I usually write my article for the weekend bulletin on Tuesday evening as the bulletin needs to be ready for printing by Wednesday so that they arrive in time for our weekend Masses. As I write this article on this Tuesday evening, my heart and mind are still soaked in deep sorrow and sadness from the funeral celebration that I had earlier this evening. This funeral was one of the most difficult and piercing ones I have celebrated. It was a funeral with many “firsts” on my part: first funeral in the evening, and the first funeral with two bodies present, a mother and her baby—Baby Ximena was held in the loving arms of her mother, Elena. You probably heard last week on the local news of a 37-year old pregnant woman who was struck by a car in a parking lot in Cedar Hills here in Beaverton. She and her family are part of our parish. It was a very somber funeral liturgy—lots of silence as there were no words to enunciate the shock, the pain, sorrow of the family, friends and parishioners. It is precisely in this unremitting pain and silence, where no words are enough to console us in our grief, that the Word of God becomes our sole refuge and hope. When there are no words to describe how we feel in moments like this, God supplies us with his own very words that touch the deepest core of our being. As I was listening to the readings for the funeral, it felt like it was God’s voice that I was hearing, reassuring us that ultimately it is his resurrection that has the final say. Even though I came home from the funeral still filled with deep sorrow as I looked at the eyes of Elena’s mother, her husband and children, I was also filled with renewed hope knowing God’s Word and promise of eternal life have the final say.
This most recent experience gives me a more personal and closer insight to the three celebrations that we have this weekend: Solemnity of Christ the King, Feast of St. Cecilia, and the closing of the Jubilee Year of Mercy. Christ’s kingship is best manifested in his loving service, which is stunningly shown on the cross. His death on the cross is his deepest solidarity with our own humanity, with our sufferings, and with our own death. This act of greatest solidarity is also the greatest act of mercy on the part of God. But it doesn’t stop there. As he triumphed over death, he brings us with him to that victory, ushering us back to his Kingdom. No wonder St. Cecilia didn’t have a second thought in giving her life to God because she knew that, in Christ, her ultimate inheritance and happiness is found. As we celebrate these three great events in our parish and in the universal church, let us ask ourselves: who “rules” my life? Am I really integrated in God’s kingdom, or do I create my own “kingdom” within God’s kingdom by pushing for things that are contrary to my faith or living a minimalistic spirituality? If God died for us, meaning he maximized what he could possibly give, why do I want to short-change God in my discipleship? Let us look at the example of our patroness, St. Cecilia. She had what the world considered the greatest goods (power, beauty, riches), but she renounced all of them when she was forced to choose between God and the “world” because she knew that all of these things are temporary and only one thing endures: God’s kingdom.
As we celebrate our feast day, please include Elena, Ximena and their family in your prayers as they cling to the hope of eternal life.
Happy Feast Day! – Fr. Cary