Milquetoast Sermons: Lost Opportunities

[steve-b]

I knew him quite well. Why?

I ask, because I too have attended funerals of those I thought I knew well. In this one case, 30 years ago, I had a conversation with a friend, while we’re watching our sons play ball on the same team. This was maybe 2 weeks prior to his death. I wasn’t aware he was a Catholic. But in conversation it came out. In surprise, I asked him which parish he belonged to, and he said he didn’t know, he hadn’t been to mass in 20 years. He died in his sleep.

At the funeral mass, I was thinking, I hoped in some way our conversation we had, a week prior, in some way, made some difference. Because objectively he died in mortal sin. And who among us knows the second we will take our last breath.

 

[kill051]

[Hey…How are you posting under two different accounts??]

There was a member here recently who was posting under FOUR different accounts. They all had different names so it looked like four different people. She would post something self-serving and obnoxious under the main account, and then if she got posts from other members calling her on her nonsense, she would then post under her side accounts, saying things like ‘Leave (N.) alone! You have no right to criticise!’ or ‘How dare you say that to (N.)! She’s been through enough!’ Needless to say, she suffered from some sort of emotional disturbance. Her duplicity was easy to unmask, because in all her guises, she couldn’t resist ranting about priests raping her in the confessional. She’s been banned temporarily, but I fully expect her to come roaring back once the banishment period ends.

 

[Ann_Stanton]

I remember my mother’s funeral. The priest did not even know her name despite my mother being very active in the parish. There was no homily about the deceased and the afterlife. I was just grateful that she at least had a Mass said for her eternal soul. All of the persons in attendance at the funeral Mass were Catholic.

 

[TheLittleLady]

At every funeral you will hear at least one of the “Funeral Trifecta”

On Eagle’s Wings
Be Not Afraid
Here I Am, Lord

The pastoral needs of the grieving family come before preaching hell fire and damnation.

 

[PetraG]

Me, too…and for the OP’s benefit, let us note that it is a prayer of intercession. It is not presented as a foregone conclusion:

May the angels lead you into paradise;
may the martyrs come to welcome you
and take you to the holy city,
the new and eternal Jerusalem.

 

[goout]

That’s kinda the point I was making?

 

[tseleehw]

OK gotcha. I must have misunderstood then.