The funeral homily for Antonin Scalia included a letter the Justice had written wherein he explained his dislike of “eulogies” or good words for the deceased at funerals. I have commented occasionally when someone says after a funeral, “he was such a good man”, that if they were good men they wouldn’t have died. A bit harsh perhaps, but nevertheless true. Scalia says in the letter that a funeral should be about the “inexplicable mercy of God”.
Sunday after Sunday we try and explicate the inexplicable. At it’s heart the Gospel is a mystery. Paul says it too – “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory”. 1 Timothy 3:16.
“It is not because of how we are but in spite of how we are that God loves us and saves us”, writes Robert Rosin. That is the inexplicable mercy of God that we seek to explicate. God gives us the strength to do so!
