On behalf of Mary and the Crangle family I welcome you to this funeral Mass for Philip.

We all come here to remember Philip, to give thanks, even in our grief, for his life, to offer each other, and especially all those who will most miss him, the consolation of our love and our presence with you today; and to offer also the promise of eternal life.

Our consolation will be the happy memories we have of Philip; our sadness is that he has gone from us.

Our sure Christian hope is that the Lord our God will welcome him home and that one day we will be united together in heaven. In the depth of our loss and hope we now pray and offer this Eucharist for Philip.

We come to God, knowing we need his mercy and forgiveness, and so in preparing to celebrate the Mass we call to mind our sins.

There is, as the scriptures remind us today, a time for every season under heaven. As we gather in Laurencetown church, we reflect on the mystery of time and providence that are in God’s hands: there is indeed a time to die, a time to keep silence, a time to speak, a time to love.

Today as we gather in church at Philip's funeral, in the midst of our grief and sadness we are confessing our Christian faith in the resurrection of the dead and eternal life. We are affirming our belief - that while all life on this earth is terminal and while death is a fact of life, death is not the end for Philip or, indeed, for any of us. There is life after death: Life that never ends.

Even in our sadness, we believe that Philip's death in this life has been his birth into eternal life. Philip lived to die and strangely, he died to live. This is the real mystery of life and death. Therefore Philip's life is changed not ended. It is our prayer that Philip is now enjoying eternal life with Jesus, our risen Lord.

Since the sudden passing of Philip you have all shared memories of him in many respects – his talents, achievements and interests – in jigsaws, Agatha Christi mystery novels and classical music – Mozart.

We gather today as a Christian community and our presence here today is our way of reaching out to all of you who loved him and will miss him and to you we extend our sympathy.

We can look on this sudden death in many ways:

A dark cloud, a moment of intense loneliness, and an experience we resist and don’t wish to speak about. You will all deal with it in your own individual way but can you see it as part of the outstretched hand of God’s support or the light beyond the cloud that is dark; or the companionship of Christ in this fearful moment of loneliness? Our faith tells us that it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

Like St. Paul we carry our faith in clay jars or earthen vessels and death can either shatter or deepen our faith.

To be a Christian is to be a pilgrim on a spiritual journey. To be a pilgrim is to go along the way of faith, hope and love. The goal is certain – eternal life in Christ Jesus. But the way is often uncertain and at times we can lose our sense of direction and we forget how to live.

This is a time of sadness. We are sad today because we are gathered to mourn Philip and say our final farewell. We are here today to console you in your sadness by our presence, our prayers and our words of consolation.

This is a time for asking forgiveness.

It is right to ask God, our loving and forgiving Father to extend to Philip his forgiveness. We are assured by our faith that God forgives always, totally and immediately.

And finally it is a time of hope.

Our faith tells us that at death life is changed, not ended. We are then filled with hope that Philip is now at peace. We are confident in this hope that God has taken him to himself.

May Mary the mother of God who buried her own son be with us to see the mind and the plan of God in our lives at this time.

May he rest in peace. Amen.

On behalf of the parish community, I extend our deepest sympathy to his loving mother Mary, brothers and sisters John, Brian, Evelyn, Dorothy, Rosaleen, David, William, Lucinda and Irene and extended family circle.