The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-09-22
SERMON DELIVERED BY THE
VERY REV. JAMES c. BYRNE, v.
G., IN CALVARY CEMETERY, ST.
PAUL, LAST SUNDAY.

Many and various are the motive!
which lead us to the cemetery today
Here with livelier gratitude we recall
the toll and hardship of fond parents
who lived but for God and for us;
here with more fervent devotion We
pray for the eternal repose of friends
whose presence We still deeply miss;
here with greater ardor we revive oul
hopes of seeing in q better world
those loved ones again; here with
more solemn assertion we profess
that their faith is ours and that we
shall strive to maintain it with the
same gratitude and the same stead
fastness which animated them.
|. The Receiving Line.
How many holy remains have here
been laid away! Babes fresh from
the baptismal font who knew no sin,
youths and maidens who in the great
spiritual warfare were strengthened
and sanctified with the Bread of Life,
aged athletes of Faith who had climb
GU llle mountain Vi IIlt
heroic patience and faith had been
transfigured on the summit are now
holding this peaceful reception to kin
dred and friends. AS we stand here
we recall that long last gaze which
we bent upon them. We recall how
they appeared and what they seemed
to be thinking as then they lay motion
less and still. Memory brings it all
back Once more we see the laughing
babe, sobered into an image of stone
the youth apparently dreaming of fame
in some land afar, the mother at last
blessed with surcease of care, the aged
father, with the smile of the pilgrim
who has returned home. We see
again the warrior wrapped in a man.
tie of glory, the saint enshrined in
a mantle of prayer. All as they were
seen in that last glance, rise up be-
fore us now. Are we right in reviv-
ing that picture? Would we still be
right in going further and picturing
the heavens opened and shaft OF
light let down illumina ing and glad
dening the br0ws of our beloved? Or
should we gather from the cold fact
that their remains have already
crumbled to dust, that our hopes fol
their future are as illusory as their
images are vain? We know that the
flowers nipped by the first frost will
return once more. We know that all
nature which now seems to be enter
ing into the throes of death will soon
revive. Shall man alone see no new
life, no return of Spring? Are all oul
imaginings of the dead but the empty
No! A thousand times, No! Dust may
crumble to dust but the soul sur
wives; dust may crumble to dust but
it will rise again to immortal life.
II. The Vision of Faith.
There are many natural intimations
of life beyond the grave but we neec
not argue them now. We are chill
dren of the faith and to the faith WE
go for our assurance of immortal life
How strongly and conyincingly the
faith assures us. Every Catholic
creed from that formulated by the
Apostles down to the last in our day
proclaims the resurrection OF tht
dead. Every council whether com
posed of martyrs who could show b!
their mutilated members and hideou
scars how they had combatted for thu
faith, or of learned theologians wht
had sifted all arguments for and al
objections against it, likewise Sc
down the resurrection of the dead a!
a fundamental tenet OF Christian
Truth. The Fathers of the Church
without one dissenting voice teach th'
same consoling doctrine 1t is there
fore true vision of faith inspired b.
the Holy Spirit, the Comforter
vision that tells us that souls live AM
that in the resurrection they will b
united again to their bodies,-thei
own bodies which will be the sam
entire and immortal.
Still, since at death our tears an
cries were unavailing to bring bac
the dead or to stay their departure
since the cold tomb is now deaf an
silent above their remains, since tn
bourne of death is barrier in
penetrable to sense, shutting out tn
dark beyond into which they have el
tered never more to return, and sine
we realize all this especially here an
now, it will be well not merely to a.
nounce our faith but to dwell for
few moments on the divine wore
which inspire hope in the hereafter.
III. Three Divine Promises.
The Apostle assures us that OF
God is the "God of hope" and evel
page of the inspired record confirm
this assurance God inspired hope
a Redeemer, hope in His Provident
over the chosen people, hope in Il
existence of a better world than thi
If none of these hopes had as yet bee
realized we should still like Abraha
"hope against hope" and believe
the word of God. But now two 5
them have been realized with sui
full splendor of accomplishment tn
we must confess that God not on
fulfills His promises but fulfills the
in a manner worthy of Himself. He
fond and tenacious therefore our hc