My sisters do much the same as yours, except we have our sister laid out in front of the tabernacle overnight, the coffin open as if she is having her last adoration. This is after an all-day vigil of continuous rosaries and evening prayer for the dead, with the microphone passed around as the sisters share their thoughts and stories. It’s no surprise to see the sisters come back after the others have left to do just as you did and share private time with the deceased.

I wonder if “my” Nuncie was anything like yours. Nuncie, Mother (later Sister) Mary Annunciata, PBVM, was the Kindergarten teacher for many years. She would take our first grade class into her room twice a week for music class. Mind you, there were 64 of us, and 36 of the Kinders, making 100 little children with one teacher, no aid (My first grade teacher was resting her head on her desk at this time, at least the one time I saw her, she was). Many years later, when I was searching religious orders, Nuncie invited me to carpool with her and another sister to the Los Angeles CCD Congress (A huge annual affair for catechists, school teachers, etc.) She and the sister would pray the Divine Office in the car during the long trip there and back. Each day she would tell me, “You’re 10% a nun today!” She was very important in my vocation walk, even though I entered a different order. I remember when she finally retired and went back to Ireland, the people put a fancy chair on a dais, looking very much like a throne, and had Nuncie sit there as they told her how wonderful she was and how we would all miss her. Nuncie got the last word. “I don’t know what all the fuss is about. All I did was do me work and say me prayers.”

A sister’s funeral puts a whole new face on death. “Life has changed, not ended” become very, very real. heaven is our goal, and this is only our training ground.

Peace be with you and your sisters, Sister Julie!