A Homily on the Passing of Pope Francis and the Call to Mercy
Christ is risen, alleluia. He is risen indeed, alleluia.
And He makes himself known to us as He interprets for us in the power of the Spirit how all of scriptures point to Him. And He, walking with us in our journey, has joined us here, where He will make himself known in the breaking of the bread. Making himself known, that is what our Holy Father, Pope Francis, sought in his pontificate. You know, there is much yapping about the Pope, but there’s an old saying, “Only say good of the dead. ” Now, that doesn’t mean that we don’t pray for him.
In fact, we must pray for him. We in the Church are not like other folks who have these “celebrations of life” you hear all about, right? In which they talk only about the ones who have dead. That’s a pagan custom? Eulogy is actually a pagan custom too. But we’ve adapted it and woven it into our way of praising God in thanksgiving. But we Catholics don’t say, “Oh, this is a saint gone straight to God”. Although there are a lot of people that I have buried that I know are saints. I am pretty sure. No, the Church never buries a saint, ever. No prayers ever presume that the person that is being buried is a saint. She presumes that the deceased is a sinner, loved by God. of God we can be sure He will always love us, but we can never be sure that we will always love Him properly. And so, we pray, especially for a pope. Nine days of mourning. Novemdiale.
What was his responsibility? You and I have a responsibility for our souls, fundamentally and primarily. We are the ones who aren’t to be busybodies looking at and judging everybody else’s soul. We have to be working with fear and trembling to say ‘yes’ to the Father, first of all for our souls so that then we can be able to care for others. Yet for a pope, the whole world becomes his responsibility, and he’s only a man. A man of stories, a man of hopes, a man of sins, and we pray for him. We must pray for him.
The way that we pray is by recalling his fundamental teaching of mercy. For Francis called us in a radical way, in an explicit way, a way always present in the radical lives of the popes who came before him, but with a South American passion to be with the poor, to look to the marginal, to see those who are cast out by society.
I remember hearing a story of his that he wrote about. He related that when he would hear confessions, often they would speak about how ungenerous they were. He would reply, “Well, when you see a person who is begging, do you give them money? ” And if they said, “Yes, I give them money,” he would say, “Well, when you give them money, do you look at them? And when you look at them and give them money, do you touch them? Because to touch them is to touch the body of Christ”.
Peter, we heard today [in the Acts of the Apostle], met a ‘marginal’ man laying begging at the gate, as he did every day,. Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us. ” And the man expected only earthly things, a good donation. Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you, the name of Jesus Christ. “
That is what Peter is charged with giving to the world. Not policies, not basilicas, not great movements or great ideas, not making people feel comfortable in who they are, not making the Church respected and loved. No, the charge of Peter is to look intently at the broken, the marginal, the sinner, the lost, and give them not silver and gold, save as the silver and gold flows from first giving the name of Jesus.
There will be much gossip and talk speculating about who the next pope is, all of which is chatter that means nothing to you and me, and certainly not to Jesus. We must step away from that. We pray for our departed Holy Father, for we want him, we long for him, to be one with the Lord in heaven waiting for us. And we pray. That’s all we should do. Pray that Jesus will look at us and give us the pope that we need, not the pope we deserve. Deserve has got nothing to do with it. Jesus’ love is shining on us. So let us rejoice in the gift that Jesus made to us of Pope Francis and his call to look intently at those who are on the margins.
And let us ask the Lord, in the power of His Son’s Blood pouring from the Cross, to free Pope Francis from all of his sins. May his good deeds go before him. May he enter into peace. May eternal light shine upon him.
Eternal rest grant unto Pope Francis, O Lord. And may eternal life shine upon him.
May he rest in peace. Amen.
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.