Rating: PG

Genre: Religious Drama

Overview: Three caskets, three dead girls, a priest, and a congregation wondering Why do the good die young. After a catastrophic event brings pain and suffering to a city, a local priest struggles to give a funeral sermon to a crowd of hundreds attending the funeral of three deceased girls. 

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"When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one on his right, the other on his left. Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, 'Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.' The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, 'Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.' Then he said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.' He replied to him, 'Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.'

"The gospel of the Lord."

"Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ."

The palace of the Lord roared with bones pressing against wood as hundreds of people seated themselves. Father Regis took to the microphone. The old priest was 80 years old. He had done funeral masses for over 40 years now. 

But this one was different. 

He had serviced funeral masses for children before, but this one was unalike all the others. These children didn't die by natural causes, or by food poisoning, or even an accident. These children were deliberately killed by fate because of the hatred that existed in the world. 

The funeral today honored three girls from three separate families. The families had no connection to each other, yet this was as private a service that one may receive in the city. All the churches were filled with similar services. 

But that's not what made the service so unique for Father Regis. As he shifted his way to the podium he made the sign of the cross. He had no prepared speech. How can one prepare for an incident such as this? Three little girls found dead after the chaos that smarted the city. Fear was on the rise. The congregation's thoughts were filled with questions.

What if it happens again? How can we protect ourselves? Who do we blame? 

He moistened his lips and battled his arthritis to move the microphone closer to his lips. The microphone shook and a blast of wind could be felt accompanying the noise within the church. Father Regis prayed for the best as he sought for an answer from within.

"When I was in high school I had a nun for a homeroom teacher. She was a strict person, yet giddy at times. She would lead a prayer every morning, just like most teachers in Catholic Schools at the time. She would go up and down the rows and ask us what we wanted to pray for this morning. Some of us asked God to help us pass a certain test or for the safety of our loved ones. When we got towards the end, she would say what she wanted to pray for. Everyday she would pray the same thing.

She would ask God to take her. Yes, when I say take her, I mean she wanted to die. 

Now she wasn't suicidal or crazy. She was a perfectly normal human being. But each and everyday she would call out to God to take her into His kingdom. She believed in Paradise so much that she found it a blessing to die.

Now many of you here today would disagree. You may think a person like that is simply crazy. I mean, who could possibly want to die and call themselves sane?

I'll tell you who, the person of mighty faith. Many of us look to death as some sort of curse. They cite that death was our punishment for our original sin. Be that as it may, death is the only passageway to God. We must die in order to enter Paradise. 

Still, many of use wish for immortality on this Earth. However, immortality should only be granted in a perfect environment. Is Earth by any means perfect? Were the events, no matter who we blame, that took place last week any sign that the planet we live on is perfect? 

Earth is not perfect, and therefore, immortality on such an imperfect environment is not a wise decision. You know who chose immortality on Earth? Lucifer and his followers. If you wish to live forever in an imperfect environment, then sell your soul to Satan. If you wish to be in unity with our creator, your father, in a place where fear does not exist, then death is the only way to achieve it.

The irony of immortality actually is that even though Lucifer had adverted death once, he will eventually endure death for eternity. I would much rather take a single death as a test to enter into God's arms then averting death once to live a couple extra hundred years and suffer multiple deaths forever. 

Yet some of you aren't arguing whether death is good. You ask the deeper question: Why does God allow the youthful innocents to die? Or, in other words, Why do the good die young?

For years I have been evaluating this question. I have carried out countless amounts of funeral services for children, and the same question lingers. I would always refer to the gospel passage read here today. Jesus says to the man seeking mercy, 'Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.' These children are now resting with their savior in Paradise. They can no longer be harmed because they are besides Christ the redeemer, the protector and the savior.

That's still true, but today...today I think I figured out the answer. It took such a drastic event like this to figure it out. We live in a world infected with vice. The disease is great and its infectivity rates are extremely high. Every human being has this disease. It affects some more so than others. Yet the world can never be perfect until this disease is irradiated. 

The great disease called 'Vice' does not exist in Paradise. Now I cannot stand here and pretend that I know what lies for us in Paradise. All I know is that Jesus will be there, and that's more than enough of a reason to be excited to go."

The congregation was trying to follow where Father Regis was going with this homily. He was already eating up much time. Some people in the crowd could tell he was unable to counsel them on the lost of these children. Father Regis saw the looks on their faces—anger, sadness, confusion. The weather wasn't making it any better as it was pouring outside. Most of the congregation was still wet and drying off from the funeral procession into the Church. It was hot and muggy out, and that translated into sparks of lightning flashing across the stained glass windows.

Father Regis was one to always use the stained glass windows to tell stories. He used to always notify his congregation that they were originally made for people who could not read and the imagery from the windows proved useful to illustrate scenes and lessons to be learned from the stories of the Gospel.

One of the windows depicted Jesus surrounded by children. Father Regis remembered the passage which the window is showing. He remembered the Gospel passage almost word for word. It was from the Gospel according to Matthew. He stood at the window and found himself whispering the passage into the microphone. He thought he was saying it only to himself, yet the whole congregation heard and took notice. 

"Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, 'Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'"

He glanced back at the attentive audience and a light bulb went off. "It is better for the good to die young in order to spare them from the sufferings and the evils that the world contains."

He pointed to the three children's caskets, "These three girls were saved. The same reason why my high school teacher prayed for death is the same reason why we should be rejoicing. Yes mourning should be present at a funeral. If there is no mourning, then there is no care for the deceased. But we should also rejoice because they are in a place where evil can never touch them. We should rejoice because they were chosen while still in innocence to die, meaning they have not sinned willingly. Therefore, they are guaranteed access into God's kingdom—into Paradise. That's what that stained glass window is depicting over there in accompaniment with the verse in Matthew's Gospel. As children grow older we hinder them from coming to Christ. We instill evil in them by shattering their innocence. Death has prevented their innocence from shattering and thereby they are now resting with Christ.

Now that leaves us. What are we to do without our children? We are to become like them. Our children have served as our role models. They showed us the proper way to die—in innocence. Yet once innocence is shattered, it is difficult to glue the pieces back together. But with these three girls setting an example, we can all realize that life is only temporary and that we need to be prepared to face death just like these three girls were. We must recapture our innocence and become like children. Paradise belongs to our youth. Paradise is youth, and these three girls and all the other children that died past and present are the citizens of Paradise. If we wish to become citizens of Paradise, we must be like children with regards to evil and adults with regards to thought. Think like men, fight evil like children because evil does not exist as long as innocence does.

May the Lord give you His Peace."

Father Regis stepped down from the podium. He was unsure how well he had done. Was he able to answer the congregation's questions? He shifted back towards the alter, bowed his head and shifted his way back over to his chair. He turned around and saw the crowd in complete silence. He was worried that he didn't do a good job explaining what was on his mind. 

So he continued with the mass as usual.

When the mass was over, one man, who was the father of one of the three dead girls, approached Father Regis to talk to him.

He pulled Father Regis aside, "Father Regis, I'll get to the point. I wasn't buying anything you said until something strange happened. When your sermon was over and silence engulfed the room, I saw my wife. Now my wife has been dead for a couple of years now mind you, and I heard her voice accompanied by sirens from outside the Church and an orchestra of music besides her. Her figure—it's weird—I mean she was there, I could almost make her out, yet she was blinking like some sort of hologram or better yet like strobe lights. If I stared at her long enough I could seriously go crazy or get epilepsy. Yet I felt if she stopped blinking, I would go blind. Anyway, she appeared and it seems like only I could see her. She was standing besides my daughter's casket. Then she looked up directly at me.

She said, 'Everything is alright.' 

Then she disappeared. And I though about your sermon. I put two and two together. The two of them are now safe. They're in a place, just like you said, where nothing can harm them anymore. They're finally safe. As a father my job is to protect my family. It would seem that with my wife and daughter dead I had failed in such a task, yet I feel that I was foolish for thinking I could protect them forever on Earth. I'm no god. I can't pretend to understand everything that was said here today, but I do know for a fact that they are now eternally safe. I thought I'd tell you that Father. Thanks for leading our service today."

Father Regis was glad that this now lonely man had taken comfort in knowing that his family was now safe. He shook his hand and said, "The pleasure is mine." Father Regis signed off, "Be safe."

The man shook his head, "No one is safe Father. The new sign-off should be: Be Ready."