his position and he would moan because it hurt and they'd apologize to him when they were done the first thing he said was thank you i wish i had recorded so you could hear the tone of the voice because he knew that even though they he hurt while they're doing it he knew they were there to take care of him a little bit about dad there's this magical street called webster place most of the family knows that in the same building my father and mother were born six months apart and were very good friends got married when they were four then things took them apart and 15 years later after being in new york my mom her dad and brother moved back to webster place they met made up again saw each other were married a year later but there's a dad was a avid baseball fan but he was probably just as much an avid player webster place had this field behind it and so he'd say you know well we that's where we played ball okay dad who'd you play ball with well whoever come out and play and one time i finally dad didn't say much you either asked him a question and followed up with a question you never waited him to say something and you then ask him to start a conversation so i and so he says well there's this one fella joe black who ended up going to the pros now you have to remember joe is just dance friend to him who is joe black he played for the brooklyn dodgers was the first american pitcher to win a world series game and he roomed and was a very good friend with frank robinson there's my dad oh he always backed my mom my mom definitely was the matriarch so it was all you know but it would be wait till dad gets home dad didn't have to do much when he got home i can guarantee you that and uh there was this one time i was getting chewed out really good in the kitchen i mean like this vivid image by my mom and my dad sitting at the table and i can only imagine him saying thank god that's not me oh um he and jaya enjoyed golf and other sports i i played golf when i in the early teens and he finally came out and had a chance because he worked two jobs he joined me one day after school and went out and play having a good time and i'm off a little bit from him and i hear hear him swing and i hear s h blank blank first time i ever heard my dad swear and you can see what goth will do to you so as i said he worked two two jobs most of the time dad was kind he's humble he lived his life in service to others he was waiting to help somebody and wasn't looking for help he was an extraordinary caregiver to my mom my mom mom's sister-in-law who lived nearby told him one day that there's probably very few people that would have taken care of mom or their relative like he did i can guarantee you that and i never heard him complain very much and uh wherever you know as you get closer to someone's life and you're watching way different things happen uh and then the respect of the people at brookdale paid him it made me think back everywhere my father went there was this warm respect it was just they were just glad to have them there they didn't have to talk oh and you could feel that when i take him home we're back home yeah because he ends up calling it home brookdale after being at our house for dinner and he thanked susan on the way out and we wanted to make it to the car and he said tom i think i forgot to thank the susan get in the car don't even get out of the subdivision tom i think i forgot to thank susan after i reassured him several more times before he got back to brookdale we'd have the same conversation then at the utmost respect for susan he couldn't thank her enough and neither cannot i just want to say a couple well ending on that i wasn't expecting to gather myself for a second um so i just want to share just a few memories uh so geographically we didn't see our so geographically going growing up we didn't see our grandfather very much um but annual holidays so they were reflecting on memories recently there were kind of learned how to watch sports for a long period of time with him so in the sun room i just remember sitting there watching football um and his presence not much you have not much conversation but still there and he used to have they used to have the most these have raw nuts so i've never seen those i just remember they always had these like chestnuts and pecans and crackers and it was just the most fascinating thing because i never encountered those ever only there candies that would be there and just um so kind of just just being and watching sports and also so um he didn't say much right just like my dad was saying but the uh i have that same memory golf memory going out on the golf course and so this grandfather that never really spoke much and of course like the only time like that and being out on golf course for one of the first times and sure enough that yeah that's the only time i heard hear him curse is is in that in that moment it just it just sticks out how jarring that was for someone that doesn't speak very much to to say that so that so then he wanted to spend more time with family so we've been sponsor annual benchmade this is supposed to be real short um so and and so every year that was his way of trying to develop a relationship with the broader family that was again limited by the geographical distance well you know he would sponsor the trips pretty sure he did not like the beach very much but he would he would we would be at the pool or he wouldn't make it to the beach but i still remember all the time he would he would be in a flannel shirt and pants in 100 degree weather with just white face sunscreen and a hat on in the shade at the pool but he just wanted to be outside even despite that uncomfortable uh temperature weather environment they you know he just wanted to be around his family um so also on those beach trips was able to you know every every dinner we would we i was able to like get him to drink a glass of wine and he would just be i just want like a little bit and it was always you know kind of a joke that we would fill it up to the top because it was only going to be his one one glass with with dinner uh getting him to you know never asking for food but the joy it would you know get being able to kind of serve him food and him just you know take down every every bite scrape the plate of course always say thank you and be very grateful in the head so he also adored uh you know he was a avid mets fan in baseball um adored this ribbing that gosh was able to just you know as a braves fan was able to just just give him lots of you know jabs and ribbing and you know being as kind as he was he he would just he would just take it and he would smile and he just enjoyed sharing a common interest i think the braves world series just wanted to share some of the couple memories sorry that was doing very well as the daughter-in-law i didn't know earl very much growing up as daniel said we were not very close with them because they were in new jersey and we were here so but of course in the last few years ever since isabel died we tom and i have been able to spend a lot of time with him and i i just wanted to mention since the end of life for him is what i wanted just to talk about a little bit um after he was in the hospital uh the beginning of december when father came and gave him the sacrament of anointing he didn't think he was going to make it out of the hospital he was but and we didn't either we'd already talked about you know what was going to happen when he came out of the hospital and we had talked about hospice and had gotten it ready after father came and gave him the sacrament anointing he just like within 20 minutes he was sitting up and wanting to eat he hadn't been eaten and tom and i were looking at each other and going okay what do we do now you know you know he is he's rebounded so many times that we thought but the only choices they gave us was to go to rehab or to hospice back at brookdale and we knew he did not want to go to rehab we've been through rehab once and it was not a good situation talk about him never complaining well he complained a lot when he was in rehab so so he came he came back to brookdale hospice and the next week mark and amy were able to come and spend the whole week with him which was really nice and then we were going to try to sneak away for a few days and go to atlanta to see the family right before christmas just to exchange gifts and things so we arranged for uh mike and genie to come and visit him on that tuesday and that was the last time that they brought him communion that was the last time he was able to receive communion and then um joy had sent me a link to a video talking about taking care of people with dementia when i listened to that video i was reminded about people with dementia if they have a good faith that that is something that will be very important to them and so tom and i both tried to do more praying with him we weren't very good at that before but we really tried we talked about this little catholic prayer book it was had big letters and stuff in it because he had trouble reading and so we would do the little prayer book with him and and jeannette came and she did the rosary with him one time and then at christmas we started there was a real special live stream mass and so we knew that he would enjoy that so on christmas day we sat with him and and had masked with him for christmas and then the next day was the sunday mass after and so we sat and we did the live stream mass with him on that day and then of course on new year's eve there was another mass so we did that and then on new year's day uh tim and the girls were visiting us and maddie went with us over to brookdale and she sat there and and participated in the mass with him again so and then the next day was the feast of epiphany and so we had mass with him and he always appreciated we would he would say the our father with us and so then the last week the day before he died on wednesday uh dominant had decided that we would instead of going together we would try to alternate so that we would be there somebody would be there with him more often and so he had gone in the morning on that wednesday and i came in and so and sat with him so that he could tom could go home and have lunch um he was he was he was not well he was awake he would it he knew that he we were there but i could tell that he was struggling so i had done the prayers from the little prayer book with him and then i had to leave and go play tennis so tom came back and he and his dad did the rosary together and before he left earl had fallen asleep and when they went back mark had come and he and tom went that morning and he had already passed before they got there so we sorry we were just hoping that he fell asleep on wednesday evening when tom left and that he just died in his sleep which is what he always wanted to do he prayed all the time that he would die in his sleep so that's that's how we hope his final time was so anyway today we're going to end this part with tim is going to read a poem that was given to me when my mom passed in 2002 from our dear friend joan and we have read the poem at my father's death and then again at isabel's service so tim is going to read that for us today so if you want to follow along it's it's in the leaflet i do want to say one quick word and just build on what everybody else in the family was saying so our pop-up our grandfather had a quiet presence i think that's been that everybody's mentioned that but on top of respect there was always a feeling of love that came from him he didn't have to say it he didn't have to show it but you felt that when you were in his presence and i'll never forget that so god saw that he was getting tired a cure was not to be so he put his arms around him and whispered come with me with tearful eyes we watched him suffer and saw him fade away although we loved him dearly we could not make him stay a golden heart stopped beating hard working hands to rest god broke our hearts to prove to us he only takes the best we now come to almost the end of our literature on the the the final part is the prayer of final commendation and in this prayer we use the incense as a sign of honor to the disease and which through baptism became the temple of the holy spirit and also we use this as a sign of our prayers for him for earl rising to the throne of god as a sign of farewell so i invite you to stand [Music] let us pray into your hands father of mercies recommend our brother earl in the sure uncertain hope that together with all who have died in christ he will rise with him on the last day must for lord turn toward us and listen to our prayers open the gates of paradise to your servant and help us to who remain to comfort one another with the assurance of faith until we all meet in christ and are with you and with them with our brother all forever we ask this through christ our lord amen [Music] so [Music] [Music] is [Music] uh [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] so [Music] before the final blessing all of you are invited for lunch in our parish life center so please welcome there the lord be with you may almighty god bless you father son and the holy spirit [Music] i know that my redeemer lives the one who calls me home i long to see god face to face [Music] that i shall rise again let us [Music] is [Music] is [Music] i me [Music] [Applause] [Music] shall rise [Music] so [Music] you

Channel: St Dominic Church

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Id: h5M3B654pUA

Length: 89min 45sec (5385 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 12 2022