F. CARLO MONDIN

Homily in occasion of Don Carlo Mondin’s funeral
Mons. Vlastimil Krocil

Dearest brothers in the priesthood, dearest sisters, dearest realtives of Don Carlo, brothers and sisters and friends who are here today. 

We have gathered at this Holy Mass to say goodbye to our beloved Don Carlo; but we don’t want to experience this funeral just as a funeral, but rather as an experience of communion between Heaven and earth; we want this to be our celebration, because Don Carlo is there, where he very much desired to go. Lately, when people asked him: “Don, do you need something?”, he has been answering: “Heaven!”. 

United, we celebrate the big feast for a beloved child who enters Heaven. 

Christmas time is just ended and during the Feast of Our Lord’s Epifany we contemplated the Magi who went out following the light of the star to meet the Lord. The Good God, for many of us, sent a star, a big and luminous star; He sent this star to us in the person and in the deeds of our beloved Don Carlo.

A very bright star that enlightened, guided, comforted and counselled many. Don Carlo took us to en-counter Christ, not a formal or traditional encounter, but an encounter which was alive, the fruit of a deep and intense personal experience. 

I think that we can make St. Paul’s words our own and apply them to Don Carlo: “And I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me” (Gal 2,20). The profound experience of Christ in his life has been the mark of his existence, seal of his person and soul of his apostolate.

The benevolence of the Father, the Love of the Son and the work of the Holy Spirit shaped Don Car-lo as a priest according to Christ’s Heart and he suffered for Christ, in Christ and with Christ. 

A priest who became a victim, in the Great Victim, during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in a very special way: Don Carlo didn’t simply celebrate the Holy Mass, rather Don Carlo lived the Holy Mass. 

He incarnated the Holy Mass in his own person and he made it the center of his life!

And Our Lord Jesus Christ embraced Don Carlo with all the divine tenderness of His Heart, drawing him closer to the wound in His Side, so that he was His comforting priest, His atoning priest, His in-terceding priest. 

Don Carlo left us to go to Heaven on the Day of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, day on which we remember Mary and Joseph who presented the Child Jesus to the Father; the feast day of consecrated life, feast of those who give their life to God, following the evangelical counsels.

He, who was invested by the Love of Christ, spent his life for the consecrated life, offered himself as an atoning victim, especially for priests, consecrated people and for a multitude of souls. 

His passing has been the coronation of his daily offer to the crucifying Love. A date truly significant to seal his earthly life and take off towards life everlasting. 

We are gathered here today to look one more time and say goodbye to our guiding star, whom we believe to shine luminous in the sky. 

Don Carlo introduced us to the redeeming and salvific mystery of the Cross, in the confident and filial abandonement to Christ’s Love, and to the tender and filial devotion to the Most Holy Virgin Mary. 

Let us all treasure his teachings!

How can we forget his love towards Our Lady, his Heavenly Mom? How many pilgrimages we made with him to honour the Virgin Mary!

How many experiences we had with him; each shrine, each place marked by God’s presence were for him like jewels to reach and admire. He travelled a lot to reach places where he prayed and beseeched God for blessings and graces.  

Our Lady kept him in Her Immaculate and Motherly Heart as a lily from Heaven and he honoured Her calling Her simply: “Mom!”. 

Let us thank the Most Holy Virgin Mary for the gift of Don Carlo’s priesthood! 

But unfortunately, as it always happens, not everybody understood him: how many obstacles he had to overcome to stay faithful to the mystery he was bearing in his own person!

He patiently endured so many humiliations, obediences and misunderstanding, being always reverent and obedient to the Church. 

Along with him, we want to remember Grandma Susanna who, like Anna the prophetess, had been waiting for a long time for the longedfor encounter with the priest totally devoted to the Immaculate Heart and welcomed him in her house in Bologna; she welcomed “the Reverend”, as she used to call him.  

How can not we mention his brother Silverio with his wife Bruna, who devoted their lives to serve Don Carlo with complete affection and dedication?

To go visit Don Carlo was to find a word of consolation, a light on our path. His home was a place of prayer, in the beloved Chapel of the Most Humble Mother, a place where to sit around an always welcoming table, for a fraternal meal and long conversations, either profound or practical.  

Close to Don Carlo we have always found a family and a father’s heart. 

Most Humble Mother, Queen of priests, pray for us.