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By: Ivonne J. Hernandez  We were out of town celebrating our wedding anniversary when we found out that the funeral Mass for Fr. Matt would be celebrated the day we were set to return home. We immediately decided to change our plans. We would check out of the hotel right after breakfast and drive straight to the Church. Thankfully, we had packed some clothes that would be acceptable to wear for a funeral, though our shoes were more casual than we would have preferred. That morning, traffic flowed easily, and we made it just in time for the viewing, which was happening right before the Funeral Mass. The casket was open, at the foot of the altar, as the faithful lined up to pay respects and say goodbye. When it was my turn, I just had to touch his hands. I thanked him for each absolution, each blessing, and each host I received, consecrated through those beautiful hands, hands anointed at his ordination.
The priesthood of Jesus Christ is the greatest gift we have. Without the priesthood, we would have no Blessed Sacrament. Just as without Mary we have no Jesus, without priests we have no Eucharist. Their greatness comes from the One who acts through them, from the One they bring to us. The Eucharist is at the heart of the priesthood. During ordination, the Bishop hands the ordinand a chalice and a paten. He then says to them:
One thing became very clear as I was sharing the news of our dear Fr. Matt’s death with parishioners and friends. He does not belong to any one of us, but he belongs to the family of God. Fr. Matt was very special to my family, with many memories of times shared. Still, everywhere I turned there was yet another story of someone who was impacted by his love for Christ and his Church. “We love Fr. Matt!” … “He heard my first Confession.” “He brought my son back to Church.” “He anointed my father at his deathbed.” When a priest offers his life at ordination, he leaves his mother and his father for his new bride, the Church. He, in union with Christ, offers his life as a sacrifice for us. In a letter to Mrs. Tholin-Bost, St. Peter Julian Eymard writes:
Lex orandi, lex credendi (Latin: "the law of what is prayed [is] the law of what is believed"). When we pay attention to the prayers of the Church, we can better understand what it is that we believe. At a priest’s funeral Mass, the deceased priest is vested as for the celebration of Mass, and the casket is placed with the head towards the altar, symbolizing the position the priest was in when he celebrated the Mass. He is vested and in position… he is celebrating his own funeral Mass.
As we gathered in that Church to commend to God the soul of our dear Fr. Matt, we were reminded that the Church entrusts the souls of our dearly departed to our prayers. As much consolation as it brings to my heart to think that perhaps his longsuffering illness purged his soul and prepared him to enter heavenly rest, the truth is that we do not know. Our duty, now more than ever, is to pray for him and all the faithful departed. In this Jubilee Year of Hope, the Church gives us many opportunities to gain indulgences, which can be applied to ourselves or to the souls in purgatory, “so that the temporal punishments due to their sins may be remitted.” (CCC 1479)
We hope those who have gone before us will one day be in Heaven and intercede for us again. But unless (and until) the Church in her authority declares someone a Saint, we must pray for their eternal rest. If you are reading this, may I ask that you offer a prayer for the repose of the soul of Fr. Matt, and also bring to mind all the dearly departed that have a place in your hearts? And to echo St. Bernadette… when I die, please pray A LOT for the repose of my soul. "Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen." Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, pray for us!
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 A few years ago, I was organizing my closet and came upon a bag of undeveloped film… from the 1990’s! I immediately started researching companies that could still develop those photos for me. The process of getting it done was cumbersome, so I put it off. But that little tangent took me off track from the task I had started. In the end, my closet was not organized, and the film is still undeveloped. Most of us would not have to look very hard to find an unfinished project in our hands. Perhaps we began to organize old photos one day and ran out of time; perhaps we started to write a book or decided to learn a new language, but something else caught our attention, and we left our project behind. Then there are the repetitive, never-ending tasks relating to our daily lives. Whether it is a basket of laundry waiting to be folded, or an overflowing trashcan needing to be taken out, most of us will find something we left to finish later, because something else seemed more pressing (or more interesting) at the time. And though there definitely are times when stopping what we are doing and leaving it behind is the right thing to do, at least for myself, I know this is not the case most of the time. One day, as I watched the priest purify the sacred vessels during Mass, I was moved by the significance of that action happening on the altar. Everyone watched and waited while the priest completed each task. This made me realize something. What seems like drudgery is in fact important and necessary; it is part of the sacrifice we offer to the Lord. How does this apply to the offerings I bring to the Lord at other times in my life? If our whole lives are to be a living sacrifice for the Lord, then this means that if a work is worth doing, it is worth completing, to the best of our abilities. Of course, this presupposes that the task we were doing was what we were supposed to be doing in the first place.
The fact that they completed their fasting and prayer before moving on to the next mission caught my attention. The Spirit had led them to pray, and He did not instruct them to stop. They remained steadfast, completed the task at hand, and only then did they move on. One of the things we hear often during the season of Lent is that many of us do not finish the race strong. Like many New Year’s resolutions, fasting, prayer, and almsgiving hopes for Lent are left behind like Ash Wednesday dust. Perhaps we tried too much. Did we consult the Holy Spirit before we started, or did we choose our sacrifices on our own? If we took a wrong turn, then, by all means, let us take correction from God and change course. But, if the road we are on is the one the Holy Spirit has chosen for us, and we are just getting tired because it is harder and longer than we thought… then let us ask God for the gift of perseverance, for the gift of hope.
Each day brings within itself the possibility of a new beginning. God knows our attention span is short, that we get tired, and we get bored. When we offer God our day, we are giving him all our unfinished work. He meets us where we are with a new sunrise and a fresh start. We ask for the necessary grace; He gives us our daily bread. We can choose to live our lives as puppets, pulled by strings of emotions and whims, or we can ask God to help us live like sailboats led by the winds of the Holy Spirit. When we come to understand that all the things in this world are there for our sanctification, then we can see each task and each work as holy. We can see that it is good and necessary to give all we have with as much love as we have to give. Everything we do becomes an offering to God. In this way, we become a living prayer. Our very breath becomes a song of praise. Let us persevere in the good work at hand…
I was watching a special about the life of Fred Rogers, the beloved Mr. Rogers of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, and I was deeply moved by the life of this man. He was deep, caring, compassionate, intentional, and above all, he was kind. Fred was bullied as a child for being shy and overweight and was told by the grownups in his life to act like it didn’t bother him. Even as an eight-year-old, he knew that this was wrong. He was angry and sad that the bullies couldn’t see past his shortcomings to see him, and he was sad that his parents didn’t acknowledge his experience. After many years of sadness over this, his faith brought him to a decision. He decided he would always look for the essential in each person. Two of his most famous quotes, “I like you just the way you are” and “The greatest gift you ever give is your honest self,” describe how he loved his neighbor as himself. Fred Rogers cared, he listened, he connected. He brought Jesus Christ to the world, not by talking about Him necessarily, but by the way he lived, by the way he loved.
I think we can easily forget the importance and the power of kindness. It is very difficult to be kind to someone who has hurt us or those we love. It is difficult to be compassionate to someone who just rubs us the wrong way. It is much easier to be kind, compassionate and forgiving towards someone we like. And, although it is true that there are people whose nature attracts us less than others, it does not mean that the act of liking someone is outside of our control. When we experience feelings of antipathy or even disgust towards a person, we still get to choose how we respond. “Look for the essential in each person”. What a simple yet profound idea. How do we find the “essential” in the other? By entering into a relationship with them -- by being present to them and listening to their story. If a friend is rude to us, but we know they just lost a loved one, we are more inclined to give them a pass. When we understand the “why” behind the actions, when we see the pain motivating the undesired behavior, we do not take things personally and can see the situation as it really is. We can refrain from putting up our own walls and instead reach out to the other in front of us.
When we look out and truly see, we won’t see a monster threatening our very existence, but our crucified Lord calling out for us. We will see Jesus thirsty, naked, imprisoned, lonely, mourning, or hungry. When we meet the human needs of others with kindness and compassion, we will find that the essential in them will shine more brightly. When we find that reflection of God in the other, we can then join Mr. Rogers in saying:
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AuthorsWe are Ivonne J. Hernandez, Rick Hernandez and Laura Worhacz, Lay Associates of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, and brothers and sisters in Christ. 
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