Posted on 02/21/2016 6:47:01 PM PST by NKP_Vet
His voice was soft and soothing, composed without losing warmth. And his message was assured & steady. His eyes had that faraway look punctuated with flashes of pure presence, contentment. He was consoling the living while, into God's hands, he was commending the dead. But for Fr. Paul Scalia, this Mass of Christian Burial was different, bittersweet even. For underneath the cream colored pall draped across the casket lay his father, Antonin.
"We are gathered here because of one man. A man known personally to many of us, known only by reputation to even more. A man loved by many, scorned by others. A man known for great controversy, and for great compassion. That man, of course, is Jesus of Nazareth.
It is He whom we proclaim. Jesus Christ, son of the father, born of the Virgin Mary, crucified, buried, risen, seated at the right hand of the Father. It is because of him, because of his life, death and resurrection that we do not mourn as those who have no hope, but in confidence we commend Antonin Scalia to the mercy of God."
In his dulcet tones, the obvious question "Why are we here?" was given the oft-forgotten answer: we are here not primarily for this life which has ended, but rather for the Life that never dies. The Life here presently & into eternity. Quite simply, we are here because of Christ.
Oh, don't be mistaken, Antonin Scalia was celebrated by his son. His marriage of 55 years. His fatherhood of nine & grandfatherhood of 36. His child-like playfulness & razor sharp wit. And his deep devotion to the law & his country. Even more, we were given a glimpse at his deep & abiding faith.
"God blessed Dad with a deep Catholic faith: The conviction that Christ's presence and power continue in the world today through His body, the Church. He loved the clarity and coherence of the Church's teachings. He treasured the Church's ceremonies, especially the beauty of her ancient worship. He trusted the power of her sacraments as the means of salvation as Christ working within him for his salvation...Dad understood that the deeper he went in his Catholic faith, the better a citizen and public servant he became. God blessed him with the desire to be the country's good servant because he was God's first."
But perhaps most compelling, most humbling & most true was the emphasis Fr. Paul placed on his father being a sinner.
"We are here then, as he would want, to pray for God's inexplicable mercy to a sinner. To this sinner, Antonin Scalia. Let us not show him a false love and allow our admiration to deprive him of our prayers. We continue to show affection for him and do good for him by praying for him: That all stain of sin be washed away, that all wounds be healed, that he be purified of all that is not Christ. That he rest in peace."
This was no shocking indictment, or sop to naysayers of the late Justice. Rather, it was a simple declaration of the condition we all share: We are fallible, sinful but redeemable. The popular postmortems (mine included) have spoken & will continue to speak to the legacy of Antonin Scalia. But this all fades into nothing as this child of God, "Nino", grasps the hand of Christ & finds his way home. At last.
And so, in this final Mass for Antonin Scalia, we were embraced by the deep love & mercy of the unchanging Christ. And as the Eucharist was celebrated, the broken body of Christ once again assured & conveyed its Grace to Antonin, to his family, to you & to me. Consequently, we would be remiss if we failed to allow this Grace to transform us.
"So we cannot depart here unchanged. It makes no sense to celebrate God's goodness and mercy to Dad if we are not attentive and responsive to those realities in our own lives. We must allow this encounter with eternity to change us, to turn us from sin and towards the Lord."
Fr. Paul, son of Antonin, would conclude,
"Jesus himself becomes present here today under the form of bread and wine so that we can unite all our prayers of thanksgiving, sorrow and petition with Christ himself as an offering to the Father. And all of this with a view to eternity, stretching towards heaven, where we hope one day to enjoy that perfect union with God himself and to see Dad again and, with him, rejoice in the communion of saints."
Indeed. Indeed. Amen, amen.
Go, Antonin Scalia, child of God. Be well & be still. Requiescat In Pace.
“We are gathered here because of one man. A man known personally to many of us, known only by reputation to even more. A man loved by many, scorned by others. A man known for great controversy, and for great compassion. That man, of course, is Jesus of Nazareth.
Was so very touching ! The strength and love of his father (both of them) shown through Paul Saturday.
Ping.
Powerful words in this day of life celebration funerals.
Ping.
Fr. Paul Scalia had incredible strength. The Homily was excellent.
And it is all so true. I can’t imagine being a priest and having to do this for my father.
Catholic Ping!
Justice Scalia often joked about having a son whom he called “Father.”
Great read—and scathing critique of “celebration of life” Funerals;
http://alpb.org/Forum/index.php?topic=6267.msg394006;topicseen#msg394006
“We are gathered here because of one man.....that man, of course, is Jesus of Nazareth”
Magnificent zinger.
Good thing I wasn’t there—I woulda jumped up and whooped.
Read this thread.
Thank you.
I am not Catholic, but I was very impressed by Father Paul Scalia. He did a marvelous job and honored his father greatly.
I did the eulogies for both my parents—I cannot imagine performing an entire Mass for them. Both times, a flash of emotion overcame me momentarily as I neared the end of the eulogies, knowing this was indeed the final earthly goodbye until that great day of reunion in Heaven.
In a great paradox, on Saturday, the son was indeed father to the man.
Yesterday, at my Serbian Orthodox parish, after Divine Liturgy we had a Parastos (A Serbian form of a Pannikida memorial service) for the matriarch of one of our parish’s large families. She had died in Belgrade a few days earlier. Our priest said large portions of the service in English.
As is usual with a Parastos or Pannikida, or an Orthodox funeral, the service emphasized forgiveness of sins, because “no [man] lives and sins not”. So it had a similar flavor to the Scalia Funeral Mass.
After the Parastos,we had a lovely Serbian memorial lunch, with all sorts of good people in attendance (including some who have been absent from Church in awhile). And the week before, at my OCA parish, we had a Baptism of a baby girl who had been born a couple of months earlier. So we’re all doing very well.
When i was a kid, the Wake or the luncheon after the funeral or any gathering Outisde the Mass, was the celebration of life, reminiscing about the person, etc. The Mass was about Jesus, and asking Him to welcome our loved one. Now everyone is depressed and afraid of the formality. I find the Mass so comforting.
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