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Mass of Christian Burial My dear Brothers and Sisters: I express my deepest gratitude to all of you who have gathered here in faith for this Mass of Christian Burial. I am especially grateful to Leroy and Marlene Boyer and their family. You very graciously made Father Van a part of your own family. You cared for him and watched over him throughout his long nursing home experience. I thank you for your care, your concern and your love. Later this summer, Father Van would have celebrated his sixty-seventh anniversary of ordination to the priesthood. He became a priest because he was convinced that the Lord was calling him to this vocation. In the midst of the Second World War, he served as a chaplain for three different countries. At the end of the war, he felt called to be a missionary to China. Since that was not a possibility at the time, Father Van studied, prayed and worked tirelessly at various priestly ministries. Eventually, guided by Divine Providence, he came here to Oklahoma where he ministered faithfully the rest of his life. As an ordained priest, Father Van frequently proclaimed the Gospel passage you have just heard. This Sixth Chapter of Saint John is one of the foundational beliefs of the Catholic Church. At the same time, this passage leads us to the heart of priestly service. Jesus said: “I am the Living Bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this Bread will live forever and the Bread that I will give is My Flesh for the life of the world.” When objections were raised to Jesus’ claim, He revealed yet more: “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. Whoever eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life and I will raise him on the last day.” The Eucharist is God’s gift of Himself to us. This gift is given us as a sacrifice. The sacrifice of Jesus is the totality of His life, death and resurrection. Only Jesus has the proper authority to say over bread, “This is My Body.” Only Jesus can say “This is My Blood.” He alone has the authority, the power, the right and the ability to change bread and wine into His own sacred Body and precious Blood. No one else can dare to take to himself the “I” and the “My” of Jesus unless they are authorized to pronounce them in His name. Only Jesus Christ Himself in the sacramental form He has committed to the whole Church can give this authority. The Church partakes of an authority which she does not create, but in faithfulness to Jesus, the Church transmits His power, His will, His command. This is what is meant by ordination and priesthood. Only when we realize that “the Church” acts in the Name of Jesus and on His authority, can we recognize that something is happening at our altar which goes far beyond any human celebration. What takes place in the Eucharist is the mystery of God, communicated to us by Jesus Christ through His death and resurrection. This is what makes the Eucharist irreplaceable. This is the guarantee of its identity. This is the real meaning and purpose of priestly ordination and priestly service. This is why we gather here in faith today. Yes, we come in faith, as brother priests and as family and friends, to celebrate this Eucharistic sacrifice. We give thanks to Almighty God for the gift of Father Van’s priestly presence among us. And with gratitude to Father Van for his priestly service, we pray earnestly for the repose of his soul. “Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen.” Most Reverend Eusebius J.
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