Helen Tiedeman Funeral
February 13, 1999
Sympathy to Helen’s family and friends.
We are gathered here today to remember Helen’s life with us – to mourn our loss – but most importantly we gather to celebrate our hope, our belief that she will now live a new life with Jesus, forever.
There were things in Helen's life that were very important to her. Helen grew up in a family where close family relationships were very important. That love of family is something that never left Helen. That closeness with her family has been maintained through reunions that she truly looked forward to. The close bond of family is something that she brought to her own family when she and George married. She showed her love in many ways for George and for their children and & grandchildren. That close bond that Helen found with her family is something she brought to the love she had for the Jesus and the Church. Coming to Mass and being an active part of our parish family was something that Helen loved. But Helen's sense of family extended beyond church and her own family. One of the reasons she enjoyed working for the Cathedral School for many years was because she thought of the children and staff as family. She enjoyed her time working at Town & Country because it was a family-like atmosphere. She made regular visits to the nursing home and would provide rides for customers at the Hair Company because those are things that families do for one another. If we were to put this all in churchy words we might say Helen understood foot-washing. She understood having her feet washed by her family & friends when George died. And there are probably many former students at the cathedral school who could tell stories about how Helen washed their feet.
The gospel today reminds us that this foot-washing thing that Jesus did for his disciples is something he does for us today. And the gospel also reminds us that just as Jesus challenged his disciples to wash one another’s feet, he calls us to wash each other’s feet, too.
What does it mean to be a foot-washer? It means that we reach in loving service to one another. It means that we understand that coming to church and saying we love Jesus does not mean anything, if we don’t reach out in love to other people who need to have their feet washed by a loving disciple of Jesus. A parent who can sit up all night with their sick child and be loving and patient is a foot-washer. Someone who takes time to sit with and listen to people who are lonely in the nursing home is a foot-washer. Some who goes the extra mile for their customers, even the ones who might not have a ride to the beauty shop, because she understand we are all family in God’s eyes; that person is a foot-washer. The people in this room today who have shown love and support for Helen’s family are foot-washers.
For Helen, family was very important. Being a foot-washer means we understand that we treat everybody like family – because we are all belong to God’s family. As members of God’s family, our faith in Jesus allows us to hope and believe that even though Helen has left this world; one day we will be united with her again in heaven, forever.
May each one of us be aware of the many ways Jesus comes into our lives to wash our feet. And when we have had our feet washed may it remind us of Helen and may it remind us of Jesus’ words, “…as I have done for you, you should also do.”