Homily preached by Archbishop Gilbert at the Funeral Liturgy for Winston Best at St Dominic’s Church, Morvant on Saturday, March 8

In Catholic theology all liturgies celebrate life. Funeral liturgies are no exception. Funeral liturgies celebrate the application of the power of the resurrection to the deceased, to his loved ones and to the celebrating community. 

Let us look briefly at each of the three applications:
1) The resurrection of the Lord speaks to the deceased. It says death is not the end of life. For those who have been faithful to the Covenant, death is a transition to an eternal life with God;

2) The resurrection of the Lord speaks to the loved ones of the deceased. It says bring your grief and sense of loss to your faith. Open yourselves to the healing power of the Risen Lord and have hope;

3) The resurrection of the Lord speaks to the celebrating community. It reminds the celebrating community that everyone will eventually have a turn in the middle aisle – there are no exemptions – so live your life well. Eternity is a long time!

The resurrection tells both loved ones and members of the celebrating community: do not be afraid, there is reason to hope, God’s Spirit makes it possible to heal.

The dynamic of martyrdom

The occasion of our being together today at this liturgy is the brutal murder of Winston, a man whose life was given to the cause of justice and the selfless service of others.

The truth is that Winston died a martyr for justice. In theology and history martyrs hold a very special place of honour and influence. The death of martyrs brings forth new life and a new level of energy.

Evil people and underdeveloped people without values who do evil on behalf of others do not understand the dynamic of martyrdom. They believe that by killing those who they perceive threaten them, they eliminate the threat, crush what their victims stood for and force the community to live in fear. 

What actually happens is the death of martyrs becomes more powerful than their lives. Theologically, the Church is built on the blood of martyrs.

The more believers were killed for the Lord, the more people believed in the Lord. Historically, the death of martyrs has changed the direction of history.

Evil people learned too late that they started something they could not finish. Quite soon they became the victims of their own evil plans. Good people refused to be afraid any longer. They finally decided to come together to rebuild a society of love, justice and peace.

The Book of Revelation (The Apocalypse)

The first reading of this liturgy is from the Book of Revelation. It was written to encourage people who were suffering persecution. It is a book filled with symbols – code language – that was only understood by the believing community. It was a safe form of communication.

One of the symbols in the Book of Revelation is the sea – the biblical symbol of chaos, of powerful turmoil, of enormous potential for destruction. The Book of Revelation says the chaos represented by the sea will be no more.

God will make all things new. The text does not mean the sea will disappear. It means the chaos represented by the sea will be replaced by the charity and justice of God.

Making all things new is not a poet’s dream or consoling words for people to hear at a funeral. It is a challenge to the people of any city or nation or continent to free themselves from fear and bondage, from false values and from being controlled by evil people.

The Book of Revelation challenges people to take charge of their lives and to build this new city of God on the foundations of wisdom, love and justice that will eventually lead to community and peace.

Stewardship and collaboration

As God calls us to collaboration for the stewardship of creation, God also calls us to collaboration for making all things new. God does not ask people to do the impossible. If God has given us the challenge to collaborate to make all things new and guarantees to help, then we must rise up and come together to do it.

The Gospel of John

John’s Gospel gives us some insights about how to collaborate with God to make all things new.

It shares three points of Christian wisdom
1) The grain of wheat left to itself does nothing. It must die to bring forth life. That is exactly what Jesus did. He died in apparent failure and, to the surprise of those who killed him, rose again as Lord.

2) The person who loves herself/himself destroys herself/himself. Jesus taught that selfishness injures and eventually destroys everything it touches: marriages, friendships, business partnerships and vocations.

3) The person who hates herself/himself in this world preserves herself/himself for eternal life. In Scripture, the word “world” signifies being unredeemed and being in the state of sin and darkness. In Scripture, hate is to be understood in the sense of loving less. Therefore the text means that only by loving self and world less than one loves God is it possible to gain eternal life.  

Application to Winston’s life

Winston fits the image of the grain of wheat that died, the selfless person who served, the man with the proper perspective of loving God more than self or this world. Love and justice were two of the virtues that Winston lived his entire life.

Evil people knew it.  They knew how he lived and they knew what he would respond to. They were right. They used these virtues to lure him to his death.

Whether his death will become more powerful than his life and bring forth new life, new energy and new resolve to the national community will depend on whether the people will listen and respond to the call to collaborate with God and with each other to make all things new.

Trinidad and Tobago is large enough, talented enough and blessed enough with resources to enjoy an incredible potential for the future. Yet Trinidad and Tobago is small enough to have a realistic chance to make all things new.

Remember God is not asking us to solve the problems of the African continent or to settle the conflicts in the Middle East. God is only asking us to make all things new in Trinidad and Tobago.

Together we can search out evil. Together we can identify it. Together we can confront it. Winston died a martyr to justice. Allow the power of his martyr’s death to bring forth new life.

Allow the power of his martyr’s death to motivate the nation to choose to come together on all levels to build a community of love and justice. There is no other road to peace. 

The call

God is not naïve. God is not a fool. What God calls us to, what God promises to help us with is truly possible.

Will you allow Winston’s death as a martyr for justice become more powerful than his life? Will you collaborate with God to make all things new?

If your answer is yes, then we must ask the leadership of the country to bring us together to work with God to make all things new.

If your answer is no, then we must prepare to celebrate many more funerals for the victims of violent death. What is your answer?