A Fitting Final Mass for Bishop Cupich

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By Matthew Sewell

Chicago is getting a good one in Archbishop Blase Cupich.

Sunday marked Bishop Cupich’s last public Mass as bishop of the Diocese of Spokane. Held at the mother church of the diocese, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes, the tone of the liturgy could not have matched better the man who led the faithful in eastern Washington for the past four years. 

Cupich’s final Mass coincided with the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls’ Day), a feast day where Catholics gather to lift up in prayer all who have gone before us, in the hope that they reach their heavenly reward. I don’t believe it was a coincidence, considering the very nature of All Souls’ Day calls for prayer and a “looking outward,” away from our own lives to the well being of others, something our bishop embodied as good as anyone.

With hundreds gathered to see him off to his new post in the Midwest, a Knights of Columbus honor guard in full regalia, and every opportunity to revel in a glorious sendoff, Bishop Cupich made the day about literally everyone other than himself.

In his homily, Cupich used the story of his grandfather’s funeral, where a gypsy woman placed a quarter on his grandfather’s hands as “car fare for the journey,” to illustrate the purpose of Purgatory and the value of prayer as our brothers and sisters who have gone before us are purified on their path to heaven.

“There are always loose ends in life,” Bishop Cupich said, “and so too some areas are unredeemed in our lives even after death.”

Purgatory, I’d say misunderstood among Catholics nearly as much as it is among non-Catholics, isn’t an eternal resting place for the soul, as Heaven or Hell is. Rather, Purgatory is a place of purgation, a transitory place where the soul is purified of every last piece of human imperfection in order to enter Heaven.

Cupich shared the story of a class he once taught, where to illustrate this he said to a girl sitting in the front row, “I can tell, you’re someone really special!”

“The girl blushed, just as I suspected she would,” said Cupich.

As humans, he went on to explain, many times we don’t believe we’re worth loving, with others or with God. It’s an imperfection, and something that is often a “loose end” when we die. We desire the love of God, Cupich continued, but we can’t accept it perfectly, so in our purgative state, our soul is “continuously flooded with God’s love” that we might become perfected in it.

Cupich ended his homily by encouraging the faithful present to pray in solidarity with our deceased brothers and sisters to help them reach salvation.

“Perhaps the curtain between time and eternity is thinner than we think,” Cupich said as he ended. “Our prayers do matter, they do count.”

With the souls of those in attendance aimed closer to Heaven, Cupich then entered into the culmination of the Mass for the final time in public as bishop. Following the solemn consecration of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus, Bishop Cupich distributed “the food for the journey,” as St. John Paul II referred to the Eucharist, sharing in the intimate sacrifice of the Mass one final time with each person who came to see him off.

The close of Mass brought two gifts from the Cathedral parish to their beloved departing bishop. First, a gift card to one of Chicago’s finest steakhouses, a “perfect gift for someone born in the Midwest,” said pastoral council president Mary Haugen. Second, a check for $4,000 to give directly to the poor in Chicago’s downtown, in honor of the many services and programs provided by the parish for downtown Spokane’s poor population.

Before the final blessing, Cupich asked for prayers, then lamented and joked a bit on God’s impeccable timing in naming him to his new post. His pastoral plan, Know, Love, Serve had just been launched, and on the day his pastoral letter, Joy Made Complete, was released, Bishop Cupich received a call that he was moving.

“The Nuncio (the Vatican ambassador calling to give him the news) said ‘The Lord will provide,’ so maybe pray for that too,” Cupich said with a laugh.

In letting go and trusting in the Lord that Know, Love, Serve would succeed without his leadership, some of Bishop Cupich’s last words were a note of encouragement to the gathered faithful.

“What’s important for us is that all of us do our part, so the Church can move forward and continue to grow,” he said. “Each one of us has a role, each one of us has a part to play in making sure we all get to heaven.”

In my estimation, Cupich’s final Mass was a perfect final farewell. In short, a humble man celebrated a humble Mass in service to the Lord and his flock.

May God bless Archbishop Cupich, his mark left on the Diocese of Spokane, and his upcoming ministry to the faithful in Chicago.