Eulogy for Fr. Bruno
By Joyce
Theroux. ocds
When
Fr. Paul asked me to “say a few chosen words either about Fr. Bruno, or for
him, or from his conferences, in a few sentences” I found that to be a pretty
tall order. As you know, Fr. Bruno
never said anything in just “a few sentences.”
But I think he would want me to say first of all that he loved all of us
very, very much. I spoke with him on
the phone a few days ago and told him that “everyone sends their love.” He replied, “tell everyone I send my love
back DOUBLE!”
I first met Fr. Bruno in September
of 1991 when he was making visits to the third order groups in the North
Country of New York. When he saw that
we were without a spiritual assistant, he offered to come and give us retreats
now and then. In the past ten years he
has given us sixteen retreats. We have
these conferences on the computer and have created a web page to share these
retreat notes with others. In addition,
Fr. Paul Fohlin discovered 40 years of notes in Fr. Bruno’s files and we are
adding those to the web page. So, Fr.
Bruno’s work will continue in his writings.
We have seen Fr. Bruno up close
in his daily routine while on retreat and he was practicing the things that
he spoke about, he was living the life.
He always treated each individual as if he or she were the only
person alive, giving his full attention to their immediate needs. It’s no wonder that he has hundreds of “best
friends” in the third order.
In the recent past he was
spiritual assistant for 6 groups including Andover, Concord, Manchester,
Holyoke, Turners Falls, and Winooski.
Even though we haven’t met many of the others in these groups, we have
all shared in Fr. Bruno’s wisdom because he used the same conferences
for all.
I guess one of his most famous
quotes is to deny ourselves (quote) “our druthers”. (What we would rather be
doing). He had an opportunity to do
just that. He gave up “all his
druthers” during the past few months while battling this illness.
In his commentary on Maxim 56 of St. John of the Cross he explains how “to be unknown to ourselves and others.” He says “For me, in my monastery, to remain unknown, I would have to do the same as St. Therese: follow the daily schedule, do my assigned work, participate at Mass, office, meals, recreation, etc. like everyone else. Thus all the others would know no more about me than they would about anyone else. And thus it seems that a lay Carmelite would have to do the same thing. It would mean trying to be indistinguishable from all other Catholics in doing what is expected according to his or her state in life.” I believe he tried to do this in his daily life.
In an article from Outlook
Newsletter, he states “we are in the debt of St. Therese for yet another
reason, for the incomparable favor of pointing up convincingly that suffering
has not only redemptive value, but is also a means of proving our love and
nourishing it...
To prove our love we must pay a
price. The more a man spends on his
beloved the more convinced she is that he loves her. But he spends not only all his possessions in order to enrich her
and make her happy, but spends himself besides.... It is the only language in
which love can be explained adequately.
When we not only accept and embrace the suffering God sends us, but even
long for it, we have proved to Him that we really do love Him above all
things.”
To summarize what he was about I
will quote from a letter of last year in July when he was having spells: He writes: “Say a prayer I get some help
from Our Lord so I can discern what His will is in this matter. I know He is infinitely good and all that
happens to me is the very best for my soul and the souls of all I love, and I
abandon myself to His loving mercy.” In August, he says, “trivial as they are,
I am offering what suffering this involves for me for all your spiritual needs
and for those of your dear ones. Also
for cures and for the intentions you are praying so hard for. Isn’t it a wonderful thing, the Communion of
Saints? “
On August 12, he writes, “I am
feeling better, but every so often the funny feelings return, but I am learning
to ignore them.” Later, he goes on to
say that he had been advised by a friend to (quote) “listen to your body and
learn to say no“. But he said, “I must
do what I can, even though it may take a toll on my body or health. If I am to stop doing what I think God wants
of me, then I trust in Him to put me out of commission for as long as He knows
best,,,”
As you know, that’s just what
happened and so we are confident that God has fulfilled Fr. Bruno’s wishes,
that he could give himself completely to God’s will and providence.
Fr. Bruno, pray for us!