Excerpts from the funeral homily for Madonna House pioneer Michael Fagan (Sept. 8 1929 – August 16, 2024)
[Is 61:1-3d; Ps 26; Rm 8:14-23; Mt 5:1-12a]
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As I begin this homily, I would like to express to the members of the Madonna House Apostolate, particularly those here in Edmonton at the Marian Centre, my heartfelt condolences, and those of the archdiocese, on the death of your brother Michael Fagan.
Michael is remembered by us in many ways: a real character, an impressive storyteller, a beautiful singer, a passionate advocate for the poor, a lover of community, and so on.
Yet nothing describes him better than the term “disciple.” Before all else, Michael was a follower of Jesus Christ. Everything we have experienced of Michael flows from that foundational fact. As such, he allowed himself to be interrogated, challenged, and transformed by every word issuing from the mouth of God, especially from Jesus, God’s Word Incarnate.
This afternoon, we can all appreciate how deeply and thoroughly he was shaped by God’s holy word if we briefly consider his life in light of the scriptural texts for this Mass of Christian burial.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, we hear Jesus say. This first beatitude summarizes and leads to all the rest. Blessed are those who accept their complete reliance upon the love of God, who recognize that all is gift.
Michael Fagan was always filled with a joy that nothing could dissipate. Why?
He was thoroughly convinced of God’s providential arrangement of all things without error; of God’s power to turn any hardship, however painful and difficult, into something wondrously good for those he loves.
That certainty gave rise within him to an unwavering joy, which served as a great source of encouragement to any who came to him with broken hearts and crippled lives.
This does not mean, of course, that Michael’s own heart did not know sorrow. His was a Christian sadness that co-existed with his Christian joy, a sorrow described by Saint Paul as the “groaning” of God’s children while we await the completion of the divine saving purpose.
Michael loved deeply; he therefore grieved deeply at humanity’s pain occasioned by grief, misfortune, or injustice.
Michael’s heart is captured well, it seems to me, in a painting Marian Centre has of him. It shows Michael in the chapel, looking out at the women and men coming to the Centre for assistance. He did this often.
Even though we know his heart grieved deeply as he gazed upon and prayed for the needy and broken, the painting has him smiling, a beautiful reflection of Michael’s sure hope that God’s love will triumph in the lives of people served at the Marian Centre and in those of any who suffer.
Yet Michael, in more youthful years, did more than pray and smile; he also acted. He was very involved in the community, working with great zeal on behalf of the poor, seeking in every way possible to lighten their suffering and give them hope.
As the Lord’s disciple, Michael knew that the anointing he received in the sacraments was his participation in that of Christ, impelling him to share in the Lord’s own mission “to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners.”
Michael Fagan was entirely shaped by the word of God. A man who could recite many a poetic verse from memory and delighted in doing so, he found no greater pleasure than that derived from pondering, savouring, and sharing God’s holy word.
From among all the divine words recorded in Sacred Scripture and treasured by Michael, we pray that he will now hear these from the lips of Jesus himself: Well done, good and faithful servant… enter into the joy of your master.
Painting by Amy Barnes, Madonna House (2023)
