When we stand before the Mystery of death we are at a complete loss. It is beyond us. It is mystery in the classic sense -- a truth which surpasses human understanding. It is as mysterious as life itself. In fact, birth is a kind of analogy of death. The child in the womb is blissfully happy, content to be where it is. But one day it necessarily must leave the womb for a life it knows nothing about, in no way can conceive of or understand. And the passage to that new life can be very painful. So our death. We have no particular desire to leave a world we know and love. The only world we know. And yet leave we must, often painfully. To enter into a new life far surpassing any human understanding -- eternal glory in the bliss of God's presence. And that we have in faith. It is not fantasy, make-believe, a mere wish. It is a matter of faith made possible in Christ. He too was born. He lived. Suffered. And died. And rose from the dead. The whole history reveals in full the purpose of life and its possibility. In that faith we take our stand. However sad, death is birth to life. A passage to glory through the passion, death and rising of Christ.

Death then is a call to faith, faith in a most stressful situation, in the depth of sorrow. And the grace of that faith freely given by God makes it possible to pass through tears to joy that one we love is born to eternal happiness. We join her in her passing with our prayer that she be born already now into life with God forever. To witness death and believe in life is to respond in depth to the very purpose of one's existence, is the key to assuaging our grief and strengthening our faith. May she rest in peace. Amen.