DON'T CRY BEFORE MY FUNERAL - DON'T CRY AT MY FUNERAL - DON'T CRY AFTER MY FUNERAL

St. Paul to the Philippians &
I to you...


Brothers and sisters:
Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. 
For to me life is Christ, and death is gain. 
If I go on living in the flesh,
that means fruitful labor for me. 
And I do not know which I shall choose. 
I am caught between the two. 
I long to depart this life and be with Christ,
for that is far better. 
Yet that I remain in the flesh
is more necessary for your benefit.


This quote is from the Scripture that was read this morning 

at Catholic Masses around the world.  It was read just in 

front of the story of the workers who were called to the 

vineyard at different times but all got paid the same.

I am willing to gamble big fake $ that not one single

priest in the world dared to preach about the passage 

above.  So I am doing it.

As you all know, everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one is willing to die.  We all know that we are going there, but not too many of us are really looking forward to passing away to get there.  When I heard the thoughts that Paul threw at us many years ago, he was ready.  What I like about him is that he was really at home with himself.  It takes a very strong individual to be able to safely say that "I am caught between the two [life and death] and that death is far better than life here on earth.  You really have to have it together to be comfortable with that sentiment.  
I confess that I am there.  I have no problem with that part of the thought.  I deal with that every day.

The thought that "it is more necessary for your benefit that I remain in the flesh" is where I wonder about saying that to anyone.  That is the part where I know that only about 50% of those who know me would agree.  The other 50% would wish that I would not be so full of myself and just move on.  Imagine having the self image that Paul had and the security of his relationship with God to be able to say that.  I believe that God keeps me here because He has something for me to do.  I tell Him that all the time.  I imagine that He thinks that I am doing a good job and that he is pleased with me, but I keep that kind of talk between me and Him.  Except right here and for this moment alone.  

I'm sitting here at 1:00 AM and thinking that God wants us to have the kind of personal strength that Paul had.  God needs us to have that kind of courage.  He wants us to have a good strong side by side relationship with Him so that we can do the work that He expects us to do.  He wants us to be able to admit that we are valuable to Him.  he wants us to be able to stand before the world and to admit that we are good at doing His work.  He looks forward to our saying, "God keeps me here because it is for your benefit that He keeps me here."  If Saint Paul can say that, why can't we?  Are we going to think that he was arrogant in proclaiming that truth?  Is that what keeps us from saying the same thing, although we might be thinking it from time to time.  

You know why Paul could talk that way?  It's because he knew that his faith in God was so strong that it was not he speaking, but God through him.  Paul knew that as long as he stayed with God, he could walk on water, move mountains and make the lame walk and make the Greeks and the rest of the world accept the God whom Paul was announcing and serving.

Well,my name is Paul.  My father named me Paul because he was a serious disciple of Paul.  I am telling you that I am ready to die.  I am also telling you that I believe that as long as I stay here it is for your benefit because that's how God wants it.  Therefore, neither you nor anyone else has absolutely any reason to be crying at my funeral.

DON'T CRY AT MY FUNERAL BECAUSE YOU'LL KNOW THAT I DIED WITH GOD ON MY MIND

"Here's the latest note I received about our wonderful cousin, David."  (An email) 

First my introductory comment:

David is a person who is loved and respected by us all.  He is a polite, loving, gentle,quiet and resolute individual.  He has a wonderful wife and two marvelous children.  David will never be forgotten, neither by his relatives nor by the hundreds of people that he must have influenced somehow in his life.  

Now, the text of the "latest note"

"As promised, I have e (sic) went down Friday and just arrived home this (Sunday) afternoon.  I said good bye for the last time and it was difficult to say the least.

"When we arrived, T... was there and had been for a few days helping

Veronica as much for support as for caring for Dave.  We relieved her 
for the night. Dave hadn't had any food (one spoonful) of pudding or drink

since last Monday and continues to have no nourishment.  He's on a morphine

drip which was increased a couple times while we were there to try to keep

him as comfortable as possible.  He's pretty much comatose 95% of the time,

coming around enough to know he realizes that he's being spoken to but try

as he might, he can't respond or, I think, focus on the person talking to

him or caring for him with the exception of once yesterday when he did

reach out enough to get Veronica and bring her in for a hug.

Continue your prayers for his release and strength for his family."

Upon reading this note, I was struck by the absence of the presence of God in the narrative.  I don't expect long meditations and reflections about life and death from people, not even those whom I know.  I know that expressing those Sentiments is "my job."  Still, I was shaken by the request for "...prayers for his release and strength for his family."

That's it?  Release from what?  From sharing pain and suffering with the One who suffered, died and resurrected for us?  I have not been praying for Dave's release.  I have been praying for him to remember us all in his moment of connection with the Suffering Christ.  Also praying for his proper preparation for the never ending celebration in the company of God and the Heavenly Hosts.  That's not a RElease, it is a REward and it is worth praying for.  I seem to be under the impression that Dave's life was more focused on the REward than on the RElease.

"...strength for his family."  Indeed, that has been my prayer and continues to be.  That strength comes from God above and it seems as though Dave has been liberally bathed in the fruits of that strength for a long time.  The strength that we are seeing now is the strength that took Dave and his beloved Veronica from the day that they stood before the altar to this point.  That is the strength that we are seeing.  That is the strength that is being harvested from the field of loyal matrimony and persevering, loving and generous parenthood.  The end of that is not RElease, it is the beginning of the REward, the celebration of True Life, the Life that we all prepare for while we walk in the Valley of Tears.  

Finally, we Catholics firmly believe that those who go first share the love and joy that they celebrate in the Eternal Presence of God, dancing around His Golden Throne, with us who stay behind for a while longer.  The pain and suffering that we shared with them while nursing them and caressing them lovingly through it all, is now turned to the joy of celestial happiness that they sprinkle upon us from on high.  Since they have come to be closer to the Father who created us and loves us enough to have us with Him for all Eternity, they have His permission to watch over us during the time that we have remaining before the Great Celebration of never ending Life.

This is what I have to say about what our family is experiencing at this time.  It is not a time for tears, it is a time to celebrate the glimpse of Eternity that God is giving us and to prepare for our own personal moment of "dying as we lived." As it says in the Gospel, "stay ready for you know not the day nor the hour."

So, that's my sermon.  I leave you with the constant reminder that no crying is allowed at my funeral.

MORE CHRISTMAS TAKE-AWAYS -- FROM ASIA? EGYPT?

SEEK - ASK - ACT - CHANGE YOUR WAYS

This year, I got more out of the Three Kings story than I ever did before.  It is connected to a well prepared homily delivered by a young priest.  It astounds me when I am confronted by the truth that the Divine Mysteries continue to challenge the Faith of the righteous to achieve deeper and deeper understandings of the same immutable reality Who is Our God.  It moves me to think that I could be a prisoner of my own comfort with the grace of Faith as I use it in my habitual behavior to come to understand God more deeply and more clearly.
It is enlightening to see that God's grace of light seeps through different cracks in the minds and hearts of disciples who have different points of view about the world that God creates around us. It is always interesting to come to a point of clarity about the valid expressions of faith of a person less than one half my age.  In this last case, he is only .33 of my age.  The miracle of Christmas Grace manifested in him on this given Sunday is still shaking me and I do not know when it is going to stop.  If ever.  
To begin with, he was straightforward and forceful in his opening statements.  He was expounding on the truth that the three individuals in the story were seekers.  They were curious and they let their curiosity help them to learn.  He exhorted the faithful sitting before him to seek deeper knowledge and understanding of the Loving God.  Attending church is not enough.  You have to go out of your way to expose yourself to the reality of God in the Bible, in other books, in conferences offered by the parish management.  We must be curious enough to follow the light.  The light of the grace of Wisdom.  The Star that leads to the vision of God.

Then he moved on to accede to the point of insecurity in what was being pursued in our lives.  The insecurity that dims the light of Faith.  It is in this time of dimness that we have to ASK.  Pull off the road for a minute and inquire.  The answer may or may not be the exact fit for the grace that God has in mind for us, but it will be an encouragement to get up and continue on our way.  In the response we will learn something.  In the response we will feel the satisfaction that we had the strength to trust someone else.  In the case of the Three Seekers, the answer was not totally truthful, but there was enough truth in it to set them on their way again.  The insecurity of the darkness was dispelled.  The light came back and they reached their goal.  

Finally, lesson number three for me.  This is the one that doesn't want to let go.  There is a very deeeep lesson in the decision that the Three Seekers made to take a different way to go back home.  They sought the source of the light.  They asked for help when they needed it.  When they had found what they sought, it was so great that they espoused it to their very depths.  The light spoke to them as it had spoken to Joseph.  Like Joseph, they listened.  They came to satisfy themselves.  They left to satisfy God.  They ACTED.  They took the road that the light showed them, not only as they sought but as they were fulfilled as well.  They learned that they had done the Will of God, and they loved it and decided to follow it.  They did not leave by another way to escape from Herod.  They left by another way because that is what God told them to do.  It was their "fiat" as much as Mary's had been; as much as Joseph's had been.  Isn't that what we are called to do?  It sure is.