It was just lovely to listen to the family eulogy on Levie. I confess that I got a sneak preview of it a few days ago because I wanted to know more about her in time for today’s celebration in which we give thanks to God for her life and for His gift of eternal life which we hope and trust is now hers. Listening to her story, you could perhaps say that she was a woman for whom the sky was the limit while on this earth. Now, of course, not even the sky is the limit. For those who love God and who are loved by God, the only limit is eternity – which is of course limit-less!

The image came to me that Levie’s life was like ever-expanding concentric circles. Around her, her beloved Willy and Khristine at the centre, then John, Brodie and Lia Rosa. Then there was her expanding circle of school friends, followed by the move to England and her globetrotting adventures with Willy and Khristine, even going to Ireland only a few weeks before her passage to God.

But there were some inner expanding circles in Levie, too. Her generosity in working and supporting her parents and siblings back home. When she fell in love with Willy she probably felt her heart could not get any bigger but behold it did in her love for her growing family, as the gallery of photos in the order of service shows. Her love of travel also reveals an ongoing openness to culture and history and the rich tapestry of experiences which a real love for life bestows. Her gifts of gardening and cooking also betray a real creativity and love for the good things which God has given us.

But of all the things said about Levie the one which most caught my attention is what Khristine said towards the end of the eulogy: “mum sacrificed more than I’ll ever know. She always put everyone before herself.” Such self-sacrifice and humility are nothing less than the hallmarks of God. Our second reading from the book of the Apocalypse says that the deeds and labours of those who die in the Lord go with them. These were the labours of love and self-sacrifice which adorned the life, the heart and soul, of Levie and which extended outwards to all who fell within those concentric circles of her full and happy life. And whatever sins there may have been on her soul as she left this life, the Lord of mercy will surely have judged them to be little in comparison with all of the immense good she did for so many, for so long.

The truth is, of course, that Levie is far from finished in her loving care for you, Willy, Khristine and all the family. If we can be confident that the Lord has taken her to Himself, then we can be even more confident that from her room in the Father’s house her love is only greater than it could ever be here below. Because of Jesus, death does not end our loved one’s love for us; it does not even interrupt it; it only enhances it eternally because it is now one, full and complete love with the love of Christ for us. For, who was it that gave Levie to you, her husband and family, to love you? Who was it that gave you to her to love her? Was it not the God of love Himself? And now in taking her to Himself He does not take her from you but gives her back to you in a more sublime and unhindered fashion. Our deceased loved ones are only absent from us physically, but they are far more present to us spiritually, and not just in our memories or affections, but in reality, in the reality of eternal life. Eternal life or heaven is not some far distant galaxy but is present in the deepest depths of our every here and now.

So, now, Levie does not see you as once she did, when she was there before you in the flesh. No, now she always sees you through the eyes and heart of Jesus which are ever present. She sees beyond the appearances of the flesh: she sees into your hearts and souls through Jesus and in Jesus. Now, she not only knows your worries and cares when you tell her or when, on earth, she might have suspected they were there. No, now she always knows what they are, how you are and what you need from the perspective of heaven. This is the glorious truth of our destiny as believers in Jesus and in His death and resurrection to deliver us out of death. Otherwise, why would Jesus command us not to let our hearts be troubled when departure from this earth comes upon us? Our hearts are naturally troubled when death takes a loved one from us, and that trouble and grief and sorrow testify to our love for them. But it should not have to be like that. True love should never seem to be broken; it is made to last for ever. Death was not the Lord’s doing, but the work of the enemy of our life, our love and our humanity. It is that enemy who wants the separation and grief and pain. But the Lord does not want that and that is why He took on death Himself and took control over it from our enemy precisely by dying. Because of Christ death is no longer our end but our new beginning in a life that will never die. For every single one of us, He has gone to prepare a place in the Father’s House. We can each have confident trust and hope in Him who has conquered our death and revealed our resurrection.

All Levie’s good deeds go with her and will adorn her soul for eternity in a beauty more magnificent and lasting than the passing beauty of this mortal life. And when, on the last day, she is called back to life with all the just, with hopefully ourselves among them, the virtue and glory of her soul will shine forth in her risen body. We are all destined to partake in a great mystery of eternal joy and glory which the Father has in store for those who believe in His Son. No eye has seen, no ear has heard, nor has it arisen in the heart of man what wonders God has in store for those who believe. So, let us live our few short years here below in the wisdom of remembering that we, too, shall die. We were made for heaven, so let us not cling to the earth when God calls us. We were made for eternity, so let us not cling to mortality. We were made for God, so let us not cling to anything or anyone less than God, lest we lose them, lose God and lose ourselves in the process.

So, good Lord Jesus, to You we surrender Levie in all the rich mosaic of loving self-sacrifice and human relationships which You gave her in this life. She will not return to us, but we will go to her – and to You, in the great communion of the holy ones who rejoice before You. Keep her for us until then and keep us for her until then. For then we will understand that You alone gave us to each other for Your kind purposes and glory. So, to you, Levie, we do not, we will not, we cannot, say goodbye as if we were people with no hope. We can only say au revoir until we meet again where death will be no more and God will be all in all.