We heard at the beginning of this liturgy St. Paul’s reflection upon the love of God amidst the many changes and challenges of human life.
St. Paul says: “I AM persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38, 39.
Antoinette (Tony) Echlin was born in 1927, the last year of birth for those who would come to be known as “the Greatest Generation.” (1901 – 1927). They were the greatest generation not in the sense of being superior to all others but because, collectively, they embodied, in a unique way, the virtues which humanity is enabled to reflect by the grace and love of God.
These virtues enable what we see in so many individuals of that generation: sacrifice for others, generosity of spirit reflected in service to humanity, devotion and humility before God and love for God and country.
In an age that seems pathologically focused on the individual and the right to define one’s self in all circumstances, those who endured the Great Depression and WW II reflect the virtues that we stand so much in need of today.
As in these days we gather to pay tribute to Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, we know that Tony would be amongst the first to celebrate the Queen’s leadership and gallantry from the time of their youth. The Queen was one year older than Tony.
While the youth of Canada lined up to serve in the armed forces and the many duties at home and abroad, Tony, in her own way, participated in the war effort and indeed was one who shared in sacrifice as she lost her young fiancée, Ashton, an RCAF casualty in Europe.
In that great conflict every person was called to duty, something epitomized by our late Queen throughout the war and for 70 years on the Throne.
Like so many, my own mother and father served in the Canadian Forces. On a lighter note, people would laugh when we noted that Corporal Windsor (aka Princess Elizabeth) served near Slough, where Mum was lieutenant in charge of the post office. If they had met on duty, Princess Elizabeth would have had to salute Lt. Marjorie Hennessy. Of course, Mum would be quick to point out, and Tony would agree, that Marjorie would then curtsey before the Princess – to keep things in proper perspective.
So, as hundreds of thousands file by the catafalque in the great hall of Westminster Palace, Tony and those loyal souls of her generation give thanks for being united in bonds of mutual affection for their Queen and in thanksgiving for the ordered liberty we share.
Tony always shared with many in the work of charities, small and large make our common life such a remarkable achievement in history – a history which Tony was always glad to remember and participate in with her work at Sick Kids Hospital Play Park; her long service in the Sunday School at St. Paul’s Church and community events at Moredale.
Having read widely in the history of Great Britain and the Commonwealth Tony understood that all these activities were valuable in themselves as well as being models of how to behave. She agreed with Edmund Burke that we are bound in a mutual society of those who have died, of the living and of those yet to come.
Continuity and tradition were important to Tony not simply because of the age in which she lived but for the heritage passed on to her children and grandchildren. And recently, she was so pleased to see and hold in her arms, a great grandson, Josiah.
….“neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
