Sister Mary Theresa Rose Valerga, SNJM
Mercedes Balbina Valerga
Los Gatos, California

June 16, 1914-February 22, 2010

Homily for the Mass of Resurrection for Sister Theresa Rose by Sister M. David Emmanuel
Paula


Most of us in this room are old enough to have discovered that a large part of learning how to love consists in learning how to wait. God, of course, is the master of this. God waits and waits. "I was ready to respond to those who asked me not, to be found by those who sought me not. I said: Here I am! Here I am! To a people that did not call upon my name." (Is 65:1) Millennium after millennium. Waiting. Those who will love as God loves will master the art of waiting. "As the eyes of a hand maid are on the hands of her mistress," waiting. Elizabeth waited; advanced in years, life-filled, faith-filled, she waited for the arrival of her young cousin. Simeon and Anna waited for the consolation of Israel. Jesus, himself, reminds us of the necessity of waiting. "I have many things to tell you but you cannot bear them now." Wait. "You shall see the son of Man coming in His Glory." Wait. St. Paul learned to wait. He waited for Ananeas; he waited in the desert of Arabia; he waited in Antioch and in the end he waited alone in a cell in Rome. Theresa of Avila waited, shaking her hour glass when the time seemed to stand still. Therese of Lisieux waited, seeing only a wall, armed with her faith, her hope and her love as, breathless, she approached her death.

St. John, the author of today's readings also learned to wait. He moved through life first as a young, strong fisherman, one of the sons of thunder, the one whom Jesus loved, then at last as an old man living on an island, writing down his visions and, waiting; John, the evangelist of signs and glory, of the sacramental life of the Church, waiting and plumbing the mystery: Who is this Jesus and what are the true credentials of those who follow him. John writes, sending a message of encouragement to his children in faith. The community has splintered and they need help in discerning how to live as children of light and love. "See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are." Being a child of God holds an implicit challenge. It is not just a matter of being cradled in God's arms, being drawn by human cords, with bands of love, and lifted as one lifts an infant to his cheeks. The challenge is to live out one's identity, an identity derived from one's parents. This is not always recognized. This also requires discernment. "Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds? Is he not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother named Mary? Where did this man get all this?" (Matt 13:54 ff.) "The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him." But the challenge remains to live in such a way that it is evident that God is our Father. Of course, it is the work of a life time. "Beloved, we are God's children now: what we shall be has not yet been revealed."
We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. It is safe to say that Sister Theresa Rose understood all of this. Sister Mary Haupt gave us an insight on this when she quoted Sister Theresa Rose, writing in 1957: "Someday, maybe soon, who but he knows, the King and I are to meet Face to face -- tremendous will be that Moment, long-awaited for! His love will Look and love me! " She shall be like him for she shall see him as he is.

This liturgy has been lovingly crafted by those who knew Sister Therese Rose and have appreciated her journey, her capacity to wait upon the Lord, and all the graces and blessings that sustained her in her waiting. Something of all this is reflected in the reading from John chosen for the Gospel. It is the beginning of the Last Discourse. "Do not let your hearts be troubled." Another challenge, testing the depths of one's faith, hope and love. "You have faith in God; have faith also in me." "In my Father's house there are many dwelling places." With this, John has brought us full circle from the beginning of his Gospel where there is the crucial question and corresponding invitation: "Rabbi, where dwellest thou?" "Come and see." (John 1: 38) to the end of the journey, a lifetime away, where there waits a permanent address, a dwelling place personally prepared by Jesus, where one knows as one is known, face to face, forever. This is the final seal for a contemplative spirit such as S. Theresa Rose. "I willcome back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be." Here is some of the paradox that is at the heart of the Gospel, at once profound mystery, and total transparency: God whose being is boundless love and God who comes seeking us as Word made Flesh. "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him."

Sister Theresa Rose refers to "the Spouse of my soul, the all consuming Sacred Heart of Jesus;" this was in 1973. She knew and saw, but there was more waiting to be done, waiting filled with countless kindly ministries, joys and sorrows and the cross of illness and infirmity. We must understand that it is not just the waiting, but the quality of life and love, filling the waiting, that matters.

The Psalm response, "You Are Mine," is the leitmotif of Sister Theresa Rose�s life. She writes that she experienced, "Always a strong, silent, sure call from God- as like a magnet, from as far back as I can remember." Her vocation, her seeking God was always there. God claimed her as his choice early in her life. She heard, responded, and never looked back. In all her waiting, she had a long life of loving.
As a musician and a lover, she could well claim these words of Hopkins as her own:

I have found my music in a common word,
Trying each pleasurable throat that sings
And very praised sequence of sweet strings,
And know infallibly which I preferred.
The authentic cadence was discovered late
Which ends those only strains that I approve,
And other science all gone out of date
And minor sweetness scarce made mention of:
I have found the dominant of my range and state-
Love, O my God, to call Thee Love and Love.