A Catholic hymn sings, “We return in love what love has made.” Very easy funeral sermon to preach.

If there is such a thing, a “Happy Death” is attributed to St. Joseph’s demise. Why? Because he had the Blessed Mother on one side and the Son of God on the other side of his bed. Perhaps some angels are afloat, as well? (He is also shown holding a lily flower.)

After a long, complete life, those are the “happy deaths.” There are also those with a lingering, painful disease, along with those for a child with a deadly disease. There are also those deaths of too many others who star in our nightly news broadcasts, night after night; many of them simply gathering, shopping, or praying.

A “Happy death.” Two words you will never, ever hear us U.S. Americans say. We all either ponder or dismiss our demise. It’s not exactly cocktail chatter. Yet, the lingering mounts the more our aging lingers.

There’s speechless Joseph, whose dreams all come true, lies dying. On one side of Joe is his wife, the one who told that towering angel, “The greatness of the Lord is upon me.” Opposite Mary is none other than the Son of God (or really God but only playing the Son in the movie), assuring Joseph of the many “Blessednesses’” of those Beatitudes. A litany of beatitudes assuring us that no fear or worry can ever usurp the earthly and heavenly protection of God’s love for us.

Now, is that a “death wish,” or can that be, for us, a living wish? Pretend to be Joseph and heed all of your dreams in the quiet of silence. Then on one side of you kneels Mary and her willingness to give her all to all of life’s unknowns. The other side of us? We know the person. Jesus, whose life, like his Mom’s, becomes a model living within our lives. And those hovering angels? Why, they are protecting us every minute of every day.

Me? When I’m in a near car crash on Milwaukee’s worst street, which occurs often, my last thought will be, “Who’s gonna feed my two cats?”

“Eye Has Not Seen”

Eye has not seen, ear has not heard what God has ready for those who love him;
Spirit of love, come, give us the mind of Jesus, teach us the wisdom of God.

When pain and sorrow weigh us down, be near to us, O Lord,
forgive the weakness of our faith, and bear us up within your peaceful word.

Eye has not seen, ear has not heard what God has ready for those who love him;
Spirit of love, come, give us the mind of Jesus, teach us the wisdom of God.

Our lives are but a single breath, we flower and we fade,
yet all our days are in your hands, so we return in love what love has made.

Eye has not seen, ear has not heard what God has ready for those who love him;
Spirit of love, come, give us the mind of Jesus, teach us the wisdom of God.

To those who see with eyes of faith, the Lord is ever near,
reflected in the faces of all the poor and lowly of the world.

Eye has not seen, ear has not heard what God has ready for those who love him;
Spirit of love, come, give us the mind of Jesus, teach us the wisdom of God.

We sing a mystery from the past in halls where saints have trod,
yet ever new the music rings to Jesus, Living Song of God.

Marty Haugen