Still celebrating the joy of Easter, and the remarkable number of people of all ages coming to our Easter morning Masses, we learnt on Easter morning of the death of our Holy Father Pope Francis.
Our sadness is tempered by our Easter faith, and we can even rejoice that this follower and shepherd of Jesus Christ has gone to the Father’s house.
We will offer one of our Easter week Masses (Easter Wednesday) for the repose of his soul, and a requiem Mass will take place at 7pm on the evening of Monday 28th April, which happens to be the transferred feast of St George, the late pope’s baptismal name. We intend to open the Social Centre on Saturday morning so that people can come together to watch the televised funeral, starting at 9am UK time (10am in Rome).
We have gratefully received messages of condolence from our neighbours in Churches Together in Upminster with whom we so recently marked Good Friday.
O God, who in your wondrous providence chose your servant Francis to preside over your Church, grant, we pray, that, having served as the Vicar of your Son on earth, he may be welcomed by him into eternal glory. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.
Eternal rest grant to him O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.
Fr Matthew writes:
It is within context of our celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ – the greatest news ever – that we received another sadder piece of news: the death of our Holy Father Pope Francis on Monday morning. We know that his death does not trump the celebration of Easter but quite the opposite: it is the celebration of Easter which gives us the proper basis for understanding the death of our Pope, the death of all who are dear to us, and the fact of our own mortality. To a Christian sensibility, given that death must come to as all, how wonderful that this follower and shepherd of Jesus Christ should reach the end of his earthly pilgrimage having concluded the celebration of the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord and blessing the faithful one last Easter. There is no better time to begin one’s final journey to the Father’s house.
Although I become a Catholic and was ordained during the pontificate of Benedict XVI, Francis has been the pope for most of my priestly ministry. I had the privilege of concelebrating with Pope Francis at the World Meeting of Families in Dublin. No doubt there are different images that each of us will hold on to when we think of his ministry as successor of Peter, but two in particular come to mind. One is the picture of him kneeling as a penitent at one of the confessionals in St Peter’s Basilica. Pope Francis often spoke about the importance of the sacrament of reconciliation – famously his reply to the interviewer asking ‘who is Pope Francis?’ was ‘a sinner’. Fittingly the gift of this sacrament is described in the gospel we hear this coming Divine Mercy Sunday.
Another image that comes to mind is of the Pope standing alone, blessing the city and the world with the Blessed Sacrament early in the Covid pandemic: reflecting a profound belief that prayer should be our first response to any situation we are confronted with, prayer centred on the one who chooses to abide with us and who suffered on the cross in solidarity with us, and above all provides us with a sure reason to hope.
