The daily reflections by Mathew Kelly and the other individuals at Dynamic Catholic have made for a most enjoyable Lent to draw ourselves closer to Jesus. I was particularly struck by Mathew Kelly’s reflection on “Forgiveness.” We each know that we are imperfect and need God’s forgiveness of our sins. What was so striking was the statement that God forgives me, but God even forgives knowing that I will sin again. I certainly believe we have an all knowing God, but realizing He knows the future and still forgives is unlimited mercy.
I was in Mass on a recent Monday morning when the celebrant Father Jim Evans asked, “How many of us in attendance had come today expecting a miracle?” Very few hands went up. Father Jim was quick to add we were getting ready to participate in the miracle that takes place every time Mass is said when the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. This miracle that sometimes is overlooked and underappreciated is the greatest of gifts. It is one of those beliefs of the Catholic faith that we can draw upon to distinguish Catholic teaching from that of other Christian churches and takes Catholics back to Jesus at the time of the Last Supper. It is a truth of Catholicism and is borne out as a miracle in the video of the Eucharistic Miracle of Buenos Aires and other similar miracles over the centuries.
I was particularly impacted by the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonio Scalia. His legacy will be his staunch belief in the strict interpretation of the U.S. Constitution evidenced through his opinions.
However, his greatest contribution to history may be his belief in the importance of “family,” the love for his family that he shared and was expressed by his son Paul, who is a Catholic priest, in the eulogy at the Justice’s funeral Mass when his son said, “He was the father that God gave us for the great adventure of family life. He “sought to share the blessing of the Faith he treasured. And he gave us one another, to have each other for support. That’s the greatest wealth that parents can bestow. . .”
I have attended many funerals and watched or listened to numerous eulogies. Father Paul Scalia’s eulogy for his dad has to be one of the best ever given. You might ask why or what distinguished this eulogy. It is because it is more than a eulogy, it is a roadmap for each person’s life and the purpose and objective for each of our lives.
This purpose is laid out as follows:
“We are gathered here because of one man. A man known personally to many of us, known only by reputation to even more; a man loved by many, scorned by others; a man known for great controversy, and for great compassion. That man, of course, is Jesus of Nazareth . . . It is He Whom we proclaim: Jesus Christ, Son of the Father, born of the Virgin Mary, crucified, buried, risen, seated at the right hand of the Father. It is because of Him, because of His life, death and resurrection that we do not mourn as those who have no hope, but in confidence we commend Antonin Scalia to the mercy of God. . . God blessed Dad, . . . with a love for his country. A blessing quickly lost when faith is banned from the public square, or when we refuse to bring it there. So he understood that there is no conflict between loving God and loving one’s country, between one’s faith and one’s public service. Dad understood that the deeper he went in his Catholic faith, the better a citizen and a public servant he became. God blessed him with a desire to be the country’s good servant, because he was God’s first.”
The message so clearly spoken was and is a great wake up call to each of us in this fast paced world in which we live, continuing:
“We should consider our own place in eternity, and whether it will be with the Lord. Every funeral reminds us of just how thin the veil is, between this world and the next, between time and eternity, between the opportunity for conversion and the moment of judgment. It makes no sense to celebrate God’s goodness and mercy . . . if we are not attentive and responsive to those realities in our own lives. We must allow this encounter with eternity to change us, to turn us from sin and toward the Lord.”
So now the question is how will we allow our life to change to share Father Paul Scalia’s message of “Jesus”, “family”, and “mutual support” to be the path for our future?
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READ FULL TEXT OF REV. PAUL SCALIA’S EULOGY FOR HIS FATHER, JUSTICE ANTONIN SCALIA HERE. (click)
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Timothy Von Dohlen is the founder and president of the John Paul II Life Center and Vitae Clinic in Austin, Texas. (www.jp2lifecenter.org) For a more robust bio, click here—www.catholicbusinessjournal.biz/content/tim-von-dohlen. He may be reached at Timothy@CatholicBusinessJournal.biz