Mass in Hawkhead Cemetery Paisley

1. The month of November is our special time of prayer for those we call the “holy souls”, the faithful departed. So it is fitting that we should gather in this cemetery to pray for the repose of the souls of family, relatives and friends whose mortal remains have been laid to rest in this ground made holy by those who are buried here and by the faith, and prayers and blessings of so many believers. So we gather here to remember them fondly and to pray devoutly for our faithful departed.

2. Coincidentally, today is also Remembrance Sunday, and our prayer extends to all those who have given their lives in war for the sake of others. Their death is often referred to as the ultimate sacrifice, and we honour them for their selfless courage. Their sacrifice brings before us the terrible price of war and makes the cause of peace even more urgent. These too we remember and commend to God’s goodness and mercy.

3. It is difficult to stand in this place and think of the death and eternal destiny of our loved ones without thinking of our own mortality, our own death and eternal destiny. These last things should surely inspire in us a spirit of conversion. This place of burial encourages us to live the Gospel of Christ more faithfully, to love God truly above all things and our neighbour as ourselves.

4. Above all this cemetery is a place of hope. We lay the mortal remains of our loved ones to rest here with the prayer that they may pass through death into eternal peace. We pray for them that their souls will be purified by divine love in the state of what the language of faith calls “purgatory”, so that they will be made ready to dwell in eternal peace.

5. Expressions of hope abound in the liturgy. St. Paul tells us that nothing, not even death, especially not death, can come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord. This same Jesus died on the cross and rose again on the third day. The angels said to the women who had come to his tomb: “Why look among the dead for someone who is alive? He is not here; he has risen.” We come here to honour and remember the dead. But we come here with the sure and certain hope that they have passed into eternal peace and with them we look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

11^th November 2007