Someone commented that Father Ron said that when he got to the pearly gates, he would stand in the line of folks who wanted to ask the Almighty a lot of questions before entering. We have all heard of people who are making a list of such questions, and perhaps we ourselves have some right now we would like to get a hint about before we are ready to embrace all that is offered.
When I heard that Father Ron had died, I sent up a secret prayer to him that I would like to have just a glimpse of what he now is able to see.
The response I got, if it was a response from Father Ron, was a night of tossing and turning and a hint that I might end up being the homilist for his funeral. When that was confirmed the next day, I had another restless night, but just before midnight on the day after he died, I awoke with a clear idea of the Gospel that should be used for his funeral.
Within a short time, still before midnight, I discerned the other two readings you just heard. Talk about a last-minute planner! Father Ron did not leave funeral plans and put it off until the day after he died and gave them to a poor schlep who just happened to be looking in his direction at the moment.
So here we are. We have looked at that moment that Father Ron is being given the invitation to enter the pearly gates. Will he go in or will he stand in the line for those holding on to outstanding questions?
On a number of occasions, I had the opportunity to be with Father Ron as he celebrated Mass. One of the most memorable was his first Mass, at Christ the King Church in Columbus, where he had also been ordained a priest the day before.
What I remember most about the first Mass was that Father Ron also received a new Catholic into the Church, baptizing and confirming him. He happened to be a married person, so it also created a marriage sacrament. Leave it to Father Ron right from the start to get everything in. All he needed was a confession and an anointing and he would have covered all seven sacraments on his first day as a priest.
I do note that his ordination Mass, which was memorable for many reasons, was one of the last to be done in home parishes. After that experience, Bishop Herrmann recalled ordinations to the cathedral.
After I was ordained, I often concelebrated Mass with Father Ron. The last several days have brought to mind a number of memorable moments.
Once, Father Ron was preaching and suddenly, in the middle of his own homily, he expressed out loud with incredible exasperation, “I’ve just forgotten the point I was going to make!” With that, he sat down. Or maybe he went on to make another point that came to mind. It does not matter which. He carried us with him.
At a Teens Encounter Christ reunion Mass once, Father Ron got so caught up in the consecration that immediately after, he led the congregation in the recitation of the Our Father. As the congregation, a bit surprised, went ahead with him, realizing that something was off, he turned to me quietly and whispered, “Do whatever is needed to be sure this Mass is valid.”
I finished the Eucharistic Prayer by myself in time to join in with the sign of peace. Father Ron carried us forward.
Travel to the Holy Land with a group of pilgrims in 2018 organized by Father Ron was also an amazing experience. We had a group of folks who covered all the age groups. Father Ron and I were in the middle. We marveled together at the land of Jesus and the Scriptures. Father Ron’s experience a few years before of nearly dying there when he was on a sabbatical made this a poignant time.
He opened to all of us what it meant to him to be at the Shaare Zedek “Gates of Justice” Hospital in Jerusalem while addressing his new diagnosis of leukemia. He arranged for us to see the Chagall windows of the patriarchs at the Hadassah Hospital in Ein Karem, the town of John the Baptist. Father Ron always saw beauty and wanted to share it.
Many others who have known Father Ron since his younger years will have stories to tell. They will be stories that describe his creativity, his passion for beauty, his love of Scripture and so many other things that might surprise you. The gift of God in him was strong. He wrote and directed plays. He composed songs. He tried to make Scripture come alive for many.
The favorite memory for some is that he always had a pooch as companion – his friends Chase and Jedidiah, who predeceased him, and his last pup, Jethro. (Even though some of the names sound biblical, they were not. Jedidiah, God’s name for Solomon, was taken from the son of a friend, and Jethro had his name not from the father-in-law of Moses but from Jethro of The Beverly Hillbillies.)
Father Ron’s real claim to fame was that his mother was Dorothy the schoolteacher, who raised her two sons, and that his brother was John, who was personally responsible for bringing Wendy’s to Millersburg by writing to Dave Thomas to invite him to open a restaurant here.
All who know Ron will have to admit that he carried throughout his life the heart of a child. To most, Father Ron’s love for Disney is known. His license plate always announced it. In better times, his annual Mickey Mouse party gathered friends to live the Disney dream. I first learned of this when I once visited Father Ron at the Church of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Columbus.
When I arrived, he showed me first his pastor, Father John Ryan’s office that proclaimed “FDR,” with portraits and books and busts of the late president. Then we went to Father Ron’s quarters, and I saw Mickey Mouse everywhere. It made me burst out laughing. Since then, I have recognized that we characters of the Diocese of Columbus all have different passions that help us cope with the craziness.
There was once a cartoon of two mouse parents being asked about the prospects for their children’s future. The mother was answering, “Our son Michael is considering being in show business.” The final panel of the cartoon shows a very young mouse, with the recognizable ears of the now world-famous Mickey.
You will note that the final panel of time offered by the prophet Daniel in the first reading includes the reference to Michael the great prince, the archangel who will herald the fulfillment of time. It was that reference that drew me to the text for this celebration. Father Ron would not want to take us anywhere where Disney did not find its counterpart.
“But those with insight shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament, and those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever.” Glory can be seen by the eyes of children.
We have left Father Ron standing at the true gates of justice, awaiting the moment of entry. To our surprise, and no doubt to his, also there at this time are such figures as Pope Benedict XVI and Barbara Walters. I suspect some of Ron’s questions could be answered by them as they stand in line together.
On the other hand, if we take our Scriptures of this Mass to their point, we and Father Ron will realize that the Son has revealed to us the life of the Trinity beyond all understanding through the very experience of life and truth and beauty and creation. Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!
When asked to give us a glimpse of who God is for him at key moments of commitment in his life among us, Father Ron offered this wording:
I, Father Ronald J. Aubry, accept the responsibility to stand in my ministry as a priest in the worship of the Father and by my life of prayer, seek in the power of His mercy and love to heal, gather together and lift up all creation to His glory.
Father Ron now bows in his spirit before the very mercy and love he sought to serve among us as priest. In the power of the prayer of the one Christ Priest at work in him and among us, may we now be gathered together, lifting all creation to the Father’s glory.
Father Ron, go through the gates of justice and continue to carry us with you in your now-eternal prayer. Blessed be the eyes that see what you see!