Funeral Mass for Andrew Lin Fook Wai
Readings: Wisdom 4:7-15; Psalm 22; 1 Corinthians 15:51-57; John 11:17-27
Picture: By Axel Antas-Bergkvist on Unsplash
My dear friends, given a choice, which would you prefer to celebrate, a wedding or a funeral? If you’re like me, the answer is obvious. At a wedding, we are filled with delight. At a funeral, we are stricken by grief. And it’s only natural that we prefer delight to grief. But isn’t it true that, in either case, we run the same risk of being swallowed up and swept away by powerful waves of emotion? Forgetting who we are, and what we believe? Isn’t this why we celebrate this Eucharist?
It’s not just to remember the life of our beloved brother, Andrew, and to pray for his happy repose. As we’ve been doing over the past few days, both at the wake and at home, together and on our own. And as we will continue to do even after today. More than just to remember Andrew, we gather to learn to see his life in the light of the mystery we celebrate.
For example, Andrew lived for 86 years. A ripe old age. Already a cause for much thanksgiving. Yet the first reading calls us to look deeper. For to the eyes of faith, the true measure of life consists not in length of days, but in how much one has sought to please God. To do so is to find rest in the Lord, along with grace and mercy, and protection. As those who knew him can attest, Andrew was surely someone who sought to please God. He prayed daily, and followed the Sunday Mass online when he could no longer participate in person. At his peaceful passing, he was patiently waiting to make his Confession, and receive Holy Communion.
Still, we should not look for consolation only in the goodness of Andrew himself. For, like the rest of us, he too had his weaknesses. Which sometimes became more evident as he bravely endured the pains and frustrations of terminal illness. But through it all, he kept clinging to the Lord who says, I am the resurrection and the life. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Which means that the reward for faith in Jesus isn’t just heavenly life after death. Rather, it is fullness of life here on this passing earth. The experience of being led to green pastures and restful waters, guided along the right path, and fed at the Eucharistic banquet, even while walking through a dark valley. And was this not Andrew’s experience too? So that even our memories of his weakness become for us channels of consolation. For through them, we see more clearly the mercy and fidelity of the One whom we celebrate at this Eucharist. He who laid down his life that we might live.
And even though we may continue to be stricken by grief, in the Lord, we receive the courage to allow its powerful waves to wash over us, without swallowing us up. For, as St Paul reminds us, it is Death itself that is swallowed up in the Lord’s victory, transformed into a doorway to closer communion with Christ and his saints. Such that, for us Christians, funerals and weddings have much in common. They both bring us in touch with the deep peace and joy that come from God alone. Sisters and brothers, how shall we help one another remain in this peace and joy in the days ahead?
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