Homily given by Br Senan D'Souza 19/02/2009 St. Mary's Baldoyle, Dublin, Ireland
Tony Keane was perhaps the first Christian Brother I met, in the early 1970's in Bombay. Some years later he was my Principal at St. Mary's, Mt. Abu, and my class teacher too. No offence to some of my other teachers present here, but Tony was the best teacher I had in school. And high praise for this ener-getic and capable man has been pouring in over the internet these past few days where phrases like 'one of the finest people I knew', ' a wonderfully enthusi-astic brother,' 'probably the best human being I will ever meet'....from past pupils and colleagues, Chris-tian and non-Christian, the privileged (there are emails from a member of the ruling family of Sirohi) and the not so privileged, all who have been indelibly touched by the force of his personality and untiring ministry that stretched beyond teaching school to places outside Bangalore and Tamil Nadu where the Brothers were never present but thanks to Tony and others (some present here) he collected resources to provide homes, medicines, education, food and even the first Church named after Edmund Rice.
For this privilege of reading the homily I am grateful to Tony's family, the brothers at Baldoyle and Br Xavier Leonard who has prepared the text.
Brother John Anthony Keane
Tony - John Joe to his family - last Friday evening, with an enthusiasm so characteristic of him, was looking forward to participating in Mass at Rath
mines. The Mass, on the following day, Saturday, to mark the 50th Anniversary of the death of the Ser-vant of God, Alfie Lambe --- Tony did not get there. That same morning found him in intensive care, criti-cally ill. Two days later, on Monday, Tony died peacefully.
We have come here together to pray for him.
We have attended funerals before. Yet, somehow, death takes us by surprise. At first, the news is heard with disbelief, then in the silence of grief, in silent prayer, for words cannot provide an adequate response.
And that is why we have come here for Mass. There is help here, for the living and for the dead. Here at Mass we will find meaning in what has hap-pened, here also courage and consolation.
The concluding prayer is wonderful: It tells us that Jesus gave us the sacrament of His Body and Blood to guide us on our pilgrim way to His King-dom. And it ends with this: "May our brother who shared in the Eucharist come to the Banquet of Life that Christ has prepared for us".
The Lord, the Good Shepherd, does not fail us. He promises us that those who die in His love can rest for ever more from their work, since their deeds go before them.
That promise of Christ is made for those who care for others, for those in need. We believe it has already been fulfilled for Tony. He spent his life in attending to others. And so we rejoice in the belief that our Heavenly Father has already welcomed into Heaven our friend and our brother.
We have come here also to pray for ourselves. Our life is a journey that leads to the heart of God. St. Augustine assures us that "The funeral liturgy is of even more benefit to the living than to the dead."
On a solemn occasion such as this is, God is very near us, and the Church is a real Mother to us. We know that God cares, that He is shepherding us along life's road on the way to everlasting life.
On a more human level, we find courage and consolation too by simply being present to one an-other, in sharing helplessness, by becoming more compassionate, by appreciating one another more
than we have been do-ing.
When we think of Tony, a friend and brother of so many cher-ished memories, the word that comes to mind, the word that sums up his life and mission, is the word FI-DELITY. When Mother Teresa was asked to what in particular she attributed her success, she answered "The Lord did not call me to be successful. He called me to be FAITHFUL." Tony was faithful, and, like Mother Teresa, he was also successful.
For over sixty years as a Christian Brother, Tony was a loyal follower of Blessed Edmund Rice. The commitment he made through his Religious Pro-fession as a young man and renewed every day, through all those years, at prayer with the Commu-nity, for daily Mass, for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, for devotion to the Mother of God. From his wonderful home in Ennis, Co. Clare, he had brought with him his life of faith and prayer.
Special mention of Tony's belief and commit-ment to the Christian Brothers schools. He was a brilliant teacher, and not only of bright pupils. The slow learners recognised readily his interest in their welfare and they were not slow to respond, to the best of their ability.
Words from the Prophet Daniel are wholly apt:
"The learned will shine as brightly as the vault of Heaven, and those who have instructed many in vir-tue will shine as bright as stars for all Eternity".
Fifty years ago Tony was in St. Columba's School, New Delhi, India's capital city. In his class, as in the school as a whole were the poorest of the poor of the parish, together with those much better off. Amongst them was the Prime Minister's son, amongst them also was a boy named Philip Pinto. Tony's way of life impressed Philip, and in due time Philip made his way to our Novitiate in North-East India, a thousand
miles away. Others followed.
In our other schools too many boys were similarly impressed. When Tony became Director of Vocations, provision of more space became neces-sary in our Juvenate and Novitiate.
With Mother Teresa, whom he knew so well, Tony would say:
The Fruit of Silence is Prayer ; The Fruit of Prayer is Faith ; The Fruit of Faith is Love ; The Fruit of Love is Service ; The Fruit of Service is Peace
Tony's earthly life is now over. He has fin-ished the work that the Lord gave him to do. He has gone through the gate-way of death to Eternal Life with God.
And if we are sad, we are only acknowledg-ing our helplessness in the face of death. But we know that death does not have the last word. As the prayers of the Mass remind us: "The sorrow of death gives way to the bright promise of immortality".
The Indian Poet, Rabindranath Tagore, be-lieves this too: "Death is not the end of life. It is only putting out the lamp, Because the Dawn has come".
News of Tony's death is being passed all over the world and India, a country he travelled so widely and the places he made his home:- Calcutta, Asansol, New Delhi, Bassein, Bombay, Bangalore, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Goa and his beloved, Mt. Abu ……..Brothers and boys and teachers and so many unknown others will hear of his passing and remem-ber and pray, remember him with gratitude and affection.
Present at this Mass are Tony's brothers and sisters: Michael, Jenny, May, Chris, Leo Aidan,
His brother-in-law Eamon, his sisters-in-law, His nephews and nieces, grandneph-ews and grandnieces,
and so many other relatives and friends.
You are here to share your grief and your love and your prayer.
We are all with you.
To the Brothers and the Staff of St. Patrick's
the sincere thanks of Tony's relatives and friends.
May the Lord support us all the day long
Till the shades lengthen
and the evening comes
And the busy world is hushed
And the fever of life is over
And our work is done
Then in His mercy
may He give us a safe lodging
And like Tony, John Joe,
A holy rest and peace at the last.
Amen.
Senan
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