April 8, 2005

(At the Cathedral of Saint Mary, Saint Cloud, MN)

On this day of the Mass of Christian Burial for our beloved Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, we affirm our hope in Jesus Christ, died and now risen from the dead. We do believe in the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins and in life everlasting. We pray our dear Pope sees God now face to face, and will be with God, the Risen Christ, and the saints forever.

Here, in our Cathedral, we do not celebrate this Eucharist alone or separate from the rest of the Church. This is our praise, thanksgiving, sacrifice and meal of the people of God gathered here. But we are also united to all other communities that celebrate the Eucharist all over the world. Thus, though distanced by miles and time changes, we celebrate this Eucharist with the millions gathered in Rome for the Holy Father’s funeral earlier this day. In the Eucharist, the Church does become present as the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church!

This fellowship also reaches beyond this world and even beyond this life, linking the living with the dead. We believe in the communion of saints! Thus we reach into the great fellowship of Mary and the saints and into the very heavenly liturgy at this moment. This very Eucharist and the Church of all ages and all places come together. The Eucharist is truly a “sign of unity and a bond of love.” (Sacrosanctum Concilium # 4)

So we cannot be sad. Although we feel a great personal loss, Pope John Paul has gone home. He belongs there. So do we! We commend him to God because he served us well and loved us!

On Easter Sunday he could not speak, but these are the words of Pope John Paul’s last Urbi et Orbi blessing, to Rome and to the world.

Stay with us, Lord!
With these words, the disciples on the road to
Emmaus invited the mysterious Wayfarer
to stay with them, as the sun was setting
on that first day of the week
when the incredible had occurred.

According to his promise, Christ had risen:
Nevertheless, the words spoken by the Wayfarer
along the road made their hearts burn within them.
So they said to him: “Stay with us”.
Seated around the supper table,
they recognized him in the “breaking of bread,”
and suddenly he vanished.
There remained in front of them the broken bread.
There echoed in their hearts the
gentle sound of his words.

Dear brothers and sisters,
the Word and the Bread of the Eucharist,
the mystery and the gift of Easter,
remain down the centuries as a constant memorial
of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ! . . .
together with all Christians throughout the world,
we too repeat those words:
Jesus, crucified and risen, stay with us!
Stay with us, faithful friend and
sure support for humanity
on its journey through history!
Living Word of the Father,
give hope and trust to all who are searching
for the true meaning of their lives.
Bread of eternal life, nourish those who hunger
for truth, freedom, justice and peace.

Stay with us, Living Word of the Father,
and teach us words and deeds of peace:
peace for our world consecrated by your Blood
and drenched in the blood of so many innocent victims:
peace for the countries of the
Middle East and Africa,
where so much blood continues to be shed;
peace for all of humanity,
still threatened by fratricidal wars.
Stay with us, Bread of eternal life,
broken and distributed to those at table;
give also to us the strength to show
generous solidarity
towards the multitudes who are even today
suffering and dying from poverty and hunger,
decimated by fatal epidemics
or devastated by immense natural disasters.
By the power of your Resurrection,
may they too become sharers in new life.

We, the men and women of the
third millennium,
we too need you, Risen Lord!
Stay with us now and until the end of time.
Grant that the material progress of peoples
may never obscure the spiritual values
which are the soul of their civilization.
Sustain us, we pray, on our journey.
In you do we believe, in you do we hope,
for you have the words of eternal life.
Mane nobiscum, Domine! Alleluia!

Joannes Paulus II
(L’Osservatore Romano, March 30, 2005)

Thank you, loving God, for giving us Pope John Paul II. Take him close to your heart. May he rest in peace. Amen.

+ John F. Kinney
Bishop of the Diocese of Saint Cloud