(soft piano music)
- No one who has ever suffered the loss of a loved one
needs to be reminded, or even encouraged,
to remember those that we have handed over
to the all-merciful Father.
There is never a day that passes
when we do not recall those
whom God has given us the grace to love.
The human heart naturally remembers and holds ever fresh
the faces, the voices, the fond memories
of our loved ones.
Today, as a nation, we are invited to remember together,
as one people, those who have selflessly
served our country in the military.
Today is a day for flags,
for patriotic music, and for political speeches
that highlight love of country and national devotion.
We are especially mindful of those
who have given their lives for our freedom.
As Catholics, when we gather
to remember that type of selfless love,
our first thoughts must be of Christ Jesus himself
whose sacrificial love has made us all free,
and that most perfect type of freedom.
Christ's death and resurrection
have made us free to be the very children of God,
when we remember the Lord's death and resurrection,
we renew our identity
as God's own daughters and sons.
This type of remembering is, in a unique sense,
the very work of God within us.
God has so designed the human spirit and the human heart
that we are capable of holding people
very much alive in our memories.
For many of you gathered here in prayer,
and in cemeteries throughout our Archdiocese today,
your memories are quite busy,
and very much the instruments of God,
as you recalled with joy
and with the deep pains of separation,
the goodness of the people of God
who await the Lord's final triumph
in this place of rest.
I can now share in your memories since I now must be present
to this family of faith as your new shepherd,
and to share in the deep gratitude and joy
of the goodness of those who rest in peace
in this place of spiritual assurance.
I now share in your memories since I can recall
with deep gratitude and deep affection
the goodness and the gifts
of many of my own family and friends
who are at peace in similar gardens of God's saints.
There will be more than a few tears shed today perhaps,
but tears are the gift
that the heart uses to cleanse itself.
Our entire nation remembers today,
we remember the countless, fateful men and women
who have offered their lives in service
and in selfless dedication to our country,
so that all of us might be free
to remember our many national gifts on this Memorial Day.
Our memory of those fallen heroes and heroines
is filled to overflowing with gratitude and with love,
and through our memory of them, we renew within ourselves
the virtues that they followed with such nobility.
Today is a very special day of remembering.
But then, what day is there
when we do not remember the people and the events
that have given meaning to our lives?
The church remembers, countless times each day,
the great act of love which Jesus has offered
to the Father for each one of us,
and through that corporate remembering,
we rediscover our identity and our special calling
to be God's own holy people.
Today our nation has a day of remembering,
and such remembering leads us to gratitude and to thanks,
and ultimately, for those of us who are Catholics,
that remembering leads us to offer
the great act of thanksgiving, which we call Eucharist,
through which we praise God for all that He has done for us,
and for all those we now entrust to God's mercy.
Every day is Memorial Day for the church,
because each day we remember the Lord's goodness
and His selfless love.
May this Memorial Day
be a day of rededication for our nation.
May Americans everywhere replenish our national desire
to be a people of peace and justice,
caring for the poor and the neglected
and the immigrants in our midst
but remembering the generosity of those
who have served our nation.
May we renew our hearts with gratitude for our freedom,
and a desire to respect the freedom
and the dignity of all other people.
Remembering is an act of praise,
and we praise God for the great souls
who have given their lives for our freedom,
and we praise God for those men and women from our own lives
whose goodness has inspired our faith, Amen.
(light music)