MEMORIAL OF VICTORY ^_[1]

SHINING ORNAMENT

1. As I begin this difficult and very human task of voicing the sorrows and the hopes of all who are present here today, I pray for God’s Holy Spirit to speak a word that lifts up and heals our troubled spirits [cf. Pro 15:23; Dan 9:23], strengthens our faith, and magnifies our love for one another. Although prepared for Christopher D. H.’s death,^[2] we were not ready for this shining ornament to fall from the tree,^[3] the fairest flower to be plucked from the garden. The H.’s loss is intensified because Christopher was their first born son and only child. Yet, in truth, each of us is an only child in the eyes of God who loves each of us in profound relationship--as he did Adam, who for a time, was his only human creature, unique in all the universe. We ask Mary--Mother of Our Lord, and Mother of the Church--to intercede for us. In her wisdom and compassion, the Church offers us a trinity of spiritual duties to assist us in coming to terms with life and death. Our evening Vigil of Prayer, the Funeral Mass, and the Interment today testify to our belief that those who have died in Christ are destined to rise again and to live with God in eternity. And too, we offer them as an act of humanity for Christopher and his family.

LARGER TAPESTRY

2. Christopher died peacefully. His parents, Brenda and Dennis, called me in the early morning hours of Tuesday, December 10th. I joined them at their home. Brenda’s mother, Mrs. Kate B., and their closest friends were already there. We gathered around Christopher’s bed which, as you may know, was downstairs in the family room. Holding hands, we prayed and cried. I bestowed upon Christopher’s body the blessing of the Church, and in remembrance of Our Saviour’s passion and death, made the sign of the cross with holy water on his hands and feet, his side and his brow.^[4] Each of us has been given a custody of part of Christopher H.’s story. No single individual is privileged by God to know everything about another human being. Consider how much we remain a mystery to ourselves. You and I are called to preserve and carry these memories into the future of our lives. Important as this may be, however, it is not enough. We join together in weaving our individual stories and experiences of Christopher’s life into a larger tapestry. In this way the fullness of his story may be remembered and shared in the context of his love of God and the Church. Realize that while grieving in your heart of hearts, each of you is united to the other in this last hour. We are privileged to honor the body of our young friend, commend his graced soul to the joy of everlasting life with the Father in heaven, and witness to his family that he shall not be forgotten. We share the last hour of one who died young. But we must remember that anyone, everywhere who dies, dies young. For mankind’s true destiny is eternal life, and our God is a God of the living. [cf. Mt 22:31-32] As the universal Church vouchsafes for the saints who merit our prayers and imitation, this Christian community attests that Christopher H. died in a state of grace, and that in the general judgment to come, his recreated, renewed and glorified body shall be reunited with his immortal spirit in everlasting joy.

MORNING OF LIFE

3. When we talk about human nature and experience, we often recall the life of the apostle Peter.^[5] Soon after he had risen from the dead, Jesus met with Peter. They walked along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Three times the Lord Jesus entreats Peter: "Do you love me? Feed my sheep." [Rev 212:17] Three times Peter declares his love and loyalty to Christ. Then Jesus offers a remarkable prophecy to his apostle: "Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go." [Jn 21:15-18] Not all of us will receive a long life. Some of us are given a few short years. This is why it is possible for grief and sorrow to overwhelm us.^[6] This past February, in the morning of his life, Christopher exchanged the classroom and the playing field^[7] for a hospital bed. He stretched out his arms and allowed himself to be tied down by intravenous tubes, chemotherapy, radiation and a host of medications. He was girded by an inevitability that neither he or his parents could comprehend fully.

BEAUTY AND HARDSHIP

4. As the cancer carried him where he did not wish to go, Christopher leaned heavily on his parents, his mom’s mother, and his many friends for support and strength^[8] They became the members of coaching team, winners who devised Hail Mary plays and strategies to overcome formidable obstacles. They cheered each others' minds to think like winners, while celebrating heartfelt victories along the way. Over the ten months of his mortal illness, this young man evidenced boundless patience and uncomplaining acceptance. At times he cried out--the episodes of pain was excruciating and prolonged--Christopher’s natural confidence and conviction grew stronger. He grew spiritually. He learned that love is a far more precious gift than a guarantee of years. I think positive, he said, because if you think negative, you’re not going to get very far.^[9] He treasured the visits of his priests and the grace of the Sacrament of Holy Anointing. He loved to receive a blessing. In the language of faith, we say that Christopher entered the desert or the wilderness. We are consoled by the knowledge that Jesus, the Son, often retreated to the desert for prayer and solitude and a deeper expression of his relationship to the Father. Deserts are places of remarkable beauty and extreme hardship. Our Saviour knew this, and perhaps this fortified him when he entered the wilderness of his own passion and death on the cross.

THERE IS A WAY OUT

5. The prophet Isaiah speaks a reassuring word to our troubled hearts. The way of the Lord finds its home in the wilderness. In the perilous crags and dark valleys of sin, the greatest obstacle being death itself, a straight highway for our God will be constructed: "Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain." [Isa 40:3-5] We know that Christ Jesus, himself, is this highway. When we enter the desert, whether we engage it willingly, whether we are lost, or whether we are carried off, we know there is a way out. Jesus says, "And you know the way where I am going." [Jn 14:3] The apostle Thomas, speaking for all of us when we doubt, asks: "Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me." [Jn 14:4-6] Christ, who "emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men" [Phi 2:7], ministers to us with a two-fold mission: first, that in knowing Christ, we may know the Father, and second, that Christ himself will lead us to the Father: "Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also." [Jn 14:1-3]

OUR DEAR YOUNG BROTHER

6. As for Christopher and all faithful followers of the Lord Jesus, there will come a time, after a long and often arduous journey, that we will, as did our ancestor Jacob, accept a stone for our pillow and the hard earth for our bed. These will be a holy places, although we may not fully realize it now. For it was Jacob who prophesied about the Highway of the Lord Christ, when he dreamed of a "ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven, and beheld the angels of God ascending and descending on it"! [Gen 28:11-12] St. Therese of Lisieux--the Little Flower--died of tuberculosis at the age of 24. In writing about this ladder, this highway prophesied by Jacob, her words mirror Christopher's life and invite us to live the same. She taught that we are to give evidence to God that we have a good will. This is why one works hard in the vocation of goodness and becomes the person God calls him to be. The Little Flower counsels:

BE LIKE a little child. Practice all the virtues and so always lift up your little foot to mount the ladder of holiness; but do not imagine that you will be able to ascend even the first step. No! The Good Lord does not demand more from you than good will. From the top of the stairs, He looks at you with love. Very soon, won over by your useless efforts, He will come down and take you in His arms. He will carry you up. But if you stop lifting your little foot, He will leave you a long time on the ground.^[10]

Christopher did not make the playoffs in life, but we award him the memorial of victory as the Most Valuable Player of faith, hope and love. His was a youthful, competitive spirit that knew few equals among his contemporaries. He was a worthy example of personal integrity and enduring cheerfulness. He attained, in a few short months, a lifetime of wisdom and human experience.^[11] He fought the good fight. He finished the race. He kept the faith: "Henceforth there is laid up for (him) the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to (him) on that Day, and not only to (him) but also to all who have loved his appearing." [cf. 2Tim 4:5-8] Having done all he could do, not able to lift his foot again, the Lord gathered him up from his mothers arms, and carried him beyond the summit of the ladder, which crosses over the threshold of paradise. Who among us would not choose to climb such a ladder as this? On behalf of St. Cecilias Catholic Church and the Basilian Fathers of St. Thomas High School, I extend our deepest condolences to you, his devoted family and friends. Let us remember the H. family on the anniversary of Christopher's death in the coming year, and on that day, pray for them and for the eternal soul of our dear young brother.

^[1] Mass for the Dead, 12 Dec. 1996. For the repose of the soul of Christopher D. H.⁺ 10 Dec. 1996. /Wis 3:1-9 /1Th 4:13-18 /Jn14:1-6.

^[2] Born: February 12, 1982.

^[3] In this season of advent, we use the symbol of the evergreen to remind us of the things that endure: faith, hope, love and the gift of eternal life.

^[4] As I blessed his still and silent body, I noticed in a new way how very pale and thin Christopher had become at the end of his courageous struggle with bone cancer. Even in the last days of his life, the full extent of frailty and exhaustion in his body was concealed by the vigor of life that continued to remain in him. This force of life seemed to increase as Christophers body diminished. After life departed from him, his bodys frailty and exhaustion was clearly evident. The sign of death is not subtle, but at certain times, its reality overwhelms--especially when one is so young and fair.

^[5] Here was a man like us, in all things, including sin. At times Peter was rash, stubborn, and obtuse. He erred grievously, succumbing to fear and resisting his spiritual destiny. Yet innumerable times this same mortal human being showed profound spiritual insight. Peter experienced genuine, lasting reconciliation with God. He become a fearless evangelizer. He experienced the full range of human life, from his squalid worst to his noble best. He was commissioned by Christ to live a graced life for the sake of the salvation and care of souls.

^[6] In our desire to hold fast to our loved ones, in our hope for long and rewarding lives, we find it hard to understand that the one who is mortally ill is being invited to enter into Gods time where there is no distinction of past, present or future. He gains all three as one who gains eternal life! In the hour of worship, we acknowledge that the past and the future of our beloved have received into the consecrated, eternal now of heaven: Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him. [Jas 1:12]

^[7] In baseball tryouts at St. Cecilia this past spring, Chris demonstrated his batting expertise, his team skills, and athletic prowess. While running bases, he stumbled and fell at second. At first his family and classmates thought that his fall caused only a minor injury. But tests soon revealed Christopher had cancer and that it had existed in his youthful frame for some time. The medical tests, while eloquent in diagnosis, were entirely mute on the substance of his future.

^[8] The family's long vigil has come to an end. Like Mary, the Women, and the Beloved Disciple standing at the foot of Our Saviours cross, many of us had a role to fulfill at Christophers bedside. As Church, we believe that the beloved disciple in Johns Gospel is inclusive of every Christian who loves Jesus with all his heart, soul, mind and strength. [cf. Mk 12:30] When the Church conceives and names us as beloved disciples, we inherit a role, a place, a position and the opportunities to fulfill this apostolate in our own day and among our own people. In this way, our relationship with Christopher and all Christians is consecrated. By serving one another in loveas we did for love of this young manwe assist his family, the people of God and Jesus Christ himself.

^[9] H., Christopher, The Eagle, St. Thomas High School (Houston) 22 Oct. 1996: 3-4. It is a true and poignant sorrow when mortal creatures diminish the power of supernatural hope. We take for granted the nature and destiny of the human soul. Rather, the test of faith centers on the resurrection of the whole human person--body and soul. [cf. Mk 15:34, Acts 23:6, Rom 14:9, 1Cor 15:12-19] Without the sanctification of our whole human persondegree by degree into the glory of God [2Cor 3:17-18]we would cease to mirror the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ. [cf. Gen 1:26] We would lose all hope for our perfection.

^[10] Francois Jamart OCD, COMPLETE SPIRITUAL DOCTRINE OF ST. THERESE OF LISIEUX (New York: Alba House, 1961) 69.

^[11] Christopher lived the last ten months of his life--as he did the first thirteen years--ascending step by step in a youth's pursuit of holiness, goodwill, and the skills of life. His academic and sports achievements, his close bonds of family and friends, his gentle humor and impeccable manners can be considered impressive accomplishments. But to stop at this point would be to fall short of the essence of the Christian life he witnessed and the discipleship to which we are called. He was named for Christ by his parents at birth and by Holy Mother Church at his baptism. As well, it is our name.