(I delivered this homily on November 19,
2014 at the Funeral Mass of my dear brother, Danny.)
Sebastian, all
these people are here because they love your father. And why do they love
your father? Well…because he was Danny! Danny would own a room the
moment he walked in. He would flash his million-dollar smile and the
party would begin. We are here because we loved Danny, and we are here,
Sebastian to thank God for the gift of your father?
Yes Danny
would do things that would infuriate us at times, but we know that inside that
big firefighter was a heart that could only have been created by God himself. A
heart where the seed of faith was planted by my parents: the same seed
that they planted in my sister and me. Growing up, Jesus Christ was the
center of our home. We would pray intensely before every meal. We
were taught the meaning of love of neighbor. We were taught to love God
and country since our parents and grandparent fled their own country so they
could raise us in a free land. We were taught to open our hearts to the
poor, to the less fortunate, to the stranger. Many people have always
pointed out how different Danny the firefighter and his brother the priest
are. I have said this many times and my own mother can confirm this, but
my brother has a heart that is bigger than mine. It was a heart that even
this priest envied. It was a heart that was raised in a loving home by
two extraordinary parents who raised their three children exactly the same
way. It was a home where three vocations of service were nurtured:
a priest, a sign language interpreter, and a firefighter. My mother
prided herself in telling anyone who asked that each of her children served the
Lord in their own way because in our kitchen was a sign that displayed the Old
Testament verse, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua
24:15).” It was a home that was consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of
Mary that allowed each of us to answer God’s call and to utter in different
ways: “Be it done to me according to thy word (Luke 1:38).” But it was my
brother’s heart that was the biggest, and it impacted so many lives especially
those he served in the line of duty as a firefighter.
My brother
rarely talked or bragged about the heroism he displayed every day that he put
on the uniform of a City of Miami Firefighter. But over the last few
days, his brother firefighters have shared with me stories that show me and
show my parents that the seeds of faith that they planted bloomed beautifully
when he served the people of Miami. Not long ago, he showed a young
firefighter what compassion was all about. This young firefighter wrote
this to my brother on Saturday night: “I remember a homeless guy at 3am
covered in urine and smelling awful with no real 911 emergency—we knew he just
wanted out of the rain. You treated that man like he was an old
friend. Talking to him kindly and being warm with him even though we were
near our 20th call of the tour. When we left him at [Jackson],
I watched you shake his hand. And the man thanked you. Your reply was to
thank him for the “conversation” you shared in back of the rescue. I will
remember you Danny as will so many others for being a good man with a good
heart.”
This was my
brother. He may not have gone to church every Sunday, but he lived the
Gospel of Jesus Christ during every shift and every tour. He loved his
vocation with reckless abandon. I’ll never forget his graduation from the
academy when he scaled the ten story training building in Coconut Grove and
came down headfirst! It was with that same reckless abandon that he
played football (I still remember a game when he proudly wore the Columbus
uniform in which he dislocated his finger, sat out one play, popped it back in,
ran back on the field, only to break his finger on the next play…my brother!)
But in the firefighter’s uniform, he exemplified what it meant to be a
firefighter and a Christian. This is what our parents taught us and this
is the legacy of service he leaves behind to all of his brothers who wear the
uniform throughout South Florida in so many departments. May the Good
Lord and St. Florian, the patron of firefighters, always protect you all.
Yet we gather
this morning with a void in our hearts. It is a void that can only be
filled by Jesus Christ and his merciful love. A wise nun told my mother
on Saturday that the mercy of God is far greater than the justice of God.
So we gather to pray for my brother and the repose of his soul comforted by the
words we just heard from St. John: “Beloved, we are God’s children now;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is
revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is (1 John
3:2).” This is what our family spiritual director told us with firm
conviction on that awful Saturday morning: “Now your brother is being
embraced by God our Father with the unconditional love that he has for all of
us. And now he sees all the Truth that he did not see before.” This
is the same priest that baptized my brother in the waters of eternal life 35
years ago and who sprinkled him with those same waters this morning. And
yesterday I reminded my mother who kept repeating that her son was now an
angel, I said, “Mom, as Christians we don’t aspire to be angels, we aspire to
be saints,” for the saints are the ones who are blessed to behold the
magnificent face of our Father in heaven.
My friends,
our Savior tells us “do not let your hearts be troubled…In my Father’s house
there are many dwelling places.” We pray that Danny enter the dwelling
place that Jesus has prepared for him: for he died for him, loved him and
blessed that incredible heart of my brother in this life.
His was a
heart that loved his son more than words can express, and now we need to shower
my nephew with the same love of Jesus. Sebastian, who is the greatest
gift that Danny gave our family, inherited the heart of his father and along
with his mother we need to nurture, protect and fill that heart with
unconditional love.
And now all of
us who grieve lean on the Merciful Heart of Our Lord for consolation and
strength. We look to Him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Only with faith can we overcome this trial. Only by following the example
of Mary who also had to bury a Son can we persevere through any dark
hour. But we lean on Lord in this month of thanksgiving, to thank Him for
the gift of Danny, for the gift of his smile, for the gift of his good looks,
his charisma, his charm, his strength, his grit, his determination, his
service, and most of all for that amazing heart of his. Thank you Lord
Jesus! Thank you Lord Jesus! Thank you
Lord Jesus, for the gift of my brother.
Rest well,
little brother.
Eternal rest
grant unto him O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.
