SACRED HUMANITY ^_[1]

SMALL, TANGIBLE STEPS

1. Michael B. was 23 years of age when he died at home, handsome and young. Born to Louise and Jack B. in Sydney, Australia, he was the youngest of nine children. He leaves three sisters and five brothers. Michael was a graduate of St. Cecilia and Memorial High School. At the time of his death, he had completed his junior year at the University of Texas. An honor student and an enthusiastic rugby player, Michael suffered from severe depression which, in the past few months, became very acute. Deacon Don, who was so kind to pick me up from the airport yesterday, broke the news to me of Michael's suicide. At first, very much like yourselves, I was quite insensible. One's first and normal reaction is to ask how. Then, why? For those of us who can, it is a blessing to enter into the arena of tragedy with small and tangible steps. The first tentative steps give way to bigger ones. We grapple with deeper questions and more profound thoughts only to be overtaken by silence and the need for prayer. We draw close to one another. I had a long visit with Jack and Louise at their home on Saturday evening.

SOME SORT OF PEACE

2. Our reflections together form the heart of this homily. Michael's parents have expressed a strong desire to reassure their family and all of you of God's love and mercy. They were especially concerned about those of you whose experience of death may be limited and others of you who are not close to God. They want to reassure those of you who lament, saying, I could have done more. In any event, the message is theirs, and God's, and is meant for all of us. Perhaps this is why a vigil or funeral service can have so much meaning. Our presence is a clear sign that we walk with our brother to the end. It's not for recognition that we do this. It is our duty to pray for the repose of his soul. It is an act of love. It is our proof of love to family of the deceased. One of the greatest gifts of life is to have a few friends at the end when we become incapacitated, when we grow old, when we prepare for our own death. Our presence here testifies that Michael B. has received the precious gift of God's love. Scripture reveals how truly meaningful this gift is; the presence of many friends was denied to our Lord himself on the cross when he breathed his last. We come here to pray for ourselves as well, to recollect our tumultuous thoughts and emotions. Our souls need rest, and we need to bring ourselves to some sort of peace. We do this in the house of God in the experience of worship and prayer.

MARTYRDOM OF THE SOUL

3. I would like to say something about the martyrdom of the soul. Michael's life in the past two years was quite fragile. All of us share human fragility in some way or another. Every parent knows this. Anyone who has ever cared for a little one knows this. Over the years, I have become convinced that those who suffer mental illness make heroic efforts to persevere, to deal with things, to make some sense out of life. They are weak and often defenseless, but they are not without the love and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is sad, but true enough, that we can hold such a little one [cf. Mt. 18:14] in our very arms and whisper words of love, yet so often the little one is unable to receive it. The person who suffers from manic depression, schizophrenia, autism, Alzheimer's or any other debilitating mental illness must often journey alone--in the sense that no other human being can follow them into the uncharted recesses of a tormented mind. Because the human person is so complex, there are roads to sainthood we will never map or navigate. Some human journeys are of the soul and incredibly intense. The irony is that mental illness is not just mental. It adversely affects the sacred order of the whole human person--the will, emotions, the intellect, consciousness and unconsciousness, virtue, and actions. Not even our doctors and philosophers, with all their wisdom and experience, can measure the extent of suffering that is endured by someone afflicted with mental illness.

MAGNIFIED IN HEAVEN

4. It is important that we seek the Consolation of our faith. A few years ago, one of my young Bible students was very troubled. She told me in class that her friend, 12 years old, had committed suicide. She said that after she heard the news, two grownups approached her, and announced that her friend was in hell. With the sadness of her girl friend's death marred by this colossal and unspeakable rudeness, she was distraught. In tears, she asked me, Where did she go? The students and I sat in stunned silence for some time. In my heart I asked the Holy Spirit to give me wisdom. Quietly, very quietly, I declared, heaven. I told her about Jesus, the Good Shepherd [cf. Jn 10ff] who leaves his flock for a short while to search for the lost sheep, the lost lamb. In simple, straightforward language, I reassured the little ones of my class that no obstacle in all heaven and earth can prevent the Good Shepherd from seeking out and retrieving his lost lambs. Do you not aware that the world of the spirit is vastly greater than the world of the flesh? Assuredly, this realization is the source of our confidence. We have only to remember that Jesus was the good shepherd when he dwelt among us. How much greater, then, is the good shepherd's power magnified in heaven? The Lord Jesus Christ is master of heaven and earth! Who can doubt Our Lord's power to retrieve little ones lost between this world and the next? [cf. Jn 10:11-16] "And I say, 'O that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest; yea, I would wander afar, I would lodge in the wilderness. I would haste to find me a shelter from the raging wind and tempest'....But I call upon God; and the Lord will save me." [Ps 55:6-8;16]

MINISTRY OF DIVINE MERCY

5. What about God's law of the sanctity of life? Yes, Catholic teaching honors the natural and divinely revealed law: The taking of life, irregardless of the place and circumstance, is one of the gravest sins a human being can commit. Such an act mortally damages one's right relationship with God, his neighbor, and his own immortal soul. The sanctity of human life must always be defended. [cf. JPII GOSPEL OF LIFE no. 3 1993 pp. 6-7] But it is also the teaching of our faith that God's name and being are synonymous with divine mercy. There is not one of us present this evening who would charge Michael and his soul personally responsible or culpable for the action he took. He was gravely ill. How could he have made his decision with a truly free will? How could he have been aware of the magnitude or consequences of what he was doing? [cf. CCC no. 1857, 1859] His will was imprisoned by a ruthless imperfection, his ordered life overwhelmed by a tragic illness. Wherever full knowledge of mortal sin is lacking, whenever the full consent of the will is absent or diminished, there may be found the healing ministry of God's divine mercy. My young student's even younger friend was a little lamb of the good shepherd's flock. Michael, too, was a little one, stricken and impoverished by his many sufferings. Our Lord has searches for the weak and helpless. He finds them and carries them back to his flock with care. There are many others. The Good Shepherd will search every mountain and valley of our earth, every star and galaxy of the universe, every principality and power [cf. Eph 6:12] in the spiritual world, to gather in his flock. "It is not the will of our Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." [Mt. 18:14]

THIS WORLD TO THE NEXT

6. In our prayers, we recognize that God calls us even in the moment of death. ^[2] In saying this, we do not mean that God wills us to die. God, who created us, calls to us in every moment of our lives with a word of grace: "For I have no pleasure in the death of any one, says the Lord God; so turn, and live." [Eze 18:32] Our gentle and merciful God, who did not will Michael's death--or anyone's death, for any reason--has received his soul to himself. [cf. Ps 116:15] Our faith reassures us that our immortal spirits remain united to Michael's immortal spirit in the Body of Christ. When Christ destroyed the power of death, he reconciled the realms of Spirit and flesh and made them one in the new covenant of his Body and Blood. Through Christ's gift of the Communion of Saints, we have the spiritual power to forgive and be forgiven, to love and to be loved, to pray and to be prayed for, across the boundaries of time itself, across the threshold of death, from this world to the next. ^[3] [cf. CCC nos. 954-959 pp. 249-250] Let us be strengthened by our love for one another. In an age which glamorizes easy, smarmy familiarity with one another, Michael is a reminder to us of the impenetrable mystery of the human person, the mystery of what it means to be a human being made in the divine image and likeness of God. [cf. Gen 1:26] I pray that we renew our appreciation of the sacred humanity of one another's personhood and the great gift of our unimpaired free will to chose for the good. I pray that you resolve today to accept the demands of God's creative and regenerative love. Allow God's love to bind you ever closer to himself and all that is good! Hold fast to the real source of our strength--faith in a beneficent God who lost his only Son and regained him in the resurrection! Secure hope's vision on the good things to come: "For all the promises of God find their yes in (Christ). That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God." [2Cor 1:20] Above all, "love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind....(and) your neighbor as yourself". [Mt 22:37,39; cf. CCC "Theological Virtues" nos. 1812-1829]

CHRIST WILL DO THIS

7. The power of death, the common denominator, has been shattered by love, the uncommon denominator. I invite you to remember Michael by praying for the repose of his immortal soul, for his parents Louise and Jack and their children on the anniversary of his death. Let them know that--following the example of Christ--you have not forgotten him. Let this be a proof of love in Christ to them. In the end, it is our enduring love for one another that will see us through. Even with a lifetime of experience and wisdom, death is death. Each is unique and every time it occurs, God's created world is sadder and diminished for it. On the last day [cf. Jn 6:39-40], Christ will call Michael's body from the earth, re-create and restore him whole and entire, clothe him in glory and unite his body and soul together for all eternity. Christ will do this for all his followers who remain faithful to the end. In the meantime, until the day of our sure and certain reunion with all the saints in the Kingdom of Heaven, we recall again our sacred duty to make the very best of this life: "Then let us be up and doing,/ With a heart for any fate./ Still achieving, still pursuing,/ Learning to labor,/ And to wait." ^[4] On behalf of our parish Church, I extend our deepest sorrow and condolences to you, Michael's dearest family and friends.