My Sisters and Brothers, with faith we are gathered here to offer this sacrifice of the Mass, for our departed beloved Sister Sistina Boccitto Here, with faith and joy we are celebrating a Pascal Mystery , a mystery of Resurrection.
The Christian, the Religious should be one who does not fear death. If the Christian has lived his life in loving response to the Father, Son and Spirit, he will see death as a chance to begin to live. Me will see death as the fulfillment of his temporary existence in the here and now. He will view death as a birth to a wonderfull existence with his God and with all his brothers and sisters who have gone before him.
Without a home, that is, a place where we belong and are loved, life would be a misery. But without an eternal home life would, in the long run, be absolutely meaningless.
However, Jesus Christ assures us that we do have a home to go when we are uprooted by death. This home is our heavenly Father’s house. He even says that He has gone there to prepare a place
for us in that house. This should give tremendous hope at a time of death.
If you have ever watched the birds you will surely have noticed the following phenomenon. During the day they fly aimlessly about over the fields and plains. But when evening comes on their wandering cease and they find a destination. They begin to fly towards something definite. In other words, they fly towards home.
As I was sitting writing these lines last evening I cast an occasional glance out of my window to scan the evening sky. Darkness was falling on the fields and streets. In the fading light the birds were passing. As the night was approaching they were heading for the familiar trees. They were coming in ones, twos, and whole group. After a lot of twittering they finally settle down for the night. All their journeying, all their labors are over for at least another day. They can rest now. They are home.
All living creatures need a home to go at the end of the day. We too need a home. To have a home is not just to have a building. It is to have a set of close ties, with certain people, people who accept us for what we are and who give us a feeling of belonging. — Conversely to be homeless is not just to have nowhere to go, but to have no close ties with anyone; and to be wanted by nobody. Here we have an extraordinary good example that Sr. Sistina Leaves us. She loved the home where she lived, and all the other Sisters living there were very happy with her affectionate company.
But we don’t only need a home here on earth. We also need an eternal home to go to, when death brings down the curtain on the day of our life. Our faith tells us that there is an eternal home waiting for us at the end of our earthly life. This is why faith is the most important thing in life. Without it we would be deprived of the hope of an everlasting home.
At the Last Supper, Jesus knew that the night of death was coming on. But he had no doubt about the goal of His life. He said: came from the Father and have come into the world; again “I am leaving the world and going to the Father”.(Jn 16:28 Jesus saw his death as “Going to the Father”, and that was not only to go home but to live in the fullest sense possible.
Jesus also said to His Apostles: “I go to prepare a place for you”. — For Christians, then, life is an exile. In spite of all the buildings we put up and roots we put down, we do not have here a lasting home. All we have, as Paul says, is a kind of tent. At death the tent is folded up; and we depart for that permanent home Christ has promised us.
When death uproots us we are not homeless. We are merely going to our true home. Thus our leaving becomes an arrival; the outward journey turns into a homeward road. While we are here on earth we are in exile; away from the Father’s home. To die is to go home to the Father’s house. Our Sister ended her journey on this earth and have reached the Father’s house. We are here to celebrate the mystery of Resurrection.