If I go back some twenty or so years, I remember our family and friends gathering back in my wife’s hometown for many weddings, baptisms, and other sacraments. But as time has moved on and age begins to creep up on our generation, it seems that recently we have gathered all too often to mourn the death of one of our loved ones. And so, this afternoon we remember the life and the love of Vincent. And while Vincent was physically and emotionally dis-abled – when it came to love he had the capacity to be very ‘able’ indeed. Being in the season of Lent while writing this homily gave me reason to pause and to believe that in some respect I think Vincent had an advantage over most, if not all of us. What was that advantage…and how did he impact the lives around him? Check it out…

1. Funeral for Vincent Poloney Annville PA 11 March 2022
1
If I go back some twenty or so years, I remember our family and friends gathering in this sacred space
for many weddings, baptisms and other sacraments. But as time has moved on and age begins to creep
up on our generation, it seems we have been here way too often to mourn the death of one of our loved
ones.
And so, this afternoon we remember the life and the love of Vincent. As we all know, Vincent was
mentally disabled since birth which had an enormous impact on him and his entire family, especially
through the childhood years. Being honest…life was often not always easy for everyone in many
ways…yielding many learning opportunities on how best to love and show compassion.
In the second reading today we heard, “…if our earthly dwelling should be destroyed, we have a building
from God. [For] What is seen is transitory, what is unseen is eternal.” And in many ways, Vincent’s
“earthly dwelling” – his physical and mental capacities were much diminished. So, for most people, when
they encountered Vincent, they focused on what was seen – a grown man functioning as a child the best
he could. But if one took the time to be really present to Vincent, they would have been blessed by what
was not seen and thus experience Vincent’s internal divine presence and love that he had for his family
and those close to him.
And while Vincent was physically and emotionally dis-abled – when it came to love he had the capacity
to be very ‘able’ indeed. Being in the season of Lent while writing this homily gave me reason to pause
and to believe that in some respect I think Vincent had an advantage over most, if not all of us.
For Lent is a 40-day season where we are called to spend time to remember what is real. It is a time to
open our eyes on how numb we have become to the obsessions and addictions in our lives. It is a time
to remember who we really are – in Christ. It is a time to examine the cracks and wounds of our lives and
to allow the light of Christ to shine forth from those cracks and onto others. For we all wrestle with this
lifetime battle of living our true self and not hiding behind our false self.
But for Vincent – there was no false self. He had no capacity to build up some fake image to live behind.
For when you were with Vincent all you would see and hear is true self – honesty at its core and trust
me, he was never one to mince words. But to be frank with you that, at times, that came with a price.
Just ask many of the extended family members who are here. For when they were dating...Vincent had a
way of honestly seeing other people as they were and if he saw someone who was insincere or perhaps
a bit disingenuous he would just call it out! So, we all got used to his critiques of people who may have
been dating family members…and truth be told, as time would eventually tell, he was usually right!
The magic of Vincent was his innate ability to merge together grace, love and laughter. Like the time his
mom took him to see Dr. Luce who had a full-size skeleton model in his office. And while I wasn’t there, I
have to assume that for whatever reason, Dr. Luce was perhaps aggravating Vincent a bit. So, Vincent
walked over to the skeleton and grabbed it’s hand and said, “Dr. Luce, I have a bone to pick with you!”
One of Vincent’s favorite family activities was when we would all pile into cars to see the Christmas
Lights a Koziar’s Village in Bernville, or in Vincent’s vernacular it was simply “going to Birdville!” When
the day for that annual excursion arrived he was beyond excited from the moment he woke up. He
would go around and remind each person, every hour – “we are going to Birdville tonight!” So, this one
year, we all piled into cars for the road trip to ‘Birdville.’ Truth be told the weather was really crappy –
frankly I had no idea why we were even on the road…other than Vincent’s constant chants about going
to Birdville!

2. Funeral for Vincent Poloney Annville PA 11 March 2022
2
Charlie was driving the car that Vincent, I and a few others were in. Vincent’s excitement was palpable
in so many ways. And why wouldn’t it for there is nothing like coming over that last mountain and seeing
the glowing lights of the Village sparkling below. But on this one night…as we came over the hill…all we
saw was the deepest darkness you could ever imagine. The Village was closed due to weather – which
frankly, in hindsight, totally made sense. But poor Charlies, he took a licking from Vincent – blaming him
for driving too slow and thus, in his mind, made us too late! But we assured Vincent what had happened
– to which his quickly responded, “Ok – but I still get my ice cream and now I get to add French fries to
my order!” And indeed, that is what we did – laughing all the way to the restaurant.
Then it was just over six years ago, Vincent needed surgery that carried with it some possible side
effects. When he woke from that operation he had no function of his legs and little use of his arms. And
once again life took a dramatic turn for Vincent and the family. But as frustrated as he was at times, he
would continue to use love, humor and grace to get through the days.
One of his favorite activities, when Teresa and I would visit, would be to build photo scrapbooks. Teresa
would bring a vast collection of photos – old and new - and Vincent would direct Teresa as to exactly
which pictures he wanted to be exactly placed on each page. I just wished I had taped some of these
sessions. For you see, Vincent has a memory that was iron clad and that ran deep. He never forgot
anything or anyone. Once we showed him a 20 year old picture of him and others on the boardwalk and
he told us exactly who was there, when it was and what happened that day. If we showed him an old
picture of one of his siblings dating someone no matter how long ago – he gave you the whole history of
that relationship. And when you showed him a picture of one of the newly born family members you
would see love gushing forth from him…Divine love flowing through recognition of Divine love in the
other.
But don’t kid yourself…many did not want to be bothered to take the time to look past Vincent’s
disabilities and thus chose to ignore him. But that never stopped him in looking through you, with you and
in you. As you know, in the past two years we have been here to say good by to both Pat and Peter and I
can still remember the handful of us that went to the nursing home to bring Vincent down to the chapel
and to break the news of the death of his Mom followed by a prayer service. Vincent, deep down, knew
what took place and how much he missed his mom and soon after was missing his dad. And from that
moment on all he wanted to do was to go be with his parents – something he would bring up every time
we saw him. And now his wish has come true.
In the Gospel story I just read we hear that Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead and then asks the family
to remove the bonds that were tied around their brother. Likewise, Vincent’s life is a reminder to all of us
to remove the bonds that we are so wrapped up with so that we can be as free as Vincent was to live the
life that God has granted each of us – to live who we really are in Christ. For now, Vincent is totally free
from all his earthly bonds and disabilities as he is welcomed into the heavenly kingdom, welcomed by his
parents and all of our loved ones who have gone before us. For he now rests in a place where the blind
see, the deaf hear…and indeed the lame walk, and thus we can rejoice that Vincent now dances with
joy, and sings from his heart, holding his parent’s hands as he is embraced by our ever loving, merciful
and compassionate God.