In the funeral guide, I noted the following: “The Presider may or may not know the deceased very well. It is always welcomed to have input as to what would be important to be shared at the funeral.” I also noted that there was an inch or so of space on the “Funeral Worksheet” for “Homily Ideas,” with an instruction to “attach another sheet if needed.”
I decided to take advantage of this opportunity and have written out a complete funeral homily (starting below). I realize that this is just my input. My surviving family and ultimately the Presider, can choose to use or not use any of my input.
A “homily” in the Catholic tradition is a bit different than a sermon, in that the homily is intended to expand on the readings of the day (versus heading off in some other direction). As such, the second half of this homily will comment on the readings noted earlier. My homily, however, will begin with an abbreviated “life story” of the deceased (me).
Note to the Presider: Before proceeding, the Presider can greet those in attendance, note the author of the homily, and/or make any other disclaimers that are appropriate. As noted earlier, the text below is just my input. Feel free to preach your homily your way. Feel free also to ignore the verse citations in the written text that are cumbersome to read.
The Homily Begins
Robert Charles Burdett was a cradle-Catholic. He was born at St. Alexius hospital in Bismarck, North Dakota on October 14, 1948, the son of Charles Grant Burdett and Elizabeth (Senger) Burdett, who at the time lived in Riverdale, North Dakota – a town that the U.S. government had built, during the 1940s, to house the workers who were building Garrison Dam on the Missouri River. Robert was baptized into the faith on October 24, 1948, at St. Mary’s Church in Bismarck.
According to his mother’s handwriting, in his Welcome Jesus prayer book, it was at St. John’s Catholic Church, in Riverdale, where Robert had his first Holy Communion on June 26, 1955; and where he was confirmed on February 8, 1960. His confirmation name was Dominic Savio, a saint noted for his piety and devotion to the Catholic faith.
Robert later served as an altar boy at St. John’s, struggling with his Latin responses and duties. When the priest would say Dominus vobiscum (“The Lord be with you”), Robert would dutifully respond Et cum spiritu tuo (“And with your spirit.”). That is the only Latin that he remembered later in his life.
Most of his religious education came from his mother, his catechism teachers, the nuns that taught “summer school,” and Father Talty during confirmation classes. But, alas, Robert’s faith waned as he entered adulthood.
Robert came to Omaha in 1970, after graduating from North Dakota State University, with a degree in industrial engineering. Over the years, without really changing jobs, he worked for Western Electric, AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and Avaya (“ah-vie-ah”). During that time, he obtained a master’s degree in business from Creighton University.
On September 18, 1981, Robert married the love of his life – Terry Teruko Oshima. The wedding was held at Dowd Memorial Chapel in the village of Boys Town. Terry’s father, Mike, was a carpenter/locksmith at Boys Town, hired by Father Flanagan way back in 1944. Father Flanagan had rescued Mike from the Japanese internment camp at Manzanar. That hiring, by an almost saint, led to Robert and Terry meeting years later in Omaha.
Robert and Terry settled into their new home in the El Dorado subdivision of Omaha. It was there that they raised their three children: Lisa, Vanessa, and Matthew. Robert was a member of St. Wenceslaus since it moved to west Omaha, going back to the days when the parish first met at nearby Millard North High School.
One day with true love, true concern, and probably true doubt, Terry asked Robert whether he was saved and Robert realized that he did not have an intelligent response to her question. The question pointed out a weakness. Robert had not spent any significant time, since his childhood, thinking about God, his faith, and his religion. He vowed to correct that deficiency.
Robert came across an organization called Catholic Answers – to help him with his Catholic questions. He bought one of those huge family Bibles and systematically read it from cover to cover three times. He bought and read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, along with other apologetic books. With financial assistance from St. Wenceslaus parish, he attended the Archdiocese of Omaha Biblical School for four years, graduating in 2007.
During that time of reflection, Robert examined his spiritual gifts – the charisms that God had given him. They were meager but they were his. When the parish started “perpetual adoration,” Robert was one of the first to sign up, and during the decades that followed, you could find him in the chapel for an hour, before midnight, on most Monday nights.
Those evenings started with prayer, sometimes a rosary. Sometimes he would pick up a hymnal and sing silently – sometimes he would sing out loud. He sang out loud less after the security cameras were installed. Sometimes he would just sit, relax, and contemplate. Most of the time, however, he would read about God, and as he read, God would talk to him about Himself, the universe, and mankind.
One charism (/care-ism/) that is often overlooked is just plain hospitality – the act, practice, or quality of being hospitable – favoring the health, growth, and comfort of others. A couple of afternoons each month, Bob was a “greeter” at the Holy Family Shrine, near Gretna.
Robert wished that he had been given the memory to recite Scripture, and great oratory skills to explain his faith in an apologetic manner – but those gifts were given to others. Robert did believe, however, that the Spirit had given him the ability to “pray Scripture,” to write about those prayers, and to use those prayers in an apologetic manner.
Towards that end, after retiring from Avaya and graduating from the Archdiocese of Omaha Biblical School, Robert began a new career as a writer and author. It was at that time that he wrote a four-volume set of books entitled, A Catholic Prays Scripture. Those books were eventually self-published in 2023.
On page 15, of Volume 1, Robert finally answered Terry’s question. Citing passages from Ephesians, Philippians, first Corinthians, and the gospel of Matthew; Robert wrote, “I have been saved; I am being saved; and I pray that I will be saved. I am redeemed … and like the apostle Paul, I am working out my salvation in fear and trembling, with hopeful confidence – but not with a false assurance – and I do all this as the Church has taught, unchanged, from the time of Christ.”
+++ The Homily Will Continue Tomorrow (Part 8)
Note: The portion of above quote, starting with “I am redeemed,” was initially written by Karl Keating, the founder of Catholic Answers, in his book Catholicism and Fundamentalism, in a chapter entitled “Salvation” (page 176). It is still the best Catholic answer that I have heard for the question, “Are you saved.”