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Memorial Mass - Homily by Fr. Frederick Close
With sadness, I post here about the loss of Phillihp Harmon, the first of our three children. He was given to us in our early 20’s. We could not imagine life without this wonderful person. Together, we embarked on an amazing journey. He gifted me three logo designs for Lamps-A-Glow, two of which are in use today. He lived intensely and joyously. His generosity and concern for others would make any parent proud.
Rest In Peace, my Son
-- Bernadette (click to send me a note)
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Yes, glory. Even on this day of necessary tears, glory to God in the highest. The glory of God is man and woman and child, fully alive, not just for this brief sojourn we have here in this beautiful earth that God created out of nothing but beginning now and going on forever and ever.
It is said that grace builds on nature. And it is my privilege to be here for this memorial Mass where we saw that enacted right before our eyes. Right in our presence, that word was fulfilled in the beautiful eulogy that we just heard. It was very easy to follow Megan's eulogy because she hit all the high points. She told us to not be discouraged by Phillihp's passing, because the twinkle in his eyes and the smile on his face and the way he always took care of everyone in his path, included them in friendship – that's what we are hearing fulfilled in these readings. Grace builds on nature.
The souls of the just are in the hand of God, period and full stop. No torment shall touch them. They seemed in the view of the foolish to be dead. That would be you and me. That would be all of us living in this social imaginary, which seems to be restricted to what I can see and what I can feel and what I can touch, and what can be materially measured by what we now call science. But that is what there is. One more word to put this in context.
Both the reading from the Book of Wisdom and the Gospel according to Matthew are parables. They are not listed as parables, you can’t find them if you could go and google, or whatever artificial intelligence there is, and don't go to AI. You could always tell a parable is a parable because your reaction is, in the first reading, “I'm not exactly sure what you're saying. But I am sure that I don't really like it.” I am sure that I don't really like hearing that those who are blessed are the poor in spirit, the ones who mourn, the ones who… the meek…, the ones... you know. It's OK when he says, blessed are the merciful, the clean of heart, the peacemakers. But he starts in a very counter-intuitive way and ends in a more challenging way. Blessed are you when they insult and persecute you and misunderstand you, utter every kind of evil against you because maybe you're not a card-carrying registered member of some Catholic parish somewhere. Blessed are you to be misunderstood because Jesus was completely misunderstood before you.
The promise is the second reading. This is the first time I have ever had this reading, this beautiful hymn to love from 1st Corinthians at a memorial Mass. And good thing too, because God created everything out of nothing. He created creation ex nihilo, in the Latin that I have forgotten, creation out of nothing. And we have this beautiful reading, the choice that is before us, which is eight times telling us what love is not. Eight times we understand what is nothing. We started with two things about what love is, love is patient, love is kind. Thank you, Phillihp for living it out. And then we have eight things that love is not, eight nothings that appear to be the way that jealousy, pompous inflation, rude, seeking one's own answers, quick temper, brooding over injuries, rejoicing over wrongdoing. OK, and then we finish with six things that love is. Love rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, it believes all things, it hopes all things, it endures all things. Love never fails.
We're here because of our faith in the fact that love, and everything was created out of nothing, everything was created out of love, that love never fails. We are asked to move beyond the view of the foolish. To whom? Eternal life. That is the reason why we are here. That is the reason why we are all dressed up. That is the reason why it is right and just and proper and necessary that we be here to mark Phillihp's life. That's because grace builds on nature and is pointing to the celebration on the other side. And so we pray…
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
-- Fr. Frederick Close
Fr. Frederick Close presides and preaches at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Washington DC.
Readings during the Memorial Mass:
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