From Archbishop Donnellan

On the Occasion of the Death of Pope Paul VI
Homily at the Requiem Mass
August, 1978
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Last Sunday (August 6, 1978), about five o’clock in the afternoon, Pope Paul VI was stricken by a heart attack while he was assisting at a Mass celebrated by his personal assistant. It was the Feast of the Transfiguration. The Gospel reading from Saint Matthew told of Jesus, taking with Him Peter and James and his brother John, and leading them up into a high mountain where they could be alone. There, in their presence, He was transfigured. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. Peter spoke, and while he was speaking suddenly a bright cloud covered them with a shadow, and from the cloud there came a voice which said: “This is My Son, the Beloved. He enjoys my favor. Listen to Him.”

The disciples fell on their knees overcome with fear. But Jesus came and touched them, “Stand up”, He said, “Do not be afraid.”

And when they raised their eyes, they saw no one, but only Jesus.

Such was the scene portrayed in the Gospel of the last Mass in which our Holy Father participated. He received the sacrament of the anointing of the sick. For several hours thereafter he was in the company of his secretary, his physician, his confessor, and Cardinal Villot, Secretary of State. But at 9:40 that evening, to use the words of the Gospel, Jesus came, and touched this other Peter, and Paul VI, who had filled so nobly and faithfully the office of Peter, opened his eyes in eternity - and saw only Jesus.

We, the children of a truly Holy Father are left behind, in the shadow of the cloud. Yet in the richness of our Faith we find our consolation in the sure hope expressed such a short time ago by Pope Paul himself when he visited the tomb of an old friend and said “We hope to meet him after death, which for us cannot be far away, in the glory of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Thousands of tributes have been paid to our dear Holy Father by people of many faiths, and leaders of many nations. We might here recite with pride the long list of his accomplishments. There is no need of that. We are firm in the faith that those have already been reviewed before the judgement seat of God, and we are confident that they have received the verdict - “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into the kingdom My Father has prepared for you.”

We might now proceed to vindicate the teaching he proclaimed so constantly and courageously in fulfillment of his responsibility as described by the Second Vatican Council, of being “a permanent and visible source and foundation of faith and fellowship.” But again there is no need for such vindication. Truth ultimately prevails and history chronicles the judgement.

We might even join in the inevitable speculation about the successor of Pope Paul. But such speculation, however interesting, is basically non-productive and our task is to pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit for the Cardinals who bear the awesome responsibility of being the human instruments who choose the 262nd successor of Saint Peter. We pray with a certain tranquillity for we are assured that He Who calmed the waters once will bring the Bark of Peter safely home.

What then are we gathered for on this memorable day. First and foremost - to commend to the loving mercy of Christ, the soul of our dearly beloved Father, Pope Paul VI. For we are his family, and we are mindful of our own, in life and in death.

Second - to give thanks to our gracious Lord for giving to His Church so wise, so compassionate, so courageous a successor of Saint Peter. Our Eucharist is always one of thanks.

Finally to suggest a memorial to our departed Pope. It is a growing custom, in funeral notices, for the family to suggest a gift to some cause, or charity, or foundation dear to the deceased. May I suggest, as the cause dearest to the heart of the Holy Father, the Church he served with such devotion.

Shortly after the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul, speaking of the Church, described her needs as pressing, urgent, even “crying.” He reminded us of her need for the filial attachment of all to whom she has given life; her need for their fidelity, collaboration, prayer; the gift of their time and support, the testimony of their lives to her power, her need for generosity, patience, defense, love. Our gratitude to the Church, then, should be expressed in the prayers we offer for her. These prayers should be for all the intentions of the Church, and for all her children; her fervent souls, that they may persevere; her sinners, that they may repent and be her consolation and glory; her aged, her little ones, her poor, her sick, all her children, known to us, and unknown too; her bishops and priests, that they may serve Christ in the Church with courage, and compassion, with wisdom and dedication; her missionaries that they may bring the saving love of Christ to those who know Him not; her religious and laity, her faithful. In a word, our grateful prayers for all God’s holy Church can be our lasting memorial to Pope Paul VI.

“For we must love the Church as we love nothing else, save only God, if the Spirit of God is to dwell in our midst, redeeming the times and renewing the face of the earth. Saint Augustine says it, exactly and unforgettably: ‘We too receive the Holy Spirit if we love the Church, if we are unified by Charity, if we enjoy the Catholic name and faith. Let us believe it, brethren, in the measure that each of us loves the Church, he has the Holy Spirit.’” (The Church in Our Day, US Bishop’s Conference)

In an early biography of Pope Paul, entitled The Pope Speaks, the author Jean Guitton, closes the book with a recounting of a conversation between himself and Pope Paul. The Holy Father asked him which was the text of Saint Paul that he would choose if he were shipwrecked on a desert island and had to live with only one text of Saint Paul. After the author stated his own choice, the Holy Father said, “And I, this is what I find the most sublime thing in Saint Paul.” And then he recited in a half whisper, in the night, now grown very dark, under the stars, these words from the Epistle to the Romans, that hymn of invincible, unalterable hope:

“For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. the whole of creation groans and travails in pain together until now. But if we hope for that we do not see, then do we with patience wait for it.

“All things work together for good to them that love God. If God be for us, who can be against us?

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for Thy sake we are killed all the day long. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor heighth, nor depth, nor any other creature shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, Our Lord.”