(FULL MASS VIDEO ADDED AT BOTTOM)
"God blessed Dad, as it's well known, with a love for his country," Fr. Paul Scalia said. Scalia was a conservative pro-life Supreme Court Justice.
Thousands of people came to pay their respects to Justice Scalia. His son's homily was excellent and surprising when he explained;
"We are gathered here because of one man, a man known personally to many of us, known only by reputation to many more; a man loved by many, scorned by others; a man known for great controversy and for great compassion,” Fr. Scalia said.
Then he said: “That man, of course, is Jesus of Nazareth.”
FULL TEXT HOMILY ADDED:
FULL TEXT HOMILY ADDED:
Fr. PAUL SCALIA: "Your immense, your excellencies, archbishop, bishops, my brother priests, deacons, distinguished guests, dear friends and faithful gathered. On behalf of our mother and the entire Scalia family, I want to thank you for your presence here, for your many words of consolation, and even more, for the many prayers and masses you have offered at the death of our father Antonin Scalia. In particular, I thank cardinal weurl first for reaching out to quickly and graciously to console our mother. It was a consolation to her and therefore to us as well. Thank you also for allowing us to have this parish funeral mass here in this basilica dedicated to our lady. What a great privilege and consolation that we were able to bring our father through the holy doors and for him gain the indulgence promised to those who enter in faith. I that I think the bishop of our diocese of Arlington. A shepherd our father liked and respected a great deal. Thank you, bishop, for your prompt visit to our mother, for your words of consolation, for your prayers. The family will depart for the private burial immediately after mass and will not have time to visit. So I want to express our thanks at this time. So that you all know our profound appreciation and thanks.
You'll notice in the program mention of a memorial that will be held on March 1st. We hope to see many of you there. We pray that the lord will reward your great goodness to us. We are gathered here because of one man. A man known personally to many of us, known only by reputation to even more, a man loved by many, scorned by others, a man known for great controversy, and for great compassion. That man of course is Jesus of nazareth. It is he whom we proclaim Jesus Christ son of the father, born of the virgin Mary, crucified, buried, risen, seated at the right hand of the father. It is because of him, because of his life, death, and resurrection, that we do not modern as those who have no hope, but in confidence we commend Antonin Scalia to the mercy of god. Scripture says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And that sets a good course for our thoughts and our prayers here today. In effect we look in three directions. To yesterday in Thanksgiving, to today in petition, and into eternity with hope. We look to Jesus Christ yesterday, that is, to the past, in Thanksgiving for the blessings god bestowed upon dad. In the past week many have recounted what dad did for them. But here today, we recount what god did for dad, how he blessed him. We give thanks first of all for the atoning death and life giving resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our lord died and rose not only for all of us but also for each of us. And at this time we look to that yesterday of his death and resurrection and we give thanks that he died and rose for dad. Further, we give thanks that Jesus brought him to new life and baptism, nourished him with the eucharist, and healed him in the confessional. We give thanks that Jesus bestowed upon him 55 years of marriage to the woman he loved, a woman who could match him at every step. And even hold him accountable.
God bless dad with a deep catholic faith, the conviction that Christ's presence and power continue in the world today through his body, the church. He loved the clarity and coherence of the church's teachings. He treasured the church's ceremonies, especially the beauty of her ancient worship. He trusted the power of her sacraments as the means of salvation, as Christ working within him for his salvation. Although one time, one Saturday afternoon, he did scold me for having heard confessions that afternoon, that same day. And I hope that is some source of consolation, if there are any lawyers present, that the Roman collar was not a shield there are lawyers present that the Roman collar was not a shield against his criticism. The issue that evening was not that I had be hearing confessions but that he found himself in my confessional line. [ Laughter ] And he quickly departed it. As he put it later, like heck if I'm confessing to you. The feeling was mutual.
God bless dad as is well known with a love of his country. He knew well what a close run thing the founding of our nation was and he saw in that founding as did the founders themselves a blessing. A blessing quickly lost when faith is banned from the public square or when we refuse to bring it there. So he understood that there is no conflict between loving god and loving one's country, between one's faith and one's public service. Dad understood the deeper he went in his catholic faith, the better citizen and public servant he became.
God blessed him with the desire to be the country's good servant because he was God's first. We scalias, however, give things for a particular blessing god bestowed. God blessed dad with a love for his family. We have been thrilled to read and hear the many words of praise and admiration for his intellect, his writings, speeches, influence and so on. But more important to us and to him, he was dad. He was the father that god gave us for the great adventure of family life. Sure, he forgot our names at times or mixed them up. But there are nine of us. He loved us and sought to show that love. And sought to share the blessing of the faith he treasured. And he gave us one another, to have each other for support. That's the greatest wealth parents can bestow. And right now, we are particularly grateful for it.
So we look to the past, Jesus Christ yesterday, and call to mind all these blessings and give our lord the honor and glory for them, for they are his work. We look to Jesus today in petition, to the present moment here and now, as we mourn the one we love and admire, the one whose absence pains us. Today we pray for him, for the repose of his soul. We thank god for goodness and know that dad believed, he did so imperfectly like the rest of us. He tried to love god and neighbor, but like the rest of us did so imperfectly. He was a practicing catholic, practicing in the sense that he hadn't perfected it yet. Or rather Christ was not yet perfected in him. And only those in whom Christ is brought to perfection can enter heaven.
We are here then to lend our prayers to that perfecting. To that final work of god's grace, freeing dad from every encumbrance of sin. But don't take my word for it. Dad himself, not surprisingly, had something to say on the matter. Writing years ago to presbyterian minister whose funeral service he admired, he summarized quite nicely the pitfalls of funerals and why he didn't like eulogies. He wrote even when the deceased was an admirable person, indeed especially when the deceased was an admirable person, praise for his virtues can cause us to forget that we are praying for and giving thanks for god's inexplicable mercy to a sinner. Now, he would not have exempted himself from that. We are here then as he would want to pray for god's inexplicable mercy to a sinner, to this sinner, Antonin Scalia. Let us not show him a false love and allow our admiration to deprive him of our prayers. We continue to show affection for him and do good for him by praying for him. All stain of sin be washed away. That all wounds be healed. That he be purified of all that is not Christ. That he rest in peace.
Finally we look to Jesus forever, into eternity. Or better, we consider our own place in eternity and whether it will be with the lord. Even as we pray for dad to enter swiftly into eternal glory, we should be mindful of ourselves. Every funeral reminds us of just how thin the veil is between this world and the next, between time an eternity, and the moment of judgment. So we cannot depart here unchanged. It makes no sense to celebrate god's mercy to dad if we are not attentive and responsive to those own realities in our own lives. We must allow this encounter with eternity to change us, to turn us from sin and toward t he lord. The English Dominican father, B. Jarrett put it beautifully when he prayed oh strong son of god, while you prepare a place for us, prepare us also for that happy place that we may be with you and with those we love for all eternity. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
My dear friends, this is also the structure of the mass. The greatest prayer we can offer for dad because it is not our prayer but the lord's. The mass looks to Jesus yesterday, it reaches into the past, reaches to the last supper, to the crucifix, to the resurrection, and it makes those mysteries and their power present here on this altar. Jesus himself becomes present here today under the form of bread and wine so that we can unite all our prayers of Thanksgiving, sorrow and petition with Christ himself as an offering to the father. And all of this with a view to eternity, stretching toward heaven, where we hope one day to enjoy that perfect union with god himself and to see dad again and with him rejoice in the communion of saints."
Scalia is pictured above with his wife and 9 children. In the front row was every member of the current Supreme Court. Justice Clarence Thomas a close friend of Scalia who did the reading from the book of Romans. Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Samuel Alito, Justice Anthony Kennedy and Justice Sonia Sotomayor -- were joined by Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan. and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Also in attendence was Vice President Joe Biden, Former Vice President Dick Cheney --solicitor general, Donald Verrilli,. Texas senator and presidential candidate Ted Cruz -- . "As Ronald Reagan was to the presidency, so too was Antonin Scalia to the U.S. Supreme Court," Cruz told CNN. "Justice Scalia has been a personal hero of mine, virtually my entire life." Cruz. "It has been 80 years since the Senate confirmed a Supreme Court nominee who was nominated during an election year and we should not start now," Cruz said. "We have an election in just a few months and I think the American people should be able to choose the direction of this court." President Barack Obama did not attend.
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