Throughout the time that we
spend here on this earth, each of us is given the opportunity to meet all kinds
of different people. Sometimes they come
into our lives only for a moment or two, sometimes our paths cross for a number
of years at a time. If we're truly
lucky, we encounter one or two such people who truly leave their mark on our souls. When we`ve encountered such a person, it`s
natural that we should want to spend as much time as possible with him or her,
for the lessons that are taught, simply by being in his or her presence are
priceless.
Those of us who gather today
to pray in this church have been given an added bonus: the gift of faith. This gift is given on the day of our baptism,
and it is nourished by parents and godparents, by friends and by mentors. It is modeled for us by the saints who have
lived in times gone by, and by people of our own time who have faced all kinds
of challenges, but still choose to greet each new day with renewed hope.
Because we are people of
faith, we look to the words of scripture at times such as these, and there we
find the advice first written by Saint Paul to the Christian community at
Corinth: We believe that Jesus died and
rose again, and that it will be the same for those who have died in Jesus. On the day of his baptism, Darryl died in Jesus,
just as we all died in Jesus when we were welcomed into the Church. The mystery of our faith has never promised
success measured in terms of the world that surrounds us; rather the treasure
that is ours is made known to us in the form of a promise that when this earthly
life is complete, God will bring us with
him, so that we shall stay with him forever.
In the meanwhile, the life we
live here on earth is a preparation for the life we will live in eternity. Each of us receives talents and gifts when we
are created by our loving God, and it's up to us to develop them, to use them,
to learn how to appreciate the beauty of an artist at work, the excitement of
falling in love, the pleasure of recreation and the simple joy of spending time
with those who walk the path of life with us.
If we’re truly wise, we will learn quickly to appreciate such graces,
for the truth of the matter is that none of us knows the length of our days,
and far too often, we are called Home far too soon.
Today, Darryl`s family and
friends are here to pray with him.
Today, we commend his eternal soul into the hands of the God who created
him and who lent him to us for the past fifty years. Throughout his short life, he learned to live
each day to the fullest, to love deeply, and to see life’s challenges as
opportunities for growth. Would that we
could all be so wise, and yet even as we come to this moment, we give thanks
for the privilege of having known him in this life, of having been able to
learn from him.
The road that he now embarks
upon is one that we also must walk, each in our own time. When Jesus himself was preparing to embark
upon the path to heaven, he told his disciples that they should trust in God, and trust in Him. We too must now trust that God takes Darryl
to be with him, in a place where he will know the fullness of life and
love, where he will rejoice forever, reunited with his father Norman and with
all the saints who have gone before us and whose example now shines as brightly as the vault of heaven as
a guide for all of us until the day that we too have completed our earthly
journey and are at Home in heaven.
Dear friends, let us celebrate
this day with joy and thanksgiving. Even
though our hearts may be heavy with grief, our faith tells us that Darryl is
alive, that he has once again been made whole and that as we break bread here
on earth and share the Eucharistic meal, we have the certainty of our faith to
reassure us that even though our efforts in life may seem feeble, each of them
prepares us for the fullness of life that is yet to come.
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