Mass at St. Conval’s Cemetery

1. The month of November is a time when traditionally the Church prays for the faithful departed. So it is altogether appropriate that, soon after All Souls’ Day and still early in November, we should gather here at St. Conval’s Cemetery to pray for those who are buried in this consecrated ground and for all the faithful departed.

2. In this cemetery are buried the mortal remains of the people from the local area both in the Diocese of Paisley and in the Archdiocese of Glasgow. Perhaps they are your relatives and friends. Perhaps time has elapsed since their death. Perhaps they died recently. Perhaps they died tragically. Perhaps they died before their time and all too soon. Perhaps they are children. We know this: they are all loved and they are all missed. Everyone will be here with their memories. Many will be here carrying a heavy burden of loss and grief. To all of us here today, Jesus says: “Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.” To all of you, I say this: Take your grief to the Lord, and with his help, you will find comfort and you will be able to comfort one another.

3. This is St. Conval’s Cemetery. The word cemetery comes from the Greek word for dormitory. The cemetery is the place where the dead sleep. They sleep until Christ calls them to share in the glorious resurrection of the dead. We remember Christ’s word to grieving parents: “Your daughter is not dead. She is asleep.” And to the little girl, he said “Talitha cum, little girl I tell you to get up.”  When we lay our dead to rest, we are not abandoning them forever to the realms of the dead nor are we losing hope for their lives. Rather we are waiting for Christ to call them from their sleep so that they will take their place in the resurrection of the dead.

4. A cemetery is a place of hope. It is consecrated and blessed ground because it contains the mortal remains of our loved ones and because they have been laid to rest here with our living hope in Christ. We gather here today, yes, with the fondest love in our hearts for those who are buried here, and also with the profoundest hope in the risen Christ; hope that those who sleep here will be granted rest and peace and will rise again on the last day to the glory of the resurrection. In that hope, I pray that all of you who grieve will find comfort and solace.

5^th November 2006