Sometimes words will not do. Words fail us. We can’t grasp at the right phrase, the right thing to say, and we are petrified of saying the wrong words. We’re petrified of causing offense. How do we deal with grief in those circumstances? As a priest, how glad I am for the liturgy, for the ritual of the Church, because I don’t have to make it up. I simply do what the Church has always done. And in that, is consolation. That this fact is true is shown by the readings chosen for this Mass, the Requiem Mass. And tonight is a special Requiem Mass. It is the Requiem Mass on receiving news of losing one of our members. These deep traditions of the Church, these deep traditions are so important to us, because without them, we cannot make sense of life if we cannot make sense of death either.

This Mass is the first time that we are able to gather in this Eucharistic assembly since receiving the sad news of the passing of our dear brother Vinny, dear to so many of us both new friends and old. Dear to us because of his example, because of his life, because of his witness. There will be many opportunities to speak joyfully about our dear brother. However, perhaps in our society, one of the qualities that is missing is solemnity, formality. We have actually gotten quite good at being informal, so much so that we don’t know how to behave ourselves in a formal setting. Why do human beings need formality at all? It’s so that we don’t have to grasp at those words. The pressure is off. All we have to do is be.

We are here tonight to pray; to pray in full knowledge of God and His mercies, because our brother Vincent was that example to us. Our brother showed us how to be simple and humble in the sight of the Lord. Not for him any fancy ways, but instead a deep yearning after goodness and the ability to recognize it wherever he saw it. We’re a small community. This Church is tiny. And so those of us who are dedicated to it, we know each other so very well. That means that we are able to learn in ways that are both seen and unseen how to be Christians, how appropriately to deal with the reality of life. And yes, indeed, the reality of death, which will come to all of us one day, whether we think it, whether we’re expecting it or not. We don’t know when that day is. God knows. God alone knows. And the words chosen, then, tonight by the Church, the same words chosen for thousands of years, literally thousands of years now, are so very important, because there’s a dialogue between our Lord and one of His closest followers.

In that dialogue, the Lord teaches Martha that it is in Him that we have hope, not in any idea, but in a Person. Our hope is in Christ Himself.  He does not say to Martha, “I represent the Resurrection,” not “I can tell you about the Resurrection,” but, “I am the Resurrection.” Celebrating Holy Mass tonight means that we will be able to taste the Resurrection, literally to taste the Resurrection in the Eucharistic species. Our Lord who veils Himself under the form of bread and wine, is “Presence in our midst.”  He is our consolation. Our only response is to follow the example of Martha. “Yes Lord, I have learned to believe that You are the Messiah, the Son of God, He who is to come into the world.” I know that if I had asked Vinny as our Lord asked Martha, “Do you believe this?”, there is something similar that he would’ve said to me. “Yes Father, I believe that He is the Christ. I believe that He is the One who has come into the world.”

This is the blessing of a long life, a long life in the bosom of Holy Mother Church, having learned what the Mass is in this same way that we’re experiencing tonight. For some of us it may be a little unfamiliar; the Latin cadences, the formality, the seeming intransigence of the Traditional Mass. And yet, it was deeply familiar to our brother. He knew this Mass inside out. He loved all celebrations of the Mass, because he loved our Lord. And therefore, to dig deep into the traditions of the Church gives us the ability to carry on – not to pretend that we are not upset, not to pretend that we don’t have grief, but to balance that upset, that grief, with hope.

The Church gives us a great gift in Holy Mass; the gift of stillness, of quiet, of peace. In this Traditional form of the Mass, even more so, because you don’t have to do anything. There’s nothing that is required of you. You’re not there with white knuckles, waiting for Father to say something that you have to respond to. The only ticket to enter this Church tonight is your baptism. And by your baptism, you are truly welcomed here. To have the dignity of the baptized means that you have the privilege of praying, of praying not just to Christ, but in Christ, who is the Resurrection and the Life. That is the dignity of our baptism, the dignity that our brother knew so well.

This is a nightmare – the loss of our dear brother Vinny.  But tonight, let us allow the Church to console us with the simplicity of the Requiem Mass, the simplicity of coming to see God present in our midst. It’s as if the words of First Thessalonians come to life before our eyes. We will meet Him in the air and the gap, behind the veil here at Mass. One day, though, we shall meet Him face-to-face, we will see Him for who He really is. That day is now known to our brother who has gone before us.

On a personal note, let me tell you, I have never witnessed a holier death than what our brother has experienced, never. That itself is a great blessing from God and a sign to all of us of God’s favor for our brother. So whilst, yes, parting is hell, and sorrow is so very difficult.  Nevertheless, we should take the lessons that our brother gave us in his life, which is to look forward with hope, to see life in all its fullness and abundance. And after this Mass, during which we have had the opportunity to be still, we’ll have the opportunity to go down to the hall to celebrate our brother’s life, in this place, in this parish that he loved so very much.

So full of life was our brother that on the day when he was feeling very sick, he insisted on coming to the hall to see the life. And I will never forget the look on his face, looking at the future of the Church, looking at the children running around, the delight that he had for all of that, and the signs of his beloved Church coming to life again with renewed vigor and fervor. Those are the things for which we are grateful to God, because with those things, we, too, shall rise and we, too, shall meet the Lord in the air. We pray for our brother, we commend him to the Lord, but in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection, Who is Christ.