Mass at Catacombs

We come as pilgrims of hope on the fourth day of our pilgrimage to this sacred place that evokes many emotions and thoughts within us. We think of our own loved ones who have died. We pray for them.

We think spontaneously here also of the early centuries of our Christian faith. Christians often visited this place, either alone or with the families, to honour the dead buried here. In particular, they came because it was a place where martrys, Popes and saints were buried. It seems they also made of their visit here a kind of a day out. They spent time here, celebrating the Eucharist, enjoying a picnic meal together here. In all of this they were professing their belief that heaven and earth are united. The love that binds us on earth, continues in death. We can love one another also beyond death. When the Christians came to this place, they prayed for their dead and counted on the help of their loved ones, martyrs and saints. We know that the words “Requiescat in pace”, RIP, referring to a person dying in peace, didn’t just mean they died peacefully, but that they died in the communion of the church, united to God and to one another in the Church. This sense of communion, being of one heart and one mind, was very strong among the First Christians.

Another thought that comes to us in this sacred place is about the martyrs not just of the past but also of those in more recent times. There’s a famous expression – the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. The Church grew from their laying down of their life in imitation of Jesus. We think of course, of the martyrs of past. They spur us on in our faith. They are an example. But we also remember that it is said that there have been more martyrs in the past one hundred years than in all the centuries before that. Persecution is still going on. Churches are burned down, Catholics are accused of blasphemy, even if no evidence is available, priests, nuns and lay ministers are kidnapped, some are never seen again, and families are tormented by terrorist groups and forced from their homes. Let’s remember them today, praying they have strength to endure. Of course, we remember the daily martyrdom (the word martyr means witness) to which we are called in our own lives.

As pilgrims of hope, here at the Catacombs, we get a chance to the compass again for our own earthly pilgrimage. In one of the Eucharistic prayers, we pray: “Grant also to us, when our earthly pilgrimage is done, that we may come to an eternal dwelling place and live with you for ever; there, in communion with the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with the Apostles and Martyrs, and with all the Saints, we shall praise and exalt you through Jesus Christ, your Son.” As we go along our earthly pilgrimage, we are helped by the messages our ancestors left us on these walls with the images of the engraved fish (the word whose letters in Greek represent a statement of faith: Jesus Christ Son of God, Saviour), the symbol of the dove, the Holy Spirit and the anchor, that great symbol of hope. We recognise here we are called to holiness. The goal of our earthly pilgrimage is holiness in the sense of perfection in our love of God and neighbour.

One final thought. As we think about our own earthly pilgrimage concluding, we are here at a Mass, the Eucharist. Let us be consoled by the fact that just as we receive the Eucharist and are transformed, already here on earth, into Christ, the Body of Christ, so our bodies in death, will become, in a sense, the Eucharist for the earth, the seed of the transformation of the new heavens and new earth, that God is bringing about and will bring about through us, through our bodies made Eucharist of the earth.