About a year ago,

Fr. Tom Brenberger asked me if I would preach at his funeral.

He did not want me to deliver an eulogy.

He wanted me to talk about God
and what God had done.

He wanted me to reflect on the reading he chose
for his funeral Mass.

So, Tom, here it goes.

 

Our God is an awesome God,
who reigns from heaven above,
with wisdom power and love,
our God is an awesome God.

 

In the book of Wisdom,
we hear consoling words.

The souls of the just are in the hand of God…

In the view of the foolish, they seem to be dead…

But they are in peace.

Tom is in peace,

Not because he earned it,
but because grace and mercy are with God’s holy ones,
and God’s care is with those God has chosen.

 

Our God is an awesome God,
who reigns from heaven above…

 

The older Tom got,
the more he became aware
that the call to priesthood and religious life
was not a call to be a good administrator,
but to be a good pastor,
to become more and more like the shepherd
we sang about in the responsorial psalm.

It was important to him,
as it is to all of us,
that we remember who it is
that shepherds us,
who it is that leads us in green pastures,
who it is that sets a banquet before us
and who causes our cups to overflow.

 

Our God is an awesome God.

 

Our second reading today
was written by St. Paul
to the fledgling Church in Corinth.

As we read it today,
it could be a message from Tom
to all of us.

We know that if our earthly dwelling… should be destroyed,
we have a building from God,
a dwelling… eternal in heaven.

 

God has promised us a better life.

That’s why we can walk by faith, not by sight.

In his final battle with cancer,
Tom was always courageous.

He knew that he would soon leave the body
and go home to the Lord.

And that enabled him to face his death with such courage,
and that should enable us to face life
with that same courage
that comes from God.

 

Our God is an awesome God,
who reigns from heaven above,
with wisdom power and love…

 

And in our gospel today,
Jesus himself asks us to have faith in God,
and also to have faith in him.

And when Thomas isn’t quite sure where Jesus is going,
or how to get there,
Jesus tells him, “I am the way…”
And while Tom Brenberger didn’t always know
what God had in store for him,

Tom always knew the One who is
the way and the truth and the life.

 

And as we gather here to remember
and to pray from our brother Tom,
we also know the One who is
the way and the truth and the life.

 

Our God is an awesome God,
who reigns from heaven above,
with wisdom power and love,
our God is an awesome God.

 

In a few minutes,
we’ll eat the Body
and drink the Precious Blood
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We’ll share in a foretaste of the heavenly banquet
where Tom now sits with all those who’ve gone before us
and were marked with the sign of faith.

Both we here on earth
and all those in heaven
will share together blessings in abundance,
because…

 

Our God is an awesome God,
who reigns from heaven above,
with wisdom power and love,
our God is an awesome God.