ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Dear Friends,

This morning we gather together in reverence and in prayer for Delaware River Port Authority Corporal Christopher Milito who was killed in the line of duty early last Saturday morning. For him the line of duty meant serving generously those who needed his help. Before that early morning accident on the Walt Whitman Bridge he was endeavoring to help a fellow officer. It was a kind Christian gesture on his part.

As we humbly ask God to take Corporal Milito into His eternal Kingdom of joy and peace, we also remember all his friends and loved ones, especially his brother and sisters and fellow officers who feel so deeply the pain of tragedy and separation. Our heart goes out to all who knew and loved him as we invoke upon them the consolation of Christian hope.

Our gathering at this funeral Mass gives us the opportunity to remember the goodness and uprightness of our brother Christopher. We express all our esteem and admiration for the many acts of service that made up his way of life and that characterize so many officers, those many men and women called in different ways to public service. Although cut short by a seemingly untimely death, the life of Corporal Milito offers us a revered legacy of goodness in our community. In this context we recall those words of the Book of Wisdom proclaimed just a few moments ago: “The just man, though he die early, will be at rest.”

Our sacred gathering in this Cathedral Basilica, which is the House of God and the House of God’s people, the House of His family, also furnishes us the occasion to reflect on the meaning and purpose of life and the mystery of death.

In his Second Letter to the Corinthians Saint Paul so effectively draws our attention to the transition between our earthly life and our eternal life when he says: “Brothers and sisters: We know that if our earthly dwelling, a tent, should be destroyed, we have a building from God, a dwelling not made with hands, eternal in heaven.” And then he adds: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.”

Here we have a whole wonderful perspective of earthly life, which is indeed a preparation for the life that never ends, where suffering and pain and evil will be swallowed up in true peace and joy and everlasting happiness with God and with our loved ones. The message of life’s purpose is summed up so well in the little Catechism that asks the simple question: “Why did God make me?” And the simple answer is so profound and readily understood by our experience: “God made me to know him and love him and serve him in this world and to be happy with him forever in heaven.”

From the perspective of the Christian faith, we learn so much from the words of Jesus to His disciples, which we have just heard in the Gospel: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.”

These words show that life is meant to last—forever! When God gives life it is indeed forever! Death is meant to be only the gateway to eternal life.

And so, even amid the pain and separation of this moment, we raise our hearts to God in hope. The words of His divine Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, constitute for us a promise and a solemn guarantee that the end is not the grave or lasting separation, but the joy of reunion in the loving presence of God our Father—forever.

It is this hope, dear friends, that spurs us on to trust in God, to live according to His laws written in our hearts, and to return God’s love for us by our love and service of our fellow human beings. Jesus Christ teaches: “Love one another as I have loved you.” The bottom line of Christianity is a love that manifests itself in generous and dedicated service. Sometimes it means trying to help a friend in need on a bridge, or helping victims of catastrophe in Haiti or even those in trouble across the street. What we must realize is that a legacy of service is linked to the power of love, and this power of love comes to us from God and, when exercised faithfully, leads us to eternal life.

And so today is a new day of unbreakable hope, as we look forward to a reunion that will last forever in God’s kingdom of truth and life, of holiness and grace, of justice, love and peace.

This hope, dear friends, leads us to trust God’s word and to walk faithfully in the way of His commandments. And so we exclaim in the beautiful words of Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. In verdant pastures he gives me repose.... Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side.... Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life; And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for years to come.” Amen.