In Remembrance: Patricia Fresen

Patricia Fresen, funeral homily by Rev. Dianne Willman

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Du bist Mein. Du bist Mein. When translated into English from German, these three words mean “You are Mine”. They are taken from our first reading where God speaks these words to God’s people. These are also the words that were engraved in Patricia’s ring that she wore for nearly 60 years, a ring given her when she made her final vows as a Dominican sister and one she continued to wear until she moved even more deeply into the heart of God last Tuesday afternoon. It is these three words that we are invited to reflect on today. What might they have meant to our beloved Trish? And what do they mean for us today?  

In just a few lines, our first reading reveals that God, our Creator, the God of the entire cosmos, the One who formed us, is one who gets intimately involved with what and who He or She or They created and birthed into life. The Holy One draws very close: God calls by name, and God gives assurances of special protection, solidarity, restoration, and freedom to those who are called, all of which assurances are bound up in the meaning of redemption in the text. God goes even further than this: God declares that “you are Mine”. These three words that were held so closely by our Beloved sister therefore reveal a profound intimacy that existed between God and her. 

This was an intimacy that can be better described and understood by reflecting on the life of St Catherine of Siena, who Patricia studied and wrote her doctoral thesis on. St Catherine was a mystic who described God as one who is “drunk with love” for her and “infatuated with Your creature”. She writes: 

You, Sweetness itself, stooped to join yourself with our bitterness. You, Splendour, joined Yourself with darkness; You, Wisdom with foolishness; You, Life with death; You, the Infinite, with us who are finite. What drove you to this?”

This God permeated all of whom St Catherine was and what she offered to the world by her life. Our Beloved sister Trish, like the person of her thesis, knew this God who was drunk with love for her, who pursued her, and who was driven by a passionate love. 

Can such a love be contained? No. It spills out; it overflows; it needs to give and keep giving; it needs to move even if it disturbs. This love does not end because the beloved listens and obeys the Lover who whispers over and over “You are mine”. Du bist Mein.

The love within Trish indeed poured out and drew her into a life of service no matter the cost. And there was an enormous cost.  God’s call to her was the pearl of great price for which she sold everything. God and Trish were drunk with love when she stood up against the apartheid police as principal of a school; God and Trish were drunk with love when she left her home and life in the convent to be ordained as priest; God and Trish were drunk with love when she chose a more contemplative life in her last few years on earth, leaving the familiar and comfortable which many of us in our latter years would dare not do.  Patricia was repeatedly drawn into intimacy with God and the power of this became manifest. You and I are witnesses to this love and are its fruits. (But lest we idolise her, a love affair like this is not for the fainthearted and asked a lot of her. And of many of us.).

With such an intimate love between God and Patricia in our minds now, let us turn to our Gospel reading. This too was a scripture text that spoke deeply to Patricia. Jesus said that “Everyone who seeks the truth hears my voice”.  So what was it that Trish heard? 

The particular line that resonated with her was: “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world: to testify to the truth.”. These words penetrated Trish. She was not destined to live an ordinary life, a small life, or a life that makes no impact. She was born to testify to the truth. 

What is the truth that Patrica came to speak? 

• Was it the truth that we are all equal in the eyes of God?
• Was it that women can image Christ and minister as priests?
• Was it that God is Mother too?
• Was it that this Holy Ru’ha is more powerful than man-made laws of religion that constrict and diminish?
• Was it that an unjust law, such as canon 1024, calls for disobedience?
• Was it that you and I too can know a God who is in love with us and that this changes everything: what we say, what we believe, and what we do?

What is the truth that Patricia spoke to you?

We know that speaking truth is disruptive. Anyone who speaks truth to power, like Jesus, will experience its regrettable consequences at the hands of those who wish to retain their power. Disturbing a status quo of unequal power relations calls out the inherent violence of a system. We pause to recall the many times that Patricia was issued with a decree of excommunication by the very Church she devoted her life to and worked for, the Church who grew her faith and helped form her, the Church who is founded on the values and life of Jesus who welcomed every person, who empowered women and gave them a place and voice, is the same Church who cast her out. 

Patricia left us on the feast day of St Phoebe. This is not mere co-incidence. Her passing deliberately drew our attention to St Phoebe who is the patron saint of women leaders and women in the church. She is referenced by St Paul in his letter to the Romans as deacon. She is held by many as evidence that women can be ordained, that is, that they can receive the sacrament of holy orders as deacons in the Catholic Church in the West. Phoebe is evidence that women are called by God to an ordained ministry of spiritual leadership. And so even in death, Patricia continues to point us towards the truth.

One writer said of Phoebe: “Paul’s high praise of her [Phoebe] is almost unrivalled in his  … letters, letting us know she was an extremely brave, generous, and holy woman and early leader of the Church”. We can assign the same praise to our sister, Patricia.

Yes, Patricia has entered more deeply into the Holy One who called her Mine. But she has not left us destitute and alone, scattered and aimless. We have a lot of work to do, beginning with entering the mystery of the words: Du bist Mein.

Yes Trish, you are God’s.

We say thank you, vielen dank, ngiyabonga, kea leboha, baie dankie for saying yes.

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¹ Driver, C: Commentary on Isaiah 43:1-7. Workingpreacher.org
² Morrison, S: Drunk with Love – St. Catherine of Siena. 19 November 2013. Sdmorrison. org
³ Themodernsaints.com
⁴ Rom 16:1-2
⁵ See for example: Macy, G and Others: 2011. Woman Deacons