Bonum Certamen Certavi: Homily of the Funeral Mass of Anne Roche Muggeridge (In Memoriam‪)‬

Bonum certamen certavi, cursum consumavi, fidem servavi. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.--2 Timothy 4:7 Bonum certamen certavi--I have fought a good fight. The death of anyone, but even more so the death of those we have known and loved is, in the first instance, a human event, a human fact. Long before there was Christianity people wept, and people mourned for those who had been taken from them. Long before the Gospel was preached men and women drew closer to the bereaved to offer what help and consolation they could at the purely human level. Even when death is not unexpected, even when it is perhaps in a way longed for, nonetheless death remains a terrible mystery. The wrenching of a soul from its body, the snapping of the ties and relationships of a life-time, the loneliness and the bitter questions, the mistakes made, the love not given--these are all part of our human experience. And, nothing in the human experience is alien to the life and death of Christ.