The Funeral Mass for John Robert Jones
Dear brothers and sisters,
The words we have heard from Saint Paul are as a mine into which we must delve, and in which we must work to discover great gems through which the light of the Christian life is refracted. Central to his words is the idea of adoption into the family of God. We have gathered here today, having brought John with us into this church he loved so much, because he is a child of God (cf. Romans 8:14). But we know who John’s parents are; how did he become a child of God?
Saint Augustine tells us that “by spiritual regeneration we therefore become sons and are adopted into the kingdom of God, not as aliens but as his creatures and offspring.”[1] This regeneration happens to a Christian through Baptism. The Lord Jesus himself says, “Amen, Amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the spirit. What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit” (John3:5-6). Saint Paul describes Baptism as a participation in Christ, which is why he asks,
Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life. For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection (Romans6:3-5).
It is a great mystery to say a person dies in the waters of Baptism, just as so many died in the waters of the flood, yet this reality is at the heart of the Christian faith (cf. Genesis 7:23). The very waters that bring about a participation in the death Christ, however, also bring about a participation – at this very moment and as a promise of future glory – in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead. This is why Saint Peter says the ark of Noah “prefigured baptism, which saves you now. It is not a removal of dirt from the body but an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (I Peter 3:21).
We have placed John’s mortal remains here at the foot of the sanctuary near the Paschal Candle, the symbol of the Risen Lord, triumphant over sin and death. This candle was lit on the day of John’s baptism in Christ and from it John was entrusted with the light of Christ. Before bringing John here, we sprinkled his body with Holy Water, a reminder of those waters that saved him, and clothed him the funeral pall, the final baptismal garment because, as Saint Paul says, “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:27).
All of this is to say that through Baptism we share in the sonship of Christ and with him are able to call upon God as Father, frail and finite as we are. “This is a mystery we can only marvel at, just as [Saint] John did when he wrote, ‘See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called children of God. Yet so we are’ (I John 3:1).”[2]
To call God “Father” was all but unheard of in the ancient world. The pagans did not do so; the Jews did, though only rarely (cf. Isaiah 63:16; Wisdom 14:3; Sirach 23:1).
What was an occasional in Israel became habitual with the Messiah. Invoking God as Father was Jesus’ normal way, the most prominent and distinctive feature of his prayer and speech. Now Christians indwelt with the Spirit have the privilege of making Christ’s prayer their own.[3]
Consequently, all those who have received the grace of Baptism “now carry this Spirit within them and can speak like Jesus and with Jesus as true children to their Father; they can say ‘Abba’ because they have become sons in the Son.”[4]
If all of this is true, what are we to make of Saint Paul’s reference to “the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear” (Romans 8:15)? This is what Saint Augustine said: “The fear, then, of which we speak is slavish; and therefore, even though there be in it a belief in the Lord, yet righteousness is not loved by it, but condemnation is feared. God's children, however, exclaim, Abba, Father…”[5] Those baptized into Christ Jesus call out to God with loving trust, confident they are in the gentle “hand of God, and no torment shall touch them” (Wisdom 3:1).
We have brought John’s body here because the Spirit of God once dwelt within it. Soon we will honor this temple with incense, even as ask God to purify John and grant him a place of peace (cf. I Corinthians 6:19; Wisdom 3:3). We will do so in the knowledge that
Adoption is already guaranteed for those who believe, but it has been accomplished only spiritually, not physically. The body has not yet received its heavenly transformation, although the spirit, which has turned from its errors to God, has already been changed by the reconciliation of faith. Therefore even believers still await the revelation which will come with the resurrection of the body. This is the fourth state, when everything will be in perfect peace at eternal rest, completely free of malignant corruption or nagging torment.[6]
This heavenly transformation of the body was promised to John in Baptism, as it was promised to each of us, provided we live a life in keeping with the spirit of adoption we have received. Together, then, let us cry out to the Father that John, who shared in the sonship of the Son, may be with the Lord Jesus to know the fullness of the love of the Triune God, now and forever. Amen.
[1] Saint Augustine of Hippo, Sermon on the Mount, 23.78.
[2] Scott W. Hahn, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture: Romans (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2017), 134.
[3] Ibid., 135-136.
[4] Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience Address, 8 October 2008.
[5] Saint Augustine of Hippo, The Spirit and the Letter, 56.
[6] Ibid., On Romans, 53.
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