By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily at the annual memorial Mass for Catholic Hospice clients and their families in Miami-Dade County. The Mass was celebrated June 18 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, Doral.
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. We also pray for those who died unexpectedly in the tragedy in Orlando.
This past week, I spoke to the mother of one the victims who was buried yesterday from one of our parishes. This mother is dealing with a double grief � her own mother died last month and now she buries one of her sons. She told me that when she sees a picture of the “pieta’ � Mary cradling Jesus’ crucified body in her arms � she’ll never look at it in the same way ever again.
All of you who have experienced the loss of a loved one understand what she meant.
Grief is a cross � a difficult cross � a cross that we must 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.
And today, 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, 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. As Jesus tells us in the Gospel today, God who cares for the birds of the sky cares for each one of us. This conviction can help us deal with the anxiety that often troubles us as we make our journey through this “valley of tears.”
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, “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.
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 we pray 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. And we do well to pray that death may not find us unprepared to face God. Today, advances in medical science pose the challenge of coping with a terminal illness which may last months or even years. Today, more than a sudden death, many people fear the prospects of a prolonged and debilitating illness that may bring much pain and suffering and at the same time possibly burden their loved ones. Jesus said: “Fear is useless, what is needed is trust.” (Mark 5: 36).
And this is why people trust Hospice Care as a life-affirming alternative to those who, in denying the inevitability of death, insist on futile treatment as well as to those who would shorten the lives of the ill in the name of a false sense of mercy. Providing palliative or supportive care for the terminally ill, hospice care offers both to the patient and his or her family true compassion � sharing in another’s pain and seeking to mitigate or alleviate it when possible.
St. John Paul II, who gave us his own extraordinary witness of faith during his last illness, wrote: "The Church knows that the moment of death is always accompanied by particularly intense human sentiments: an earthly life is ending, the emotional, generational, and social ties that are part of the person's inner self are dissolving; people who are dying and those who assist them are aware of the conflict between hope in immortality and the unknown which troubles even the most enlightened minds. The Church lifts her voice so that the dying are not offended but are given every loving care and are not left alone as they prepare to cross the threshold of time to enter eternity.”
La fe en Jesucristo nos da una familia � somos hermanos de Cristo y su Padre es nuestro Padre, y su madre es nuestra madre. El Corazón de Jesús es de verdad una hoguera del Divino amor que esparce sus ardores en todas las direcciones: en el cielo en la Iglesia triunfante, en la tierra en la militante y en el purgatorio en la sufriente. Así, en el símbolo de la fe, o sea el Credo, afirmamos que creemos en la comunión de los santos � esa comunión es esa red de relaciones a la cual entramos por el bautismo en la vida misma de Dios: Padre, Hijo, y Espíritu Santo. Y esa comunión es más fuerte que la muerte.
On an ancient 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.”
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord; may their souls and the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen.
Dales Señor el descanso eterno; brille para ellos la luz perpetua; que descansen en paz. Amen.
