Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre celebrated a votive Mass at St. Francis of Assisi Church the evening of Feb. 19 to remember those who died by suicide.
“We pray for them and we pray for you, who continue to love them,” he said in his opening prayer. The archbishop also prayed that his listeners would find comfort in the liturgy and offered a reminder that death does not undo the bonds they share with their loved ones.
The somber Mass, organized by the Archdiocese of Louisville’s Office of Family and Life Ministries, drew more than 100 people. Father Jonathan Erdman, the pastor of St. Francis of Assisi, concelebrated and delivered the homily.
Father Erdman drew his listeners’ attention to the day’s reading from Lamentations, in which the prophet Jeremiah, grieving the destruction of Jerusalem, says, “My soul is bereft of peace. I have forgotten what happiness is.”
People grieving the loss of loved ones often feel that way, Father Erdman said.
“We know what that relentless torrent of memory can be,” he said, likening the feeling to standing on the ocean shore and being hit repeatedly by waves. “It seems like at times it doesn’t stop. It feels like nothing will ever be alright again.”
That is where faith comes in, Father Erdman said.
“There are a lot of names we remember tonight and Christ calls them to life by name, knowing them, loving them, calling them ever closer to himself.”
Father Jonathan Erdman
While there might be a caricature that characterizes the Christian faith as “aloof” and “removed from the suffering of the world, that’s not the faith we believe in,” he said.
One needs only to read sacred Scripture or look at the cross to know, “We live in a faith of the Word made flesh. Jesus Christ incarnate for you and for me; given for you and for me and entering right into that place, entering right into those waves of grief … entering into that moment when I say I’ve forgotten what happiness is.”
The prophet Jeremiah, in his grief, acknowledged God’s unwavering love and took comfort in that, said Father Erdman.
He told those in attendance that Christ has borne their suffering and their grief.
“Christ takes on every tear of every person who has grieved and every person who struggles,” he said. “Not one human tear shed that Christ has not shed for us.”
Father Erdman also asked the congregation to remember: As much as they loved the people they lost, “God loves them more. … Christ loves them more.”
This love is evident in the Gospel of John, where Jesus weeps for Lazarus who had died, he noted. Jesus weeps but is also “bitterly angry by what death has done to Lazarus,” Father Erdman said.
Similarly, “Christ grieves for us and is angry for us and he comes to do battle with death,” he said. “He calls Lazarus to life by name. There are a lot of names we remember tonight and Christ calls them to life by name, knowing them, loving them, calling them ever closer to himself.”
