Vigil Homily for Ninang Ruby Soriano (Homily #21)
Funeral homily for Ninang Ruby Soriano (Homily #22)
Support Ruby Soriano's family: http://www.gofundme.com/mamaruby
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VIGIL HOMILY
Castro Valley, CA
Feb. 26, 2015
Ruby Esperanza Soriano is my godmother in marriage,
so I call her Ninang Ruby. Cheryl and Chancy
are first cousins to my wife. My name is
Deacon Dennis, and I am a new permanent deacon of the Catholic Church. I would like to give a very warm welcome to
all of you. And on behalf of Ruby’s
parish church, please accept our deepest condolences, especially to Ninong
Adel, Cheryl, Chancy, to Auntie Nene, and family. When I first met Ninang Ruby 16 years ago, little
did I know that I would be giving my first funeral vigil homily for her.
The purpose of this vigil is for “the Christian
community to keep watch with the family in prayer to the God of mercy and find
strength in Christ’s presence” (Order of
Christian Funerals #56). We keep
watch with the family tonight in preparation for what is called the “Final
Commendation” of her soul to God at tomorrow’s funeral Mass.
Thankfully, the Word of God consoles the pain
of our great loss. As we heard in the
First Reading, a reading chosen by the family, it is written in the Book of the
Prophet Isaiah, “The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces….” It is the Lord God Who is the Divine
Consoler. May these words from Isaiah be
a source of comfort when we are alone in the silence missing her deeply, when
tears run and no one on earth is able to wipe them away. Let us pray for Ninang Ruby’s soul. At this moment, may her soul, and even our
own souls pray together the words: “Behold
our God, to whom we looked to save us!
This is the Lord for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that he
has saved us!”
My strongest memory of Ninang Ruby is her strong devotion
to her family and extended family as well as her strong devotion to her faith
in God. Faith and family— these are two great
treasures that have forever defined Ninang Ruby and her choices in this earthly life. It wasn’t just a typical devotion to family,
or an average devotion to faith, but it was a STRONG devotion to her family and
a STRONG devotion to faith.
Ninang Ruby’s strong faith and passing from this
life into the next life remind us of our vocation to holiness, the Four Last Things,
and the Communion of the Saints. Jesus
tells us “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Our earthly lives are meant to be a
pilgrimage on this earth to our eternal dwelling place with God in Heaven. Ninang Ruby’s peaceful passing reminds us of
our eternal destiny, which God has prepared for “those who keep His covenant
and remember to fulfill His precepts,” as we heard in the responsorial
psalm. Ninang Ruby’s passing reminds us
of our mortality, of the passing things of this earth, how nothing lasts
forever, except Love, as St. Paul reminds us.
And so tonight, why do we keep watch in prayer? We keep watch and pray for Ninang Ruby’s soul because of the Four Last Things, which are
Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. May, God willing, we may all be reunited in Heaven with Ninang Ruby
one day.
In Catholic teaching, at the moment of death, the
soul is separated from the body. It
experiences what is called a particular judgment. The soul enters into one of three states at
the particular judgment: Heaven, Purgatory or Hell. A soul that dies in the state of grace, in
the state of friendship with God, enters heaven. A soul that dies in the state of grace, but
with stain on the soul, eventually enters into Heaven, but still needs to be
purified. Hell is the state of
separation from God and the society of the damned. Souls in purgatory benefit greatly from the
prayers of those on earth who are in the state of grace. Our souls must be conformed to Christ at the
end of our lives.
Ninang Ruby died a Christian death. She didn’t die just a death. She died a Christian death. She died a death in a manner like her
Savior. She showed us what it means to
die what is called a happy death—a Christian death, which is a great grace
indeed! She experienced a death similar
to that of Jesus on the Cross. All her
sufferings, especially endured in the state of grace, are united to the
sufferings of Jesus on the Cross to save the world. This is the Christian meaning of human
suffering. She was faithful, not just at
the end of her life, but throughout her life.
And this is the message of hope this evening. It is a hope that St. Paul describes in his
Letter to the Romans that we heard this evening. It is a hope that “does not disappoint us,
because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit
which has been given to us”. Ninang Ruby
gives us a glimpse of someone who included God in her life. In her final week, she received the Bread of
Life, the Eucharist, and the Last Sacraments of the Holy Church: The Eucharist,
which is the Body of Christ, Confession, Anointing of the Sick.
She had a strong devotional life to the
Mother of Jesus, the Woman that Christ on the Cross gave to us when he said,
“Behold your Mother.” Ninang Ruby
understood this 2,000 year old tradition of honoring Jesus’s mother through the
holy rosary which is the mark of great saints in heaven. These are great marks of a Catholic in love
with Jesus Christ.
In the Communion of Saints, the souls of those on
Earth are united with those in Purgatory and those in Heaven. Just as I would ask you for your prayers or
you would ask me for my prayers, so too we ask those souls in Heaven to pray
for us, and more so! The souls in
purgatory greatly benefit from our prayers on earth, especially at Mass when Mass is offered for
that soul.
Having Mass offered for
Ninang Ruby’s soul is the greatest act of love we can offer her AND stay
united to her. Every Mass that we
attend, we are united with heaven, purgatory, and earth across time and space. When Holy Communion is received in the state
of grace, the soul of Ninang Ruby is delighted with great indescribable
joy. This is why we are united to her
until the Resurrection at the end of time.
We will encounter this sacred moment tomorrow at the funeral Mass.
Ninang Ruby taught us the need to be in the state of
friendship with God, also called being in the state of grace. The state of grace is needed for one to go to
heaven (and even purgatory). Our choices
for or against God define the state of our soul for all eternity. And this dear soul of Ninang Ruby has chosen
well. This should be an inspiration for
us all. May her faith – especially her
love for the rosary – be a model for all of us.
As we reflect on her life in the next few months and even years, let’s consider
this most vital part of her life as an example.
And Ninang Ruby who was united with Jesus on the
Cross will also share in his resurrection.
Her pain in her final moments was united to Jesus. Ninang Ruby
showed us the Christian meaning of human suffering by patiently and joyfully
bearing her sufferings for the love of Jesus, Mary and for her family. And in today’s Gospel, also selected by the
family, Jesus said to the dead young man, “Arise!”
Only Jesus raises from the dead.
He is THE Resurrection and THE Life.
No one comes to the Father except through Him. It is Ninang Ruby’s deep faith in Jesus as the
Resurrection and the Life that is, God-willing, the source of her own resurrection on the
Last Day when her soul will we pray be one day reunited with a glorified body.
I briefly catechized us on the meaning of the
Particular Judgment where the soul enters into one of three states: Heaven,
Hell or Purgatory. The Particular
Judgment, however, is different from the General Judgment. At the General Judgment, Christ will return
to judge the living and the dead at the end of the world. At the General Judgment, all souls will
reunite with their bodies. The souls in
heaven and even purgatory will reunite with a resurrected glorified body to the
degree that they have loved on earth, while the souls of the society of the
damned will reunite with a condemned body.
In heaven, we will see God face to face and be reunited with those there
where God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and there will be no more
sadness, no more pain, no more death. That is why we must desire and eagerly hope to go to heaven one day. Now is the time to ask for mercy and live a
godly life as Ninang Ruby did, because after we die, there will be no more time
to repent and change our lives to God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent to save
us from sin and final death. Let Ninang Ruby’s
death during this Lenten Season be a time of spiritual growth for all of
us. And God-willing, may we all be
reunited with her in the life to come.
That is the beauty of our faith, the death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ, Who merited for us our eternal salvation with Him and all the saints in
Heaven.
And so, dear family and friends, we the Church
prepare Ninang Ruby for her final “commendation to God” (CCC 1690) and God’s mercy tomorrow. As we prayed in the Responsorial Psalm, the
Lord is “kind and merciful”. The divine
mercy of God is like going to Ocean Beach in the City of San Francisco, and
like taking all of our sins, and placing them in a tiny drop of water, and
throwing this drop into the ocean of mercy.
We simply need to ask for it, as Ruby did in her final moments of
receiving the holy Sacraments.
He
thirsts that we might thirst for Him. So
many graces are withheld simply because we don’t ask. So, let us “ask” as Jesus tells us to do, so
that God may pour forth every good and perfect blessing under the heavens upon
each and every one of us, especially on the soul of Ninang Ruby.
Let us this evening at this Vigil stand in watch
with Ninang Ruby’s family and meditate on the Word of God for consolation. Thank you Ninong Adel, thank you Cheryl, and
thank you Chancy, to you and your families.
Thank you for sharing Ninang Ruby with us.
+ Eternal rest grant unto the soul of Ninang Ruby Soriano,
O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her.
May her soul rest in peace. Amen.
***
FUNERAL MASS HOMILY
St. Edward’s Catholic Church, Newark, CA
February 27, 2015
Nine days ago, it was Ash Wednesday. It was in the middle of the 5 o’clock hour
when Ninang Ruby passed from this life. Fr.
Jay, the priest who is with us today, was present at the hour of her death. I’m sure I repeat the sentiments of the
family when I say thank you, thank you Fr. Jay, for being there during Ruby’s
last breath and for her family. To use
the words of St. Paul in the Bible who called himself a “father in Christ,” you
were indeed a true spiritual father for Ruby Soriano’s spiritual birth and
passing into the next life. Please
also convey to the pastor of St. Edward’s, Fr. Jeff Keyes, one of my priest friends,
the deepest appreciation.
And a few moments after Ninang Ruby died, her young granddaughter,
Me’Leah (or Keilyn), turned to her parents and said, “I don't want to live in a world without
Mama.” The little girl was referring to
her grandmother and how much she loved her.
In a certain sense, she was saying, “I don't want to live in a world without Mama.”
“Mama’s love…”
“Mama’s love…”
Love— it is one of
the three theological virtues. The other
two are faith and hope. At the funeral
vigil last night, we reflected on Ninang Ruby’s strong faith in God and
the hope of the Resurrection on the Last Day. We also reflected on the Communion of Saints,
the Four Last Things, and the need to live and die in the state of grace. Being in the state of grace means that we
have love (or charity) in our souls. It
means that we are in the state of friendship with God and are thus pleasing to
Him.
At our baptism, we were infused with three
theological virtues: Faith, Hope and Love (Love is sometimes translated as
Charity). These theological virtues were
planted in our souls at Baptism like tiny seeds are planted in soil. But faith, hope and love need to be watered
with a regular sacramental life so as to grow and bear fruit. I also understand that Ninang Ruby’s maiden
name before she was married for 37 years, is Esperanza. Esperanza.
Hope. Her name – and her family
tree – carries the name of the theological virtue of hope. May it be more than just a name, but a lived
reality in the family line.
When Ninang Ruby was baptized, a white garment was
placed on her during the Rite of Baptism.
The baptismal ritual stated that she is to keep the white garment unstained
into the next life. At Mass, the priest
wears white to signify this. At Ninang
Ruby’s First Holy Communion, she wore white when she received the Body of
Christ for the first time. And this
morning, just as at her baptism and at her First Holy Communion, her funeral rite
will cover her in her last earthly white garment. She will be like a bride prepared to meet her
husband. The white garment is the garment
of love of Jesus Christ, being in the state of grace, of having the divine life
of Jesus’s very Body and Blood, of living the life of faith, esperanza, and love.
As we heard in the Word of God, it is written in the
Book of Revelation, “I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out
of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”. This holy city, this New Jerusalem, is the
Church in love with her Beloved Jesus.
The New Jerusalem is the resurrection of God’s holy people at the end of
time. She is the Bride of Christ, the
House of the Lord, the Church, and she wears the white wedding garment. She is adorned and prepared; that is,
purified and made ready for her husband, the Lamb of God, through her own
Crosses just like her Beloved. As we
pray during the Mass, “Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb!” The white garment that adorns Ruby (now) is
the preparation of a bride adorned for her husband. It represents the divine life of faith, hope
and love.
And at last night’s vigil, as we stood watch with
the Soriano family and our sorrows were consoled with the Word of God, we
looked at the Book of the Prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament which said, “The
Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces.” Yes, let us weep. Yes, let us cry. Because God Himself is victorious over sin
and death, and He Himself will wipe those tears one day. We also see this in today’s reading from the
Book of Revelation where it is written, “He will wipe every tear from their
eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the
old order has passed away.” The one who
sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.”
Faith ends with sight. In heaven, faith is no longer needed because
those in heaven see God face to face. Hope
– esperanza – ends with attainment of heaven.
In heaven, hope is no longer needed because those in heaven, well, are
in heaven. Their hopes are
fulfilled. But love, love remains in
heaven.
And that’s why we should be in the state of grace,
in the state of friendship with God, in the state of love, in the state of
being adorned with the white garment as a bride adorned for her husband. Like Ninang Ruby, we need to nourish the
virtues of faith, hope and love in the soul with the Sacraments of the Holy
Church; otherwise, faith, hope and love will rot and die like a dead branch. After Baptism, there is the gift of the Holy
Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation to strengthen us against life’s daily
temptations, so we have the graces and gifts needed to keep our wedding garment
unstained. There are also the Sacraments
of Holy Matrimony, Anointing of the Sick, and most especially the Sacrament of
the Holy Eucharist, the Bread of Life.
As
we hear in today’s Gospel, Jesus said, “[w]hoever eats this bread will live
forever”. When they challenged Jesus about
feeding us with His Flesh, he didn’t back away. He didn’t say, “I’m sorry guys, (my bad,) I
didn’t mean that,” but rather Jesus stood his ground even more and said, “Amen,
amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his
blood, You…Do…Not..Have…Life…. within you.
John Chapter Six. Ninang Ruby ate
the flesh of the Son of Man. Jesus said,
“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise
him on the last day”.
This is why Sunday
Mass every week is vital to nourishing faith, hope and love in the soul. Without eating the Eucharist, we will be
easily picked off and eaten by the wolves.
And when we do eat the Eucharist which is the Flesh of the Son of Man,
we need to be in the state of grace and love, not in the state of what the
Bible calls deadly or mortal sin.
It is serious sin that kills the life of grace in
the soul from God. Serious or deadly or
mortal sin is the worst thing ever in this life. With deadly or mortal sin, our wedding
garment has been soiled. The wedding
garment has been stained. Yes, faith
still remains. Yes, hope still remains. But love is dead in the soul through serious sin. The opposite of faith in God
is….doubt….deliberate doubt. The
opposite of hope...is despair (like Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus). The opposite of love, the opposite of being
in the state of grace, is being in the state of sin.
And if or when we do fall from grace, when we fall
into deadly sin, that is why Jesus gave us the Sacrament of Reconciliation (also
known as Confession) which restores the wedding garment back to baptismal
innocence. We confess our sins, and we
start over. We start over. God says, “I make all things new!” We just have to ask Him for another chance. We must live and die rather in the state of
grace, in the state of love, in the state of keeping our wedding garments
adorned and prepared for the wedding feast of the Lamb of God. “If we die with Christ, we shall live with
him. And if we are faithful to the end, we shall reign with him.”
In our lives on earth, dearly beloved, let us not
lose our faith, hope and love. Let us
nourish our faith, hope and love that was planted in our souls at baptism, with
a fervent sacramental life, especially the Holy Eucharist every week – not just
Christmas and Easter – and Confession at least once a year and, for those who
really want to grow spiritually monthly Confession or even making a General
Confession. It is Lent, and now is a
good time to restore our white garments.
And so, as we make our Final Commendation of the
soul of Ruby to God, let us recommit ourselves to nourishing the gifts of
faith, hope and love in our souls. Let
us, as with Ninang Ruby, live the life of grace and love. Like Me’Leah who said, “I don't want to live in a world without Mama,” let us too like a little child (to whom the mysteries of
the kingdom belong) say, “O God, I don't want to live in a world without You.” Like Ruby, let us prepare our hearts always,
as a bride adorned and prepared for her husband, coming down out of
heaven. On that day, God Himself, will
wipe every tear from our eyes, those
tears that we will shed for Ruby as we finally commend her soul to God, where there
will be no more death or mourning, no wailing, no pain— only love.
In other words, in a sense, it’s like Ruby telling
us, “I’ve asked the Lord to ease the hurt / And comfort you somehow. / It’s
hard at the beginning, / But I know you’ll make it through. / I hope it helps to
know / That I’ll be waiting here for you.”
You wait for us in the House of the Lord. Thank you, Ruby, my sister, for your witness
to faith and family. We love you. We offer this Holy Mass for you. We ask God for mercy upon you for any
failings and sins. We ask God to grant
you peace. As we prayed in the
Responsorial Psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing else that I shall want” And may you, too, rejoice
one day, as you wait for us to come home, and sing in the New Jerusalem, “The Lord is my shepherd; that is nothing I shall want”. (Amen.)
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