A DAY OF DIVINE MERCY

“Beauty leads to Goodness; Goodness leads to Truth”

Today, September 19, 2022, 

On the feast of San Gennaro,

Two beautiful signs of God’s love

Took place in two different continents:

In the city of Napoli, the blood of 

The city’s patron saint once again

Mysteriously and miraculously liquefied, 

To the delight of many of the faithful;

And at St. Bernadette Catholic Church

In Scottsdale, Arizona, we celebrated 

My mother’s funeral mass — herself being,

We might say, “A daughter of San Gennaro,”

Since she studied in Napoli many years ago:

Truly, this was a day of Divine Mercy.

It was a calm and lovely morning

When my daughter and I

Arrived at St. Bernadette’s,

I had no idea what to expect,

One part of me feared that I would

Disrupt Mom’s funeral mass 

With my crying and sobbing,

But another part of me wondered

Whether I might go the whole mass

Without shedding a tear,

I hoped that I had conquered

My fickle and unpredictable emotions,

But, deep down, I knew that I had to 

Expect the unexpected.

We passed through the main entrance

Of this tremendously inspiring church --

I call it a “Baby Basilica” because,

In my mind, in many ways it resembles

The historic churches of Rome –

And I was delighted to be greeted

By several members of the funeral team

At the parish, who greeted us warmly,

And pleasantly arranged about 12 photographs 

Of my mom, which depicted her in some of the 

Happy moments of her past: her wedding day,

A cruise she and I took along the Pacific Coast,

And a treasured family vacation she took

With me and my precious daughter.

Then, we entered the nave of this magnificent church,

And we approached the stately communion rail

Where there were ten “waterfalls” of magnificent roses 

In a trinity of colors: pure playa-cream roses,

Brilliant red roses, and yellow roses that 

Appeared brighter than the sunshine;

We didn’t know quite how they would look,

Because when we chose them we pretty much

Had to use our imagination, and then 

Take a leap of faith, hoping that the colors

Would effectively complement each other.

My mom was very artistic in nature, 

So we knew that we wanted

Vivid beautiful colors to reflect the beauty

And joy of God’s wonderful creation;

Therefore, we chose white and red as a symbol

Of Jesus’ dazzling divine mercy,

But we also decided to mix in yellow

Since that is the color of the roses on the feet

Of Our Lady of Lourdes, when she appeared

To St. Bernadette Soubirous back in 1858;

By the grace of God, the colors blended 

Together splendidly, and they were 

Absolutely breathtaking.

It was about a half-hour before the start time

Of the mass, and one of our deacons gently

And humbly led us through prayer, and so

Together we began praying the 

Glorious mysteries of the Holy Rosary,

It was so pleasant and serene to pray

As a spiritual family, in one accord;

My former pastor was like St. Joseph

Sitting right behind me, and his strong confident

Voice emboldened me to “fight the good fight”

On what would be a very emotional day —

He probably had no idea what a powerful

Impact he made upon me during those

Very sweet moments of prayer.

Then we followed the Rosary with the

Simple yet majestic Divine Mercy Chaplet:

Again, I felt strengthened by these prayers,

And I believed I was ready for the mass —

In fact, my mindset was that of 

Psalm 57: “My heart is ready, O God,

My heart is ready!”

But when the casket was rolled back 

Towards the back of the church, 

Something unexpected stirred 

Deep down in my heart,

And as my daughter and I

Followed the casket,

I looked at it and felt a 

Profound sadness, for I knew

That my dear mother 

Was no longer there.

Suddenly, a powerful wave of 

Sadness pervaded my heart,

And I had to struggle

Like a knight in battle,

To hold back the tears,

It took all the strength 

I could muster to prevent myself

From crying aloud, 

But in spite of my best efforts,

I partially exhaled

A few sorrowful sobs.

In the back of the church,

I had the chance to regain

My composure, but the moment

The celebrant finished the opening prayers

And we reentered the nave of the church,

The cantor sang “The Prayer of Saint Francis” --

One of my mom’s favorite hymns,

And, again, powerful emotions

Threatened to overwhelm me.

But then it was as if I heard a voice

Deep within my soul that seemed to say,

“Look up! Don’t focus on where

Your mother used to be – look up!” 

And so I raised my head and looked up,

And there I beheld the breathtaking sacred art

On the inside of the cupola, where I saw Our Lady

In the glory of Heaven, surrounded

By many of our greatest saints,

And looking at them, my heart

Was greatly encouraged and 

Rejoiced in the Truth, and this scene 

Strengthened me in my emotional battle.

When we took our place in the front pew,

My heart somehow felt stronger --

In fact, my heart felt like it had become

Ten times stronger,

Like the Grinch’s heart

During his epiphany moment

On Christmas morning.

It seemed as if I only blinked twice,

And already it was time for the 

First reading, and I was the lector

Who was going to proclaim it;

It was a reading from chapter two of

The Book of Sirach, one of my favorite

Passages in the Old Testament,

Which focuses on the Lord’s

Indescribable compassion and mercy;

As I ascended the steps of the ambo,

The Holy Spirit simply took over,

I really don’t know how else

To describe it; in His divine mercy,

The good God gave me what

I so desperately needed:

The opportunity to share

Something beautiful with others,

Just as St. Francis of Assisi said

Towards the end of the opening hymn, 

“It is in giving that we receive.”

I returned to my seat empowered,

And after experiencing God’s grace,

The cantor, with her dulcet voice,

Sang Psalm 103, another of my favorites,

For it too speaks in a wondrous way

Of Jesus’ compassion and mercy;

I sang, and I sang loudly,

Glorifying God in my heart

For His goodness and mercy,

In celebrating this happy occasion.

And then it was time for me to go up

To the ambo once more to proclaim

The second reading, which is yet another

One of my favorites: Revelation 21,

In which Our Lord speaks of making us

A “new creation” in His divine love;

In my heart I was inspired by St. John

Who wrote this memorable text,

But, at the same time, I felt

Our Lady and Our Lord were

Very close to me in spirit,

I was very happy indeed,

And as I proclaimed the Word,

I felt the Holy Spirit’s joy —

It was like honey in my mouth.

Then came the Gospel text, 

My mom’s absolute favorite:

John 14 -- which reminds us of the 

Reality that Jesus wishes to prepare 

A magnificent place for us in Heaven;

The deacon spoke with great love, 

As if he were Jesus himself,

Filled with the fruit of the Spirit:

He proclamed the Word with

Love and joy and peace, 

Patience, kindness, generosity,

Faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;

And my heart rejoiced. 

The homily was something I had been

Really looking forward to,

And I was very pleased to hear

Such a faithful priest, such a wise priest,

Recognize so much goodness in my mom,

He spoke as if he had known her

All of his life, and his words of wisdom

Sank very deeply into my soul;

Listening to our pastor, I am reminded

Of the words of Pope St. John XXIII

Who once made the following comment

About St. John Vianney, who is known as

The patron saint of parish priests -- he said, 

“[The priest] is no longer supposed to live

For himself… He must be aflame with

Charity toward everyone. Not even his 

Thoughts, his will, his feelings belong to him,

For they are rather those of Jesus Christ,

Who is his life”; this is what I felt from

Our pastor, for as he spoke of my mom,

He did so with “a heart aflame with charity.”

Then as we transitioned from 

The Liturgy of the Word to the

Liturgy of the Eucharist, the cantor,

With her stunningly beautiful voice,

Sang an unforgettable version 

Of the Ave Maria of Franz Schubert,

One of the most sublime hymns

In the history of classical music,

Accompanied by the thunderous power

And elegance of the largest pipe organ

In the entire state of Arizona,

And played masterfully by

Our very talented organist;

I must say, that it was 

Nothing short of spectacular.

The time for Holy Communion

Was soon upon us -- I was so engulfed 

In the love and joy of the moment

That it felt like Jesus himself

Personally gave me the special gift of 

His Most precious body and blood –

This reminds me of a holy card from 

My daughter’s First Holy Communion,

Showing Jesus, holding a chalice,

Giving Holy Communion to a young girl

Dressed in white who is kneeling 

Before Him at the communion rail. 

For the recessional hymn, 

We sang “How Great Thou Art,”

And as my daughter and I followed 

The casket, I fixed my eyes on the 

Exquisite words of the “Litany of Loreto” 

That encircle the inside of the church

And are especially prominent in the back, 

Directly under the grand shining silver pipes 

Of the organ -- once again I felt encouragement, 

And I was filled with the strength that

I so needed at that particular moment.

Then we stepped outside into the

Golden sunshine, and the pallbearers 

Respectfully placed the casket into 

A Cadillac hearse, white and elegant —

But then our guests exited the church, 

One by one, and I was so profoundly 

Moved by the sincere and genuine 

Love of so many good people,

They made us feel more valuable

Than a sea of sparkling diamonds,

And words cannot possibly express

The love that I felt deep down inside,

For each and every person I met.

It’s such a wonderful thing that

Every little act of love,

Every little smile,

Every little kind word,

Can spark a chain reaction of

The the most profound

And the most sincere love:

For it is a truth about life that

Love begets more love.

Tears, joy, pain, laughter:

We experienced them all, and yet

The good God is never outdone

In generosity, for I can honestly

Say that this was one of the

Happiest days of my life;

I feel like we actually lived the 

“Prayer of Saint Francis” because

We experienced peace,

We experienced love,

We experienced faith,

We experienced hope,

We experienced light,

We experienced joy,

We experienced consolation,

We experienced understanding,

We experienced still more love,

We experienced pardon, and

We experienced eternal life.

Gloria in excelsis Deo!