From the Mass in his childhood church

This is the homily Jim's oldest brother, Monsignor Robert Bucciarelli, delivered April 19, 2008.

1.
Jesus loved Martha and her sister [Mary] and Lazaus [their brother]. They are his friends. We are moved to hear Martha say: “Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died”. James Meehan Bucciarelli our brother, father, uncle, our friend, died in January this year. Today we will inter his ashes in the cemetery where are buried his grandparents, who came to New Canaan from Italy, a hundred years ago, our aunts Antoinette and Rose –Rose died 11 years ago today- and our parents Louis and Jeane. I have celebrated the funeral Masses for all of them here in St. Aloysius over the years.

But death is not the last word for them, for Jim, or for any of us. Jesus said to Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” (Jn 11: 25-27).

In the death of Lazarus, Jesus shows his humanity and his divinity. He wept over Lazarus even though he knew he would restore him to life. When the bystanders see him shed tears, they comment: “See how he loved him!” Yet that compassionate heart is the heart of God. Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. He shows he is master of life and death. But that miracle pales in comparison with Christ’s own resurrection which comes after an ignominious and painful death. “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again” (Jn 10:17-18).

Because he is God, Jesus rose from the dead on his own power. His resurrection was like an explosion of power, light and love that broke the chains of sin and death, first for himself and then for us. He lives! He knows us, he loves us, he hears us, he cares for us.

2.
One of the great women saints, Teresa of Avila, said: “I want to see God, and in order to see him I must die”. Jesus says “In my father’s house there are many rooms” (Jn 14:2). There is room for each and everyone but to enter we must cross the threshold which we do by dying. As an ancient prayer for the dead says: “Life is changed not taken away”.

When Jim was baptised here in St. Aloysius parish a little more than 68 years ago, his god-parents were questioned: “What do you ask of the Church?” They answered: “Faith.” “And what does faith give you?” “Eternal life”.

In his encyclical letter Spe Salvi (Saved by hope), Pope Benedict asks what is eternal life? He says it is what we yearn for without knowing what it is. It is beyond time; it is not an unending succession of days in the calendar, but “something more like the supreme moment of satisfaction… like plunging into the ocean of infinite love”(n. 12). Just as color cannot be described to a person born blind so also one cannot explain what a life outside of time and space is like to those who are still in time and space. However, we have experienced the happiness of being loved by persons who are better than we are. In heaven, we will be loved by the three divine Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and by those who loved us and who we love.

Jim knew that lots of people cared for him. He let himself be loved. (We can love because we have first been loved). Jim hoped that in eternal life he would be reunited with friends and relatives, especially with our mother, Jeane. All of them would have had their love purified because to be with God who is love, all imperfection needs to be shed. Since we believe that this purification can take place even after death we offer prayers and especially the sacrifice of this Mass asking God to have mercy on the souls of the departed so they can be well prepared for the unending love of heaven.

Prayerful remembrance of Jim is one characteristic of the new relationship with him that comes with his passing to another, better life. There is also gratitude for having had him as part of our family and of our circle of friends. We thank God for having known him. We thank Jim for what he gave us by loving us.

3.
Christ is our hope. As the Byzantine liturgy prays at Easter: “Christ is risen from the dead. Dying, he conquered death; to the dead he has given life (Troparion of Easter; cf. CCC 638). This is the faith believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian community, handed down through generations. This is the faith that Jim had and which all the baptised have expressed.

Christ comforts us, but he also challenges us. Jesus challenges Martha whom he loved. “I am the resurrection …” He asks her: “Do you believe this?” He loves us just as he loved Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Let us allow him to challenge our human certainties about death, and help us see through the appearances to the reality of his resurrection, the centre of our faith, and the joyful promise it holds for our own resurrection. “Yes, Lord, I believe but help me to have more faith, hope and love.

May the Mother of God intercede on our behalf and make us worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.