There are some famous songs from Broadway musicals:

• Don’t Rain on My Parade from Funny Girl
• Fly, Fly Away from Catch Me If You Can the Musical
• Don’t Cry for Me Argentina from Evita
• Goodbye Love from Rent
• And I am Telling You from Dream Girls

What do they have in common?

These songs talk about one reality of life that all of us go through – Saying Goodbye. Indeed, we live in a world where everything has a time, everything has a season and purpose under heaven. We all know this: the deeper the love, the more difficult the goodbye.

Hence three things we remember as we say Goodbye.

1. Trust God. People come into our lives for a reason and people leave our lives for a reason. Everything is under God’s plan. When it is time to say goodbye it only means that the mission has been accomplished and time to move to the next chapter.
   
2. Cherish Memories. Death may end life, but never the relationship. In other words, all the memories, all the shared experiences, all the good times and difficult times, all the words said and actions done, will forever be a part of our lives already. Not even death can take that away from us. 
   
3. Be a Better Person. As we go through life, the best way we can affirm our love to the people we encounter is that we become better people, better Christians. If we have been beneficiaries of love, forgiveness, happiness, and kindness, we should share this forward. Indeed the life of the one we said goodbye to was meaningful.

In each mass, let us remember:

…eternal repose of the souls.
…gratitude for the live given.
…to be strong in all the goodbyes of life. Life may never be the same but we have become stronger, more loving and wiser. This will continue until is it our turn to say goodbye.