“How God Makes Us Fit for the Eternal Life of Heaven”
Homily, Mass for Deceased Priests
Readings: Wis 3:1-9; Ps 27; 1 Jn 3:14-16; Mt 5:1-12a
November 8, 2024, Holy Cross Mausoleum
Introduction
You are all familiar with the word association game. It is a technique used by psychologists in testing their clients. You know, the tester mentions the word and then the client responds with the first word that comes to mind. What, do you suppose, would that produce when the word “cemetery” is mentioned: death or dead people, graves, silence, mourning, sadness – even if for us as Christians it is a sadness that is also filled with hope. Mostly more somber kind of concepts, but one somber one that people would not likely think of is: hate.
Love and Light
Yet, this is the word that St. John associates with death: “Whoever does not love remains in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer,” that is, someone without life, without eternal life. Those who love, on the other hand, are those who have passed from death to life.
We need to understand this not only in the sense of death as an end of our existence in this world, but also in the sense of how it applies in our spiritual lives. Life without love is indeed death. Such a one is spiritually dead. Miserable. To truly love is to be in the light; to hate is to remain in the dark.
We can see that in people who live very strongly one way or or the other. Just look into their faces: see the darkness in the face of the one who truly hates, whereas the one who truly loves will radiate light from his or her face. Love brings us into the light, which for us is the Lord Himself, as we prayed with the psalmist in today’s Mass: “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” The result? “[W]hom should I fear?” “[O]f whom should I be afraid?” Love casts out all deadly fear. We need not even fear death. But, how do we get there?
Getting Ready for Heaven
God has His way of bringing good out of tragedy; even the tremendous calamity that was the destruction of the kingdom of the Israelites and their exile to foreign lands is an example of this. As a result, they came into contact with the wider ancient world, largely Greek in culture and language, and thus developed the wisdom tradition in Old Testament thought, giving us that whole body of writings that is the Wisdom literature of the Old Testament.
In the first reading for today’s Mass – so familiar to all of us as it is the standard reading for the Funeral Mass – the author of the Book of Wisdom would have us understand that the path to attaining this fearless love is the sufferings we endure in this world. To the unenlightened such sufferings and afflictions may seem mere punishment or misfortune. But the one who believes, who loves and trusts in the Lord, such a one understands that sufferings are God’s discipline, His corrective measures and testing of fidelity of us, so that persevering through it all He may recognize us as worthy of Him, made worthy by His grace. It is, in short, the discipline that makes us fit for heaven, as it makes us ever more capable of receiving and giving love.
The Communion of Heaven
And finally, in the Gospel passage for today’s Mass (even more well known to us), the Beatitudes give us the picture of what that looks like. The passage from death to life which we make by loving our brothers and sisters brings us out into the light and delivers us into the life of beatitude, the fulfillment of our human vocation of arriving at happiness with God.
We walk in the light today, as we bring our prayers and devotions in the offering of this Mass for our brothers who have preceded us in the Priesthood for our Archdiocese and in death. In this sense, the cemetery is really a place of love and of communion. We see love manifested in those who come here to show respect and love for their loved ones buried here, to pray for them, to lay flowers at their graves, to commune with them. It is a place of communion, a communion we share beyond the confines of this world, with those who have gone before us.
Conclusion
And so at the end of our Mass today we will process to the tombs of our predecessors singing the Litany of Saints, recalling those who have attained eternal beatitude with God, who contemplate Him face-to-face in his heavenly Kingdom. We pray that they may intercede for us and for our predecessors buried here, that they may help us with their prayers and example to come to the fullness of life, where we will share communion with them forever in God’s Kingdom of eternal rest, light and peace, and with them, joyfully worship Him face-to-face for all eternity. Amen