A few weeks ago, our family attended the Mass of the Angels (read on below!) for Beckett Weinert at our parish in Charlotte, NC. Beckett was a little boy who lived joyfully in his Catholic family, but tragically died before his 2nd birthday.

You probably know such children, don’t you?

Children who lived but a very short time?

Not just the miscarried babies (a cemetery nearby has many graves for these little children, including our own relatives), but those little sons and daughters who enjoyed, however briefly, life among us here on earth, as active members of our families, interacting with our friends?

We recall a cousin of ours who lost a little girl within just a few weeks of her birth, but during that brief time she was baptized and her siblings enjoyed holding her and feeding her and taking pictures with her.

You probably know other children who were perhaps even older when they died? Older but still little children, before the age of reason?

Children who had received baptism, who had their Original Sin washed away, opening up their souls during their short lives to be filled with the grace God offered them day-by-day?

Think about it:

God has a plan for each of us, every day of our lives–He doesn’t ask us, “What will you be when you grow up?” as if only when we are finally fully grown will His desires for us, His real intentions for our lives, be finally revealed and fulfilled.

God has a plan for us to be recipients of His love and instruments of His grace to those around us–to know Him, love Him, and serve Him–every single moment of our lives!

So, what does the Church teach of the eternal destination of these baptized children who leave us so young? And how should we comprehend what we are to do when these children leave our world?

Please read below the homily of our pastor, Fr. Timothy Reid, at the Mass of the Angels for Beckett, as he answers these questions, then ponder how many people you may already know personally who are in Heaven!

“So often at funerals the family and friends of the deceased will speak of the peace they feel in the belief that their loved one is no longer suffering. Of course, this is a natural and understandable sentiment. We don’t like to think of our deceased loved ones suffering in purgatory – or worse.  Yet in truth, we can never know the state of anyone’s soul.  This is why we have funerals. 

The purpose of a requiem [Mass] is to pray for the repose of the soul of the deceased so that, if he is suffering in purgatory, those sufferings might be mitigated and his debt to God’s justice might be fulfilled. The Masses, prayers, and sacrifices that we offer up on behalf of the deceased help hasten their perfection so that they might be made ready for eternal union with our Lord in Heaven and freed from the fires of purgatory. 

Yet, with Beckett things are different.  Baptized and confirmed, and of an age too young to sin, we know with sure and certain faith that little Beckett is indeed in Heaven, rejoicing and praising God alongside the angels. 

For this reason, Holy Mother Church proposes, at least in the old form of the Mass, that instead of a requiem, a votive Mass in honor of the Angels be offered at times like this. And as we listen to the music, as we contemplate the readings and propers of this Mass, we sense the profound rejoicing of the Church Universal as another soul is counted amongst the blessed in Heaven.  And we are called to rejoice along with Holy Mother Church.

We rejoice because Beckett’s salvation proves to us that God is loving and merciful.  We rejoice that our Lord has given us the sacraments as a means to becoming like Him.  We rejoice because God desires to take us unto Himself for all eternity.

And what that eternity looks like, we can scarcely imagine, for as St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians:  “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it so much as dawned on man what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9).

In other words, Heaven is going to be far, far better than we can possibly conceive. 

But while we rejoice in God’s mercy and goodness for taking Beckett unto Himself, we must also acknowledge profound suffering.  Peter and Stephanie have lost a son, and Mark, Luke, Garrett, and Gracie have lost a brother. 

Certainly, all of us here feel some measure of suffering as we consider the loss of Beckett, suffering compounded by the fact that it’s hard to understand why any child has to suffer in the way that Beckett did. 

And yet the beautiful thing is that as Catholics, we never suffer alone.  The fact that there are so many of us here today is a testament to that fact.  Yet even without the consolations of our family, friends, and fellow parishioners, we also have the angels and the saints. Though mostly silent and unseen to our physical senses, our beautiful Catholic faith proclaims their presence in our daily lives as they pray and intercede for us. 

Yet sometimes. . . just sometimes . . . that veil separating this world from the next becomes thin enough that we know without a doubt that the angels and saints are very, very close.

And my dear Weinert’s, I pray that this is the case for you and Beckett: that you sense his presence from time to time.  Your family now has a particular intercessor in Heaven, one who knows and loves you with both an earthly and heavenly love. 

Our Lord revealed to St. Faustina that the souls of little children “send all of Heaven into ecstasy,” and that they are the Father’s favorites because of the resemblance they bear to Christ. 

As the intercessory power of such a soul will not be wanting, you can and should pray to him!  Beckett will always be there to intercede for you. 

Of course, as wonderful as this knowledge is, it doesn’t take away the raw pain of the suffering.  However, it can take away the sadness of suffering.

Years ago, when dear friends lost their infant son, they found a most marvelous quote from Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati on this point that bears repeating.

Blessed Pier Giorgio said: 

“Sadness should be banished from all Christian souls.  For suffering is a far different thing from sadness, which is the worst disease of all.  It is almost always caused by a lack of faith.  But the purpose for which we have been created shows us the path along which we should go, perhaps strewn with many thorns, but not a sad path.  Even in the midst of intense suffering it is one of joy.”

Though the worldly of heart will say that finding joy in the midst of suffering is an impossibility, we Christians know that joy and suffering are not mutually exclusive, but that they often exist together in one’s soul.

This is because it is through suffering that we become more like our Savior whose name we bear by the grace of the sacraments.  Our suffering configures us to Him who suffered for us and because of us. 

It’s through suffering that our salvation was won, and it is by suffering that we are best prepared for Heaven.  What can be more joyful than that? 

And when the waves of suffering come, face them with faith, embracing the cross of your loss.  For by doing so, grace will enter into your suffering and sustain you. Grace does not erase the pain, but God’s grace is sufficient to help us bear the awful weight of the cross.  God’s grace is always sufficient; it is always enough.  We may hurt and agonize, but in God’s grace, we find peace and even joy.

My dear friends, we rejoice for Beckett because we know that he has achieved the end for which he was created:  eternal union with the Godhead.  We know that he is rejoicing with the angels in Heaven.  But we also suffer because of his loss. 

Yet with firm faith, we must believe that God’s grace is sufficient, and that as we offer our suffering in union with Christ’s suffering, His grace will bear us up. 

Moreover, in the process of embracing our crosses, we must also believe that we are being made holy – that we are being prepared for eternal union with our Lord.

So let us pray for the courage to embrace our crosses in this life, and focus our hope on the joys in the life to come.  And may our dear Beckett stay close to us and pray for us.

All you angels in Heaven, pray for us!“

So, take some time to call to mind those young souls God sent to earth to touch your life, whom He then called to Himself, and whisper to yourself, “God has given me the gift of personally meeting someone here on earth who is now in Heaven–please pray for me!”