Friday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Fun in the Trash and Treasure
MSF Picnic 2010

If there is no resurrection of the dead,
then neither has Christ been raised.
And if Christ has not been raised, then empty too is our preaching;
empty, too, your faith.

As the Catholic chaplain in the Louisville VA hospital, I often visit dying patients and their families. Sometimes I provide their last liturgical prayers, Viaticum and the Commendation of the Dying.
"Viaticum" is  "food for the journey," that is, the Blessed Sacrament for the last time. 

The "Commendation of the Dying" begins with one or more readings from the scriptures. Often I read the words of Jesus as found in the Gospel of John, chapter 6: 

Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me,

Then I invite all the saints and angels to join us in prayer, with the Litany of the Saints. Finally, I invite the dying patient: 

Go forth, Christian soul, from this world 

in the name of God the almighty Father,
who created you,
in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God,
who suffered for you,
in the name of the Holy Spirit,
who was poured out upon you.
Go forth, faithful Christian!

May you live in peace this day,
may your home be with God in Zion,
with Mary, the virgin Mother of God,
with Joseph, and all the angels and saints.

On several occasions the patient died shortly after my reading of this prayer. It seemed as if the portals of eternity swung open for a moment. We felt the presence of saints and angels as they welcomed the new arrival. We solemnly handed him over to them and the doors closed. Suddenly he was gone and life resumed for the rest of us.

Working in the secular, but very spiritual environment of the VA hospital, I have become all the more convinced of the power of our Christian liturgies. In today’s reading from First Corinthians, Saint Paul uses arguments to remind his people of the promise of everlasting life. Argument has its place, but it is not half so convincing or a tenth as beautiful as our ceremony. From within the cathedral of our sacraments and through its stained glass windows, we can see rising sun of God. We need no arguments to persuade us that morning has broken.