Evil That Men Do

Leaving behind a legacy of faith

1 Corinthians 15:1-8

I am reminding you, brothers and sisters, of the Gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand. Through it you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures; that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.

          Whenever I celebrate a funeral Mass – and I’ve done quite a few in the 2 ½ years I’ve been here – the question of “legacy” always comes up. Legacy refers to what we leave behind; what do people remember about us after we’re gone? What will people remember about you? Do you remember that famous eulogy that Mark Antony preached about his friend, Julius Caesar? He said, “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.” Then he surprisingly added: “The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones.” In other words, people tend to remember the bad and they forget the good.

          But Msgr. Galvin (who was smarter than Mark Antony) would disagree. He would say, “Now it’s your turn.” That is, whenever we had a building project, Galvin would point out that this beautiful church and complex was given to us by the sacrifices of previous parishioners. Now, it’s our turn to leave something beautiful for the Catholics of Fort Smith in the 22nd century. Our legacy should be a legacy of faith. You see, then maybe all the good we’ve done will not be “interred with our bones.”

          This is also St. Paul’s concern in the first reading to the Corinthians, namely, his legacy. He says, “For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received,” and then he goes on to proclaim his faith in Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection. In other words, St. Paul would agree with Msgr. Galvin – and disagree with Mark Antony – that the good we do is not “oft interred with our bones.” And the legacy St. Paul wanted to leave was his faith in Christ. Indeed, that faith helped him see that even his “interred bones” would be raised up in a glorified body on the last day. Not a bad legacy.

          My dear ladies, what will people remember about each of you? What will people remember about the Ladies Auxiliary? You know, sometimes you’re tempted to think you’re a little old and can’t operate an iphone or an ipad, and you sell yourselves short. But I believe you can leave behind a lasting legacy, especially in your faith. When I was a small boy, my grandmother told me never to chew the Host we receive at Holy Communion. She said if I did, Jesus’ blood would come out in my mouth. To this day, I’m terrified to chew the Host at Mass! My grandmother left me a legacy of faith. As a group, you “adopted” one of the stained glass windows to renovate. You are making Msgr. Galvin smile in heaven because you know that “now it’s your turn.” When you humbly serve funeral dinners, when you put on the annual bazaar, when you sew on Wednesdays, even when you sing as the Dead Choir, you leave a legacy of faith. Just like St. Paul said, your faith is “of first importance” to you.

          Today as we crown Mary, we look to her as a mother and as a model of faith. She is remembered for being a humble handmaid of the Lord, who left behind a large legacy of faith. May we, too, leave behind some tokens of our faith, so that the good we do may not be entirely “interred with our bones.”

          Praised be Jesus Christ!