Thank you to all for your prayers. Some expressed interest in getting a copy of my first homily from today's celebration of the Mass.
Video link to Homily
It was the summer of 1982 (just 34 years ago) and a young boy aged 12 walked into the center bedroom in grandma and grandpa’s house in a little Missouri town. This 12 year old knew that his mother had been sick, but he didn’t really get what this all would mean for he, his father and his 4 older brothers. His mother had given her family everything she had within her and now she lay dying from cancer in her own parents’ home.
I was that 12 year old and as I walked to the side of my mother’s bed, she asked me why I wasn’t in school. She wanted the best for me even as she had no idea that I was on summer break. I only spent a few minutes in her room that day, but my mother was leaving me that day. Why her?
And over the last 10-15 years as I’ve matured, I thought about what her death must have meant to my 4 older brothers and my aunts and uncles. What must my father (who sits here listening to me today), Daddy, what must you have been thinking? I look at my own wife and think that although you must have felt lost in a cruel world, asking God why he took your wife so soon, you went on, you continued on with your life.
To my brothers, my aunts and uncles and especially to my Daddy, “I LOVE YOU!” And now, as I begin serving our Church in the ministry of deacon, Iwant to say something to each and every one of you here today from the bottom of my heart… “I LOVE YOU!”
12. As I was reflecting on today’s readings and the shared character of a WIDOW in both the 1st reading and Gospel, I could not help but think of the beginnings of the diaconate, the order to which I was graced by God to be ordained just yesterday.
13. The Apostles chose the first deacons to care for the needs of the widows and orphans who felt neglected.
14. But what to say of these 2 widows? Both experienced the death of a husband who they loved.
15. At some point in our own lives, we know the struggles that they experienced.
16. Since the primary provider at that time would have been her husband, the widow was faced with uncertainty as she was shunned; she was a no body on her own.
17. She would surely need the help of her sons, her family and her community.
18. In the 1st Book of Kings, the widow encounters the prophet Elijah.
19. And, she is faced with death once again, the death of her son! What devastation she must have been experiencing!
20. All of us have or will experience the death of loved ones, some after a long life, some taken way too soon.
21. We search for meaning and many of us know the experience of asking God, “WHY??? Why now?”
22. And, hopefully, we’re surrounded by a loving community of friends and family who comfort us as we experience feeling lost and alone; this meaningful person who we have shared many a times “I LOVE YOU” with, is now separated from us in a way that we’ve never known before.
23. Truth be told, we know the raw feeling as we can no longer hold their hand, feel their embrace, or hear their voice.
24. Now, we aren’t likely to experience the physical rising from the dead like in these stories of the widows’ sons until we are all raised at the end of time, but we do seek HOPE…
25. Hope that our own loved one will be raised to be with Christ and spend all eternity in the face-to-face presence of our loving God.
26. What a powerful thing for us to remember in the midst of this suffering!
27. So, I’d like us to consider how we as a Christian community, especially this Catholic community here at Christ the King, are to
experience and support one another in the times of suffering and death, mourning and living?
28. Our Church shows us such love in its Funeral Rites which seek to comfort us in so many different circumstances of death be it young or old, expected or unexpected.
29. The confusion, pain and sorrow may differ in type and severity, but the reality is no different and we, the CHURCH, are called to comfort those who are experiencing the death of the one who they no longer hear “I LOVE YOU” from.
30. We are called to help them recognize their love is an everlasting one, just as Christ’s love is.
31. We need to trust and know that Christ’s mercy is with us always as He was with Mary and Martha during the death of their brother Lazarus. 32. He was with the widow in today’s Gospel as Elijah was with the widow in our 1st reading.
33. We can be assured of His presence even if no one else is with us.
34. I have been touched seeing members of our Christ the King community reach out to those who are dying and comfort them and their families.
35. I have experienced the great love offered immediately following the death of my father-in-law and in the days which followed.
36. I tried my best to help my dear wife as she and our three children said goodbye for now to our dear “Papi”.
37. And many of you were and are around us as we move forward.
38. Especially in this Jubilee Year of Mercy, we heed the corporal works of mercy, to “Bury the dead.”
39. This means that we try to be present at the funeral when any member of our community has died and during the days and weeks and
months ahead to be present to the family beyond the funeral.
40. I believe, we ought to be present to the wife or husband, the children, the parents of the deceased.
41. Perhaps, in silent comfort or a hand to hold, a gentle embrace, a promise to pray for and check on them to see how they’re doing in the
hours, days and months to come; to offer them a soft “I LOVE YOU”.
42. We need to be there for each other as I’ve seen us do as a woman struggles to come into our very own Christ the King Catholic Church as it reminds her of her husband who died not very long ago.
43. May we be the community to help her to know that this is her home with God’s love and mercy.
44. In our readings today, the sons of the widows are returned to them. 45. For us, we have HOPE and FAITH that our loved ones will be with our all-loving God.
46. I ask you to reflect upon how you can offer the mercy of Christ especially to those who are faced with the death of a loved one, those who are struggling with family, the poor, the neglected and the unwanted.
47. Ultimately, to whom can you offer God’s mercy?
48. As Christ was present to the widow in the Gospel, His mercy is present to us in the Eucharist that we will share at this Altar.
49. In taking the Eucharist, we become Christ!
50. I ask you to close your eyes now and listen to this prayer offered to God in the Funeral Rite for a child who died before baptism:
"You are the author and sustainer of our lives, O God, you are our final home. We commend to you, this child.
Trusting in your mercy, and in your all-embracing love, we pray that you give him/her happiness forever.
Turn also to us who have suffered this loss.
Strengthen the bonds of this family and our community.
Confirm us in faith, in hope, and in love, so that we may bear your peace to one another and one day stand together with all the saints who praise you for your saving help.
We ask this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.”
51. I encourage you to extend God’s mercy this week especially to those who most need it and maybe you’ll find the opportunity to share with them a simple “I LOVE YOU”.
