By Fr. Victor Feltes
Isaiah the Prophet proclaimed: “‘Comfort, give comfort to my people,’ says your God.” In light of Deon’s passing, on this day of her funeral, may my words give you comfort. With the coming of Pentecost Sunday, we recall how Jesus assured us: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate [or “Comforter”] to be with you always… You know him (the Holy Spirit), because he remains with you and will be in you.”
How do we know the Holy Spirit is with us? One sign of this St. Paul gives to the Corinthians is how “no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” Another sign of the Holy Spirit’s presence is how he moves us to cry out to God the Father like Jesus did. St. Paul tells the Galatians: “As proof that you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’” And St. Paul tells the Romans: “You received a Spirit of adoption through whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” St. John confirms in his first New Testament letter that we have become the children of God, writing: “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”
Jesus came to earth as man so that we could enjoy his eternal life and become more like him. St. Matthew describes how before preaching his Sermon on the Mount, “when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.” This is not merely recording a historical detail; it foreshadows our joining Jesus on his holy mountain one day. Jesus has ascended and is now seated at the right hand of the Father, and his disciples will come to him. The Prophet Isaiah tells us that: “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples. …He will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces. On that day it will be said: ‘Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us! This is the Lord for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!’”
I am told that when family would visit Deon’s home she would often send them on their way with food, usually baked goods, as a gift of her love. Likewise, when we come here to Jesus’ house he sends us forth with the gift of his most precious Food. At this and every Holy Eucharist, you can pray for Deon’s soul (to aid her in any purification) and renew your profession that Jesus is your Lord and that God is your Father. Allied with Jesus Christ and led by the Holy Spirit, we can all go up to God the Father where we will experience full consolation. Ours will be the Kingdom of Heaven and we will be comforted. We will inherit the earth as well and we will be satisfied. We will be shown mercy and we will see God. We will be the children of God and we will rejoice and be glad, for after the trials and hardships of this life our reward will be great in heaven.
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