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HOW CAN WE KNOW THE WAY? FUNERAL HOMILY FOR A GOOD PRIEST · Padre Alberto (Father Albert)

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  How can we know the way Among the apostles, Thomas is
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  certainly not the most popular, but he is the most recognized by
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  his very memorable nickname. Remember what we call him,
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  Doubting Thomas. I've always believed that that's
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  such a such an unfair title, Doubting Thomas because we're
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  all curious like Thomas was. We all want to know, we all want
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  to see, we all want to touch. We call him Doubting Thomas.
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  And today we find our Lord Jesus Christ offering his disciples
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  part of that final discourse. And of course, here he goes
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  again, Doubting Thomas. He's doubting, he's questioning,
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  he's wanting to see, to believe, and he's asking, how can we know
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  the way? I don't know about you, but
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  sometimes when I'm in prayer, when I read Sacred Scripture,
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  when I read God's Word, and those quiet times when we're
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  alone with the Lord, I kind of insert biblical characters and
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  Saints of the day, for example, in our present situation, and
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  I'm convinced, I'm beginning to think that Thomas really should
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  be named the patron St. of Google.
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  Google. Let me tell you why.
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  Yes, Google, because Thomas always seemed to want immediate
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  answers to very difficult things, everything in heaven and
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  on earth. He just wanted to know right
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  away what's going on. What's the truth?
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  Does it sound familiar? Can you relate?
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  Well, Lord, how can we know the way?
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  And Thomas, remember, always wants to see, to feel, to
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  understand, in order to believe. You remember.
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  We all remember. Unless I see in His hands the
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  print of the nails and place my finger in the mark of the nails
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  and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.
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  Remember that. And that's when I begin today.
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  OK, Thomas, if only you had Google.
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  But seriously, our beloved brother and priest, Father Matt,
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  he spent his life showing people the way and the truth and the
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  life. He showed them the way, teaching
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  God's truth, preaching God's Word, sharing God's life and
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  grace through the celebration of the sacraments.
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  And that's why today when we are sad, we realize that Jesus made
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  the same promise to his disciples when they were sad.
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  Beginning to wonder, where are you going and where do we go?
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  And how do we know the way? Matt spent his life sharing with
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  people the good news of Jesus. He told them that in God's house
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  and in our Father's house, there are many dwelling places, many
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  rooms. He opened up God's altar for all
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  of God's children to come and to share in the Father's table.
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  He spent hours trying to comfort troubled hearts.
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  You know, yesterday I was a Broward general offering the
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  anointing, the last rites and absolution to one of our, the
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  grandfathers of one of our beloved parishioners.
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  And as I left there, I had to pause for a little while because
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  I was thinking about today and I was thinking about Matt and I,
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  you know, God put this thing in my heart where I had the
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  spiritual moment to pause and think about life for Matt, his
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  life, his ministry. I thought of how many times Matt
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  did this thing that I had just done for so many people.
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  And there it is. It's, it's the work of the
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  church, you see, it's the work of God.
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  It's not our individual work. It's God's work, right?
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  It's God's ministry. It's God's call, it's God's
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  vocation. You know, Matt was my brother
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  and he was my friend. We shared a lot in common.
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  We went to the same seminary about 20 years apart, but we
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  went to the same seminary. He'd always talk about Saint
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  Vincent's. My dear brother Paul, too, but
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  he and I were connected in some way.
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  Bishop and I know that you're not too much into hair, and
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  thank God, God gave you all those hats to wear.
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  God gave him a lot of hats to cover the head, which is good.
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  But you know, Father Matt and I were into hair.
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  I I realized this after several years of friendship.
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  Let me tell you why I called him.
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  What did I call him? Cheryl, the priest.
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  Tell him, tell him the priest with the beautiful hair.
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  I called him the priest with the beautiful hair.
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  And he was, let me tell you what, he would smile every time
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  I said that because I'm telling you, Matt could have just had
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  chemotherapy, a huge 8 hour surgery.
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  He would be in the worst moments of his life.
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  And you went to see him in the hospital or home and he had the
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  perfect beautiful hair and he'd be here, he'd sit right there.
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  By the way, this was her seat. Remember Sandy right here.
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  And I would always come and give him the sun a piece.
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  Matt, how are you doing? Oh, you're still the priest with
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  the beautiful hair. He loved that.
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  But we did, we shared a lot, but I perhaps the thing that we
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  shared the most was our love for ministry.
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  And I got to tell you not always did not only did he have
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  beautiful hair, he had a beautiful soul, a beautiful
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  heart. He was a gentleman.
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  He had a gentle spirit. He was a Good Shepherd.
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  Many of you may not remember because you're too young, but
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  the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury, Doctor Michael
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  Ramsey, gave us a beautiful gift, many beautiful gifts, but
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  he gave us this treasure called the Christian priest today.
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  And long before becoming an Anglican, I read this book and I
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  was very fascinated by it. And I've read it several times
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  after that. And I last time I read it, I,
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  you know, I hate to mark my books, Bishop, I don't know if
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  you mark your books, but I don't, I don't like to mark my
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  books because I think it's horrible.
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  But when you get really excited about something, you, you mark
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  it. And this book is marked,
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  especially this little paragraph here toward the end.
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  You got to read the whole thing. But the Archbishop of Canterbury
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  in The Christian Priest Today was written in 1972, and then he
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  had to revise it and rewrite it in 1985.
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  And it was reprinted many times over.
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  But it's the result of conferences he gave to people
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  who are preparing for ordination, deacons and priests
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  in the Church of England. And then it just went all over
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  the world. And there's a part in this book
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  that reminds me so much of Matt and his vocation.
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  It reminds me of this moment. And, you know, I, I love our
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  church. I love our our lay leaders.
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  I know there's people here from all churches everywhere, but I
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  always tell Saint Benedict, you know, this is a Church of lay
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  leaders. There's so many great lay
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  leaders here across the East as people who love, you know, they
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  just love being church. But sometimes we don't hear a
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  lot or understand a lot about priests or their spirituality of
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  their life, you know, you know, why are people called to be
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  priests? Why are people, why do people
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  have a vocation? You know, it sounds romantic,
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  but what I love about Matt is Matt was always very focused on
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  Jesus and very focused on what his vocation was about.
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  And this is what Archbishop Ramsey says that I think reminds
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  me so much of Matt and perhaps all of us in this room who are
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  clergy and are honoured to be clergy share in these words.
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  In our own ministry the crucified and risen Lord is ever
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  with us. We are aware of Him in the
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  Eucharist, in times of prayer and quiet contemplation, and
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  would that these times were more frequent.
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  He is with us no less. Among sinners and sufferers, and
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  in our own troubles and anxieties, He is with us not
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  only to inspire us, but to enable us to be sharing in His
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  own ministry. Our caring for the people is our
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  sharing in the present work of Jesus the Shepherd.
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  Our prayer is sharing in the continuing intercession of
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  Jesus. Our proclamation of the truth of
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  God is our sharing to the people, Jesus who is himself the
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  truth. So the God who calls us and is
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  the author of our vocation is the God whose theology we study
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  and teach, and the God who never ceases to be with us as we make
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  him known. I think those words describe
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  Matt and his vocation very well and the gift that he has been to
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  us and to the Church. I want Cheryl and the children
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  and grandchildren and family to know he was a gift to us.
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  So how can we know the way? Thank you, Matt, for being a
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  witness of the love of Jesus, for showing us the way, the
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  truth, and the life. Amen.