Reflection at the Vigil Service
for Sister Evangeline Green, O.S.B.
May 18, 2010
by Thomasita Homan, OSB

John 14:1-7
Col 3: 1-3, 12-17
Wisdom 7:7-14

Our sympathy and prayers to Sister Evangeline’s beloved family: her sisters Helen, Sister Regina, Jeanne, Magdalene; her brother George, sisters-in-law Janice and Gertrude, and her nieces and nephews. We remember also Sister Evangeline’s family in eternity: her parents John and Anna Mary, her brothers Joseph, Edmund, John Joseph, and Robert.

We extend special prayers to Andy and Michael, Sister Evangeline’s grandnephews, who attend Benedictine College. They have been her faithful prayer partners this year and have found a home in our home. Sister Evangeline loved your visits…as did we.

We shall miss Sister Evangeline’s gentle, gracious, caring presence. She would say to us, however, with the Evangelist John, her patron, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” And she would smile with the inner peace that was her constant companion.

Sister Evangeline loved Wisdom. This evening’s Wisdom reading seems especially fashioned for her: “I prayed, and understanding was given to me; I called on God and the spirit of wisdom came to me.” She had a quiet wisdom, a wisdom filled with faith and hope. A wisdom that brought her to deep insights, to study, and to careful conversations; a wisdom that brought her to her knees in gratitude. I asked some sisters to tell me what they’d remember of Sister Evangeline, and many said: “She was wise.” Or “She was grateful, always grateful.” Or “She knew how to keep a confidence.” Yes, she brought wisdom to our community.

The reading from Wisdom tells us more: “I learned without guile and I impart without grudging; I do not hide her wealth, for it is an unfailing treasure…those who get it obtain friendship with God.” I think it was Evangeline’s friendship with God, her “My eyes are ever on the Lord” (Ps 25:15) that made her attentive to her family, to each of us in community, to each student, to each person she met. She was the faculty member in the Academy who greeted each student by name; students nicknamed her “Cheerio.” She showed that she enjoyed teaching algebra, geometry, typing, and violin. I’m sure many of us here tonight were taught by Sister Evangeline.

Less formally, she taught by her life in community, taking seriously Paul’s letter to the Colossians, and to us: “…clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another…forgive each other...Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” Paul continues, “…let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts...” Sister Evangeline heard these words again and again. We, too, hear Paul’s words again and again. We are called to “the peace of Christ”…all of us together. 

Paul adds his three word sentence: “And be grateful.” Let us be grateful for the witness of one another as we seek God and lean toward eternity.

Let us be grateful for Sister Evangeline, whose life was measured by music, whether it be her clear violin music or her voice chanting the psalms daily or singing in schola or solo on feastdays. She sang her way to eternity.

She measured her words carefully, and I doubt that she ever wasted a single word, a single syllable. She knitted words and silence as caringly as she knitted lovely baby sets, Blue Ribbon baby sets, for our Monastery Gift Shop…but mainly for the babies who will wear them.

Sister Evangeline and I sometimes read scripture together during Lent. One year, we read Exodus. At the end of that Lent, I asked what she’d learned from our reading. She said simply, "I've learned the importance of each day...from Old Testament times to now.” Then with a slight smile, she added, “And God is with us all the way."

Let us remember “God is with us all the way.” Now Sister Evangeline knows the fullness of these words, as we shall someday. This evening, I think she might be singing, “Glorify the Lord with me, let us praise God’s name.”


Sister Evangeline Green's obituary.