Sermonal
Eulogy
delivered at the Divine Liturgy
for the repose of
Fr. Christopher Julian Zajac, OSBM
at St. Nicholas Church, Winnipeg
October 16, 2004
During the Divine Liturgy, the Beatitudes were taken,
at the Third Antiphon.
The Gospel reading was St. John 15:12-17.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved
you. Greater love hath no man than this: that he lays down his life for his
friends. And you are my friends.”
Beloved brothers & sisters, although these words were first spoke by Christ the Lord, two thousand years go, they are spoken to you again, by another Christ, that is, by one who shared in Christ’s priesthood and represented Christ to us; they are the last words, the last testament of Father Christopher Julian Zajac to us, his friends.
Why do we come to God’s house this day? This is not, strictly speaking, a funeral. There is no body, for, yesterday, Father Chris was laid to rest in Mundare, beside his brothers in the Basilian Order. There are no blood relations here present, as they are far away, in Montreal. Do we come to remind ourselves of his personal life? That, we can read on the internet or in the paper, next week. Antony said: “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him”. But we have come to give praise to God. We have come not to praise Julian Zajac the man, but Father Christopher, the Basilian, the priest, who ministered Christ’s love to us and for us, for seventeen years of his life*.
Father Christopher was a martyr, yes, a true martyr of Christ. Martyr means witness to the truth, witness to the faith, witness to what is right. A Christian martyr witnesses to all these things by witnessing to a person— Jesus. And Jesus is the love of God made flesh among us; and love is the meaning of God, the meaning of Christ, the meaning of the Church, the meaning of the monastic life and of the priesthood. Love is the most powerful force in the universe: it changes lives, makes peace, destroys pride, conqueres vast frontiers and, the most difficult of all, it changes the heart of the sinner.
The love of Christ is not an emotion or a feeling in us, it is a virtue, a power that God Himself places in our hearts when we open them up to Him. The love of God in us means sacrificing the good we have for others who are in need of it. Everyone who gives-up some of their time, their energy, their work, their attention, their possessions, for another, they love. A martyr gives up everything for the love of God and others, even his own life.
Father Christopher was a true martyr because, despite his human weaknesses and faults, he gave whatever he had, great or small, in service to the Body of Christ, to God’s people; he gave his whole life for the Church. A priest is a man with his own faults and needs, but when he ministers the Lord’s name, it is Christ Himself who is serving us with his grace.
From ancient times, as a reminder of their deeds, people placed every-day things near the coffin of their departed ones. A man’s hat was often place on his bier, as a symbol of his profession or his station in life. Great men and women once had large monuments* erected in the churches, with orders and decorations, showing the symbols of their earthly deeds and virtues. These ancient customs have been preserved in church ritual. At the funeral of a priest, the instruments of his loving service are placed on the tetrapod. To fittingly remember him, let us remember these instruments of God’s love.
The priesthood of Christ is none other than an extension of the Lord’s own ministry on earth. In the centre of the monument is the gospel book, for the priest is sent to continue preaching and teaching that very same Word, the Way, the Truth and the Life, and he himself must follow this Gospel. Underneath is the stole— the epitrachil with seven crosses embroidered on it. These seven crosses stand for the seven Sacraments. The priest wears this stole upon his shoulders and breast, symbolically taking-upon himself the easy yoke of Christ, who told us: “my yoke is easy and by burden is light”. Wearing this stole, he pours the water over the child’s head, revealing to him the light of God’s day; he takes the burden of our sins upon him in confession and imparts the absolution, Christ’s forgiveness of our sins. He places the stole over the hands of a man and woman and, imparting Christ’s own blessing, he receives their vows to one another, before God. Above the gospel is the chalice, with which, daily, he offers up Christ’s unbloody sacrifice; he ministers Jesus Body and Blood, true nourishment for our souls and Christ’s abiding presence among us. To the left we have placed Father Chris’s own cross, with which he blessed and sanctified us in Jesus, and the holy oils with which he anointed so many of our dear ones, both Basilian and laity alike, in their illnesses and also in death.
And yet, Father Christopher was even more than all of this. He was more than a priest; he was also a Basilian monk. Besides his priestly sacrifices he also made many the other sacrifices that are required by the Basilian rules. This is why his cowl- his hood is also placed above these priestly symbols. The cowl, shading the eyes from wordly concerns, is a symbol of prayer and contemplation. To the left, a copy of the Basilian rules, which Father Christopher strove daily to observe and also the holy rosary with which he prayed for his own soul and for all of us.
There us even a small sword, symbol of a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus; a sword used not to wound or to make war, but to keep peace and promote Christian virtue.
To the man without faith, Christopher Julian Zajac’s impact on the world may seem insignificant. Marc Antony said: “The good [that a man does] is oft interred with the bones”. But the good done by the priest remains always in the souls and in the hearts of the faithful. We may forget some of his personal sayings, his human habits and favourite things, but our souls shall never forget the divine things; grace of God ministered in abundance to us, through his love love.
All of these things show us the true identity of the man Julian Zajac, who became Father Christopher for us. The Beatitudes, which we prayed, are a summary of what it means to be a Christian. "Blessed are the meek... blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness". Instead of striving after wordly ambitions, Father Christopher, with all his human failings, strove to live these Beatitudes to the fullest. And today he lives their conclusion: “For yours is the kingdom of heaven… rejoice and be glad, for your reward”, Father, is very great.
Almighty God, who has power over the living and the dead has pronounced his evaluation, which is the only one that really matters: “Well done thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” Amen.
A.M.
*
Catafalque of Pope Innocent XII, Vatican Basilica, 1700.