By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily during the annual Mass in honor of patients served by Catholic Hospice and their families. The Mass took place Nov. 22 at St. Michael Church in Miami.
On an Irish headstone were found these words, “Death leaves a heartache that no one can heal but love leaves a memory that no one can steal.” Today, we gather at this Mass to pray for our loved ones who have left us this past year. We entrust them to the mercy of our God and we pray that they now live in him even as their memories still live in us.
Grief is a cross – a difficult cross – that we carry; but no one should carry it alone. As we pray for the eternal repose of our dead, we also acknowledge with gratitude those who in our grief helped us. We remember our families and friends without whose support we would truly have been desolate. We acknowledge the support of Catholic Hospice: Catholic Hospice helped our loved ones in their final days with us – and Catholic Hospice has helped us since they left us. We are grateful for this ministry and the ministry of those who attend to the bereaved in our parishes.
En la enseñanza católica, la muerte no es el final de la vida humana sino una puerta hacia la Vida Eterna. Como dijo Jesús en el evangelio de hoy, nuestro Dios es Dios de los vivos y no de los muertos. Los que han muerto aún viven en él.
Nuestra liturgia en los ritos funerales proclama: “Pues, para quienes creemos en ti, Señor, la vida se transforma, no se acaba, y disuelta nuestra morada terrenal, se nos prepara una mansión eterna en el cielo”. Habiendo dicho esto, nuestra muerte – o la muerte de un ser querido – no es una experiencia fácil – por lo tanto estamos agradecidos por la asistencia de Catholic Hospice, y por todos los que nos han animado por su fe en Jesucristo resucitado.
As Catholics, we learned in the catechism of our youth that God made us to know him, to love him, to serve him in this life – and to be happy with him in the next. God did not create us in his own image and likeness just for us to die one day. He created us for himself – and as Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel, our God is the God of the living, not of the dead, so that even those who have died now live in him.
To bring us to himself, God sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world, a man like us in all things but sin. He suffered death – as each one of us must one day. But death does not have the final word in the history of our human race, nor is death the final end for any one of us.
At the funeral Masses of our loved ones, we proclaim that for those who believe in Jesus Christ, crucified but risen from the dead, “life is changed not ended.” When our bodies lie in death our souls still live for and in the Lord. This is why we pray for them and commend their souls to the Lord and his Divine Mercy. And such prayers are by no mean futile, as St. John Chrysostom (d. 407) stated: “Let us help and commemorate them. If Job’s sons were purified by their father’s sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation?”
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in which we always pray for the living and the dead is a celebration of hope – for each Mass is a foretaste or anticipation of that Heavenly Banquet that awaits us in heaven and that our dearly departed through God’s mercy now enjoy.
El Papa, San Juan Pablo II, quien brindó su propio testimonio de fe extraordinaria durante su última enfermedad, escribió:
“La Iglesia es consciente de que el momento de la muerte va acompañado siempre por sentimientos humanos muy intensos. Una vida terrenal termina; se produce la ruptura de los vínculos afectivos, generacionales y sociales, que forman parte de la intimidad de la persona; en la conciencia del sujeto que muere y de quien lo asiste se da el conflicto entre la esperanza en la inmortalidad y lo desconocido, que turba incluso a los espíritus más iluminados. La Iglesia eleva su voz para que no se ofenda al moribundo, sino que, por el contrario, se le acompañe con amorosa solicitud mientras se prepara para cruzar el umbral del tiempo y entrar en la eternidad.”
Esto es lo que Catholic Hospice ha intentado hacer con amorosa solicitud cuando sus seres queridos cruzaron el umbral del tiempo y entraron en la eternidad. Y en el dolor de su luto la iglesia quiere acompañarles a Uds.; pues la muerte no tendrá la última palabra. Confiados en la misericordia de nuestro Dios sabemos que un día estaremos otra vez con nuestros seres queridos y con ellos veremos a Dios que enjugará las lágrimas de nuestros ojos.
Yes, grief is a cross – but don’t carry it alone – seek out the support of the Church’s strength, the solace of your brothers and sisters in the faith. Grief is hard, it is difficult because grief is the pain of “letting go.”
May we learn to let go of our grief by entrusting the souls of our dearly departed to our loving and merciful Father. At a funeral Mass, when using the Third Eucharistic Prayer, the priest prays:
“Remember your servant N. whom you have called (today) from this world to yourself. Grant that he (she) who was united with your Son in a death like his, may also be one with him in his Resurrection, when from the earth he will raise up in the flesh those who have died, and transform our lowly body after the pattern of his own glorious body. To our departed brothers and sisters, too, and to all who were pleasing to you at their passing from this life, give kind admittance into your kingdom. There we hope to enjoy forever the fullness of your glory, when you will wipe away every tear from our eyes. For seeing you, our God, as you are, we shall be like you for all the ages and praise you without end, through Christ our Lord, through whom you bestow in the world all that is good.” (Third Eucharistic Prayer)
