Funeral of Comdt Aidan O'Reilly takes place in Clara
Congregation hears he was like a tornado and brought energy everywhere he went
THE funeral of Comdt Aidan O'Reilly took place this afternoon, February 1, in St Brigid's Church in Clara. Comdt O'Reilly a native of Clara died unexpectedly on January 27.
Many gifts were brought to the altar representing his life including sports jerseys, a rugby ball and evidence of his travelling and his great love and devotion to his wife Ann.
The congregation heard how he would serenade his wife and iron her clothes. ''When he found Ann his heart found a home,'' the speaker said.
In his homily, Fr Joe Deegan expressed his sympathy to his wife Ann and his parents Joseph and Helen.
He described Comdt O'Reilly's death as a ''horrifying nightmare,'' which we all wish we could wake up from and everything would be alright and that Aidan would be as he was for almost 37 years.''
However, he said sadly this is not a dream, this is harsh reality. He said it had left everyone sad and broken-hearted.
Fr Deegan said the devastation leaves us confused as to how we feel. In our shock and sadness, and hurt and anger, we are lost for any meaning. We keep coming back to the same question, why, what happened, what went wrong.
However, he said, why is the great question that we ask so often and it brings us together. He said that in the gospel we hear of the death of Jesus and as he was in pain and on the cross he cried, 'My God why have you deserted me.' He said there was no answer, not there and not now. He continued that the answer came three days later with the glory of the resurrection.
As Christians we believe that God doesn't answer all our questions, he doesn't solve our problems, we do believe God is with us and in all we go through, especially in our pain and distress.
Fr Deegan, finished by saying Aidan was not a breeze, not even a gale force wind, but he was a tornado and had brought energy to everyone he met.
Earlier in the week the Defence Forces expressed their sympathy. In a tribute they said:
''The Defence Forces would like to express our sincere condolences to the wife, family and friends of Commandant O'Reilly.
Commandant O'Reilly joined the Defence Forces in October 2005 and his home unit was the 1 Brigade Communication Information Systems Company. Commandant O'Reilly had a distinguished 18-year career in the Defence Forces, having served overseas on three (3) occasions with the Defence Forces, in Lebanon and Syria.
The Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces, Lieutenant General Seán Clancy, sends his deepest sympathies to the wife and family of Commandant O' Reilly, and stated that "Aidan was an outstanding soldier and leader who was highly respected by all who had the pleasure to serve with him. He will be sorely missed by his Defence Forces family and my thoughts and condolences go out to his family at this extremely difficult time. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis"