Mass at St. Conval’s Cemetery: November 2007

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. Last year on this day, I recalled that, 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 and you come here regularly. Perhaps they died recently and you are here for the first time. Perhaps they died tragically. Perhaps they died before their time and all too soon. Perhaps they are children.

3. 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, the Word of God reminds us that the Lord will destroy death for ever and that He will wipe away the tears from every cheek. To all of you, I say this: Take your grief to the Lord, who invites us, saying: “Come to me all you who labour and are overburdened and I will give you rest…I am gentle and humble, and you will find rest for your souls.”

4. Grief is a very powerful and even unpredictable emotion. Grief can affect the bereaved person greatly. Sometimes the bereaved can fret and worry about their beloved who has died. They may look for a sign that their loved one is happy and at peace. Some claim to have had such signs. I am always consoled by the words of Jesus that are sometimes proclaimed in the Gospel at funerals and which we have heard today: “Now the will of him who sent me is that I should lose nothing of all that he has given to me, and that I should raise it up on the last day.” The Father has given us all and all things into the hands of his Son. Jesus wants to lose nothing of that. He is determined that he will bring those that are his to eternal life. We should not worry about our loved ones. We should remember them with love and tenderness, and pray for them entrusting them to the loving mercy of God. If you love them, He, their Creator and Saviour, loves them all the more and with all his divine heart wants them to have the fullness of life.

5. A Mass for the Faithful Departed always calls us to a new faith and trust in God. We put our faith again in the death and resurrection of Jesus which is the reason for our hope that death is not the end but is the way to fullness of life. In that hope, we pray for those we love who are buried here. In that hope, we advance through faith and love life everlasting and to the joys of heaven.

4^th November 2007.