+ Cathy Holgerson +

September 17, 1950  -  September 8, 2025

Committal Meditation for Cathy Holgerson

John 14:1–6 NASB 2020

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you also will be. And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going; how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.

Texts: John 14:1–6; 2 Corinthians 4:13–18; Isaiah 25:6–9

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

We gather here to lay to rest the body of our sister in Christ, Cathy Holgerson. Cathy knew suffering. She bore the heavy cross of illness in her own body—that started with breast cancer only to later spread. She also endured deep sorrow as she mourned the death of her husband, Lanny, and her son, Randy, both taken by cancer. Yet even in the face of such trials, Cathy’s life bore witness to the hope that cannot be shaken: the hope of Jesus Christ.

On the night before His death, Jesus promised His disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. In My Father’s house are many rooms. I go to prepare a place for you.” (John 14). That promise belongs to Cathy. Today, we take comfort in knowing that Christ has kept His word. He has prepared a place for her, and He has welcomed her into His Father’s house.

The apostle Paul reminds us: “Though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day… For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4). Cathy’s body bore the marks of pain and disease, but Christ was renewing her day by day. Now her suffering is ended. Her body rests, awaiting the resurrection, while her soul is at peace with her Savior.

The prophet Isaiah gives us one more promise: “He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.” (Isaiah 25). That day is coming—the day when Christ returns, when the dead are raised, when Cathy will be reunited with Lanny, with Randy, and with all the saints in Christ. Death will not have the last word. Jesus does. And His word is life.

So today, with sorrow in our hearts but hope in our Lord, we commend Cathy to the care of Christ, trusting that she is safe in His keeping until the day of resurrection.

“Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord… they will rest from their labor, for their deeds follow them.”(Revelation 14:13). Amen.