Funeral of Father Philippe

HOMILY GIVEN BY CARDINAL BARBARIN
AT THE FUNERAL OF FR. PHILIPPE
PRIMATIAL CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN, LYONS, SEPTEMBER 2, 2006

The liturgical readings were the following:

Fist reading: Rev 22:12-14.16-17.20-21
Ps. 116
Second reading: 1 Jn. 1:1-4
Gospel: Jn. 17:6.14-23

Download the homily of cardinal Barbarin in French (audio MP3 file of 16,5 Mo.)

“Behold, I am coming soon”. We heard these words twice in the passage from the Book of Revelation which was our first reading. They echo strangely within us on this day on which we commend to God the life of a man whom, on the eve of his 94th birthday, the Lord has now called to Himself. In mid-July, this brother of the Order of Preachers who had talked and taught so much ceased to speak and entered into silence!

“Yes, I am coming soon”. I hear this phrase as the Lord’s response to the questions which Father Marie-Dominique Philippe must have asked him throughout his life – as a child, as a religious, as a teacher and as a founder. A disciple with a burning heart and an intrepid intelligence, he asked his Master questions about everything: the world, mankind, his mission … He was a searcher who wanted to understand, to receive intelligence about things and about people. And Jesus’ response is never a reflection or an analysis; His response is His own person coming to meet us and giving Himself to us: “Yes, I am coming soon!”

From an early age, Father Marie-Dominique learned from his Dominican uncle, Father Dehau, to consider the Book of Revelation as a fountain of hope, a comfort, a support in times of trial. He who “will come to judge the living and the dead” draws close to us each day. Through the Word of Life and through the sacraments which the Lord has left us, eternity comes and gently touches each and every one of our days.

Father Marie-Dominique Philippe was a man of the source. Contemplating Jesus on the Cross, he saw the summit of all wisdom in this love that went right to the very end, to the very extreme. He wanted to climb up to this source constantly, and he invited all of us – we his students and you his brothers and sisters – not to “float downstream”, never to leave the challenging but delightful path that he who climbs up must follow. Men and women, disciples of the Lord, in the beauty of their existence as created in the image of God and in the nobility of their intelligence, will never be truly satisfied by anything other than a living and life-giving water.

For him, this water flowing from the source had a name: truth. Veritas – a word that Jesus chooses to define himself: “I am the Truth” (John 14:6); Veritas – the motto of the Dominican family; Veritas – a supreme good which holds a place of central importance in Jesus’ prayer, as we have just heard: “Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17).

The place where man, struggling in his search, comes to a meeting point with God, who gives Himself generously, is that sanctuary we enter into in order to bow down and adore; it is that interior attitude to which the first commandment – “the Word of Life” – invites us: “You will worship…” This is where God communicates to us His charity.

Adoration and charity. These are surely two of the most precious words of the spiritual life for Father Philippe. Charity is like a river of goodness that flows from God and pours down upon men. This vision makes Jesus exult with joy in the Holy Spirit (Luke 10:21). It is to be lived in the present moment so that we remain available, in a very concrete way, to those close to us. It begins with the wonderful experience of friendship, a subject so dear to Father Philippe’s heart. Friendship was for him “the pearl of the human heart”. God knows how admirable and faithful he was in his own friendships, even in difficult circumstances.

Life did not spare him and he certainly knew suffering. With his refined humanity and his sharp sensibility, he knew how to live those moments in life that, more often than not, crush us completely. With courage and nobility of soul, he would set off again, despite the trials, in search of a truth that can only be discovered through charity. He observed the world, he listened to people, he loved everyone he met – with a special affection for young people! He even used to say that he had the feeling he understood them better at 90 than at 50. “I perceive in the youth,” he used to say, “a great desire for light and truth – a new fervor”. Young people were a source of interior joy for him.

Fr. Philippe was truly filled with hope in his search for truth. He was convinced that we can always go deeper, right to the very origin of the philosophical question. For him, philosophy begins with observing the world; this prompts amazement which then leads to wonder. Just like the child, the philosopher asks questions and should never be afraid to go right to the essential.

We could say that his is an ambitious philosophy. He has no intention of stopping short at textual commentary or at an analysis or description of situations. He fervently seeks what is true. For him, metaphysics is neither a luxury nor a superior science. And he was delighted that Martha Robin – “a poor country girl” as he used to say – encouraged him to pursue this difficult work rather than spend time preaching retreats in monasteries. The Church needs this work. With great interior energy – the thumos for the truth – he continued his search and was forever questioning.

Philosophy is for him a via inventionis, a path of discovery. We set off, we search, we hesitate, and then we perceive the order of things, we establish relations, and it is marvelous to share with others what we have discovered. Such is the joy of someone who teaches philosophy. There is nothing ‘closed’ about such a search, of course; it does not stop at a circle of friends or at a particular school of philosophy. Father Philippe was surprising in the diversity of his contacts; he maintained fruitful relationships with intellectuals of diverse disciplines and with philosophers quite different from himself. He often spoke about his various encounters with artists, for whom he had a real admiration and maybe even a tinge of envy.

How beautiful is an intelligence that is open to the diversity of cultures, broadened by observation of the world and by an expansive love for all those we come into contact with! Such an intelligence is ready to welcome Revelation on a grand scale. Early on in his life Father Philippe received St Thomas as a master in theology – given to him by Father Dehau and by the Dominican Order. The theological labor is a rational pathway that engages the whole spiritual life. It is a mysterious adventure, for Revelation is a love that gives itself and that draws us into its élan. When reading what Father Philippe wrote about the “three wisdoms” I have often thought that the last two, the theological and mystical wisdoms, are so closely tied together that they become one. For him, undoubtedly, just like for the great cantors “practiced in divine music” who have handed down to us the Christian message from antiquity, “theology is written on our knees”. It is the apostle John whom tradition has called “o theologos” – the theologian. And indeed, when Father Philippe gave conferences or classes, his audience could sense a grace inviting them to enter into prayer.

The passages that we heard during the liturgy of the Word are all, of course, from St John – St John whom Father Philippe loves and whom St Thomas teaches him to love even more; St John whom he gives as a model for his closeness to the Lord; St John who, according to Father Philippe, sheds such a great light for us on the Church – her present and her future. “In the renewal of the Church,” he used to say, “there needs to be that perspicacity of intelligence, that purity of heart and that youthfulness which St Thomas Aquinas says characterize the holiness of St John”. Yet even were I to stop here, it would still seem as though I hadn’t yet said very much…

For Father Marie-Dominique Philippe was first of all a priest. His ministry and his whole life put him directly next to the Cross of Jesus. It was enough to see him celebrate Mass to understand that the Eucharist was not a theological treatise for him but first of all a mystical adventure that leads to the source of salvation. Fully given to his mission, he always welcomed those who came to speak with him, listening to them patiently. In his attention to them could be seen his closeness to the mystery of the Cross and his intimacy with Mary. He wanted to welcome them in that love which united Mary and John – image of the Church being born – in a close communion at Golgotha. His compassion was source of an immense hope in him, sometimes even an excessive hope. He was convinced that God’s mercy awaits everyone, no matter what his misery: we can be healed from any wound, can get back up again, can be reborn. Sometimes the father’s heart in him trusted – trusted too much – beings who were still fragile and who needed to be accompanied closely and maybe even tested – brothers whom it would have been good to listen to a little more, for a clearer discernment. If he sought out a path to healing for everyone it was above all with the intention of being a witness, to each one of them, of the Father’s love.

For him, this mystery of compassion finds an outstanding model in Mary’s presence and silence at the foot of the Cross. This is the moment when Jesus confides His Mother to the care of the beloved disciple: “Woman, behold your son … Behold your mother” (John 19:26-27). Many of you, I was told, would have liked this passage to be read today, so foundational is it for your community and in the life of the Church generally. But in the end you chose to meditate upon the priestly prayer of Christ – the long and precious message of Our Lord given on the eve of His passion. This prayer helps us understand the very depth of the mystery of compassion. When we hear the words with which Jesus refers to His union with the Father: “That they may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you” (17:21), we understand what that unity that we are invited to live with our neighbors, in our communities, in the Church, in our families, could be. Its source is found in the Trinity’s own communion and the first model of it is given to us by Mary, the all-holy, and John, the beloved disciple, at the foot of the Cross.

In the Church’s history, Father Marie-Dominique loved precisely those in whom he could perceive this mystery of compassion. You know their names: St Dominic, who often used to cry out, “Mercy on us, what will become of sinners?”; St Catherine of Sienna; St John of the Cross – “my old friends” as he used to call them. He used to say about St Therese and her “little way”, “She touches what is deepest”. And then we must also mention Martha Robin who lived the Lord’s Passion each week and who meant so much to him, St Faustina and Mother Teresa who was so completely taken by Jesus’ cry from the cross: “I thirst!”. But always, and first and foremost, St John and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

One of you said to me: “I have never heard anyone speak about the Virgin Mary like Father Marie-Dominique Philippe”. For him, we grow in the spiritual life in the company of this Mother, that is to say, we become little again, until we are nothing more than a tiny child, just like the Beloved Son nestled in the womb of his Mother – “the fruit of her womb”. Mary too invites us to take up again the path to the source, to the source of a love that Jesus alone knew and that he came to reveal to us through the Incarnation: “No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known” (John 1:18). It was more important for Father Philippe to form his students’ minds and hearts in this mystery of compassion than to write books for them. More than anything else, he loved to communicate to them that thirst for receiving the gifts of God directly.

I would especially like to turn to you, sisters and brothers of the “Family of Saint John”. On April 8, 2001, a number of bishops gathered together at the Bishop’s residence in Autun in order to express to Father Philippe the gratitude of the Church in France and to listen to him meditate in person upon the charism of his foundations. He came with a few brothers, some of those with whom he worked most closely. He expressed to us his deep attachment to the successor of Peter and spoke to us about some of the exchanges he had had with the Holy Father. He told us that on one occasion he received a very clear message from him: “Tell your brothers that the true founder of the Congregation of St John is St Dominic”.

He explained to us that his bull of canonization presents St Dominic not as a monk or an apostle but as a vir evangelicus. As such, he follows Christ. Knowing whether he was contemplative or active is not really what’s important, because Christ Himself was both at the same time: a being turned towards the Father and entirely given to His brothers. “Vir evangelicus; that is the key expression for us in the Congregation of St John”. And this complements well how Martha Robin saw Father Philippe: “He is a man who lives the Gospel profoundly”. And so that the word vir not lead to any segregation (!) he added, “Is there anything more beautiful than a little contemplative sister who gives herself totally to God … placing all her trust and hope in Mary?”

And so Father Philippe leaves you as a treasure the figure of St John. You might say that he climbs up from St Dominic to St John to be able to touch the Lord more closely. He desires the renewal of your theological life – through the perspicacity of the intelligence at the service of Faith, through purity of heart at the service of Charity, and with the élan of youth at the service of Hope.

I would like to close with a few words from St John himself. Of all those that we heard in the readings of our Mass it is hard to know which to select. There are those words which unite our prayer to the prayer of the Church: “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come!’… Let him who is thirsty come” (Rev. 22:17), and those which invite us to the apostolic mission: “That which we have seen … we testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life” (1 John 1:1-2). “Carrying to others the fruit of our contemplation” – that is what apostolate is, according to St Thomas. While the deacon was proclaiming the Gospel, did you not have the impression, as I did, that those words were coming both from Jesus and from Father Philippe? They evoke the work of your founder for you as well as his vision for your future: “I revealed your name to those whom you gave me … I do not ask that you take them out of the world … Consecrate them in the truth”. Father Marie-Dominique’s prayer is founded upon the Lord’s prayer for all his disciples: “That they may be one”. It encompasses also the vast scope of people who have been or will be touched by your apostolates or who dwell in your prayer: “I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word” (v. 20).

May the strength of this prayer be for you a great source of consolation in the fulfillment of your vocation and of your mission. And, as Pope John Paul II invited us as we entered into the new millennium, “Let us go forward in hope, with the help of Christ, out of love for men”. Duc in altum!