On Feb. 20, the casket bearing the body of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia entered the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception just as many pilgrims are in this Jubilee Year of Mercy, through the Holy Door there.

Father Paul Scalia, the justice’s son who served as the main celebrant and homilist at his father’s Mass of Christian Burial, said the fact that Justice Scalia’s casket was carried through that door of mercy was a great blessing, and in his homily, he emphasized that his father was a man of faith, dedicated to his family and serving his country, who relied on God’s mercy and was sustained through the sacraments.

“We give thanks that Jesus brought him to new life in Baptism, nourished him with the Eucharist and healed him in the confessional,” Father Scalia said in his homily. “…God blessed Dad with a deep Catholic faith, the conviction that Christ’s presence and power continue in the world today through his body, the Church.”

Speaking of Justice Scalia’s devotion to his Catholic faith, Father Scalia said, “He loved the clarity and coherence of the Church’s teachings. He treasured the Church’s ceremonies, especially the beauty of her ancient worship. He trusted the power of her sacraments as the means of salvation, as Christ working within him for his salvation.”

Father Scalia serves as the episcopal vicar for clergy for the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, where Justice Scalia lived with his family. The Associate Justice is survived by his wife Maureen Scalia and by their nine children and 36 grandchildren. As bells tolled, the justice’s family members accompanied his flag-draped casket up the steps into the basilica and down its main aisle as the congregation sang  the hymn “O God Our Help in Ages Past,” and then sat in a front section as the casket was placed at the base of the steps leading to the main altar.

Dignitaries at the Funeral Mass included the eight surviving active members of the U.S. Supreme Court: John G. Roberts Jr., the Chief Justice of the United States; and Associate Justices Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan. Retired Supreme Court Associate Justices John Paul Stevens and David H. Souter were also present.

Other dignitaries at the Mass included Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch; former Vice President Dick Cheney; former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich; Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah); and Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who served as a Supreme Court clerk and is a candidate for the Republican party’s presidential nomination.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington, welcomed Justice Scalia’s family members and friends and the dignitaries to the Mass and acknowledged the presence of Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States and Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde. Other Catholic leaders at the Mass included Bishop Richard B. Higgins, vicar for veterans affairs at the Archdiocese for the Military Services USA; Msgr. Walter R. Rossi, the basilica’s rector; and John Garvey, the president of The Catholic University of America. Nearly 100 priests concelebrated the Mass and were joined by about 36 permanent deacons, and the congregation of 3,300 people included Catholic laypeople and women and men in consecrated life, and guests of many different faiths.

The cardinal expressed “our heartfelt sympathy at the loss of your husband, your father, your grandfather and friend, and we once again pledge our prayers that God will grant him eternal rest and grant you comfort and consolation.”

Leonard Leo, a friend of Justice Scalia who serves as the executive vice president of the Federalist Society, read the first reading from the Book of Wisdom, which opened with, “The souls of the just are in the hands of God.” Justice Thomas read the second reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, and Deacon Colin Davis of the Diocese of Arlington, read the Gospel reading from St. Matthew.

The Mass included some hymns in Latin, including Mozart’s soaring Ave Verum Corpus (“Hail True Body”) sung by the basilica’s choir during Communion. The liturgy also reflected Justice Scalia’s sense of humor, with both Cardinal Wuerl and Father Scalia joking about the family’s desire “for a simple parish family Mass” for the justice’s funeral, which ended up being held in the largest Catholic church in North America to accommodate the mourners.

Father Scalia in his homily told of a time when his dad had been waiting in a confessional line, only to discover that his son was hearing the Confessions, so he “quickly departed it. As he (Justice Scalia) put it later, ‘Like heck if I’m confessing to you!’ The feeling was mutual,” the priest said, smiling.

Since Justice Scalia died on Feb. 13 of natural causes at the age of 79, his son said the justice had been praised by many for his intellect, his writings and speeches. “But more important to us – and to him – was that he was Dad. He was the father God gave us for the great adventure of family life,” Father Scalia said. “Sure, he forgot our names at times or mixed them up, but there were nine of us!”

Then on a serious note, he added, “He loved us, and sought to show that love, and sought to share the blessing of the faith he treasured.”

The priest also expressed thanks for his parents’ marriage, noting that “Jesus bestowed upon him 55 years of marriage to the woman he loved, a woman who could match him at every step and even hold him accountable.”

Outside the basilica on the Catholic University campus, flags hung at half-staff in honor of Justice Scalia, just as they hung outside courthouses, other government buildings, schools and businesses throughout the Washington area and across the country. At the Supreme Court, in accordance with the court’s tradition, Justice Scalia’s bench chair and the bench directly in front of it were draped in black wool crepe in memoriam, and a black drape was hung over the courtroom doors.

“God blessed Dad, as is well known, with a love for his country,” Father Scalia said. “He knew well what a close-run thing the founding of our nation was. And he saw in that founding, as did the founders themselves, a blessing. A blessing quickly lost when faith is banned from the public square, or when we refuse to bring it there.”

The priest said Justice Scalia “understood that there is no conflict between loving God and loving one’s country, between one’s faith and one’s public service. Dad understood that the deeper he went in his Catholic faith, the better a citizen and a public servant he became.”

Then paraphrasing a famous quote from St. Thomas More, the priest said of his father, “God blessed him with a desire to be the country’s good servant, because he was God’s first.”

Father Scalia noted that people had gathered that day because of a man who knew fame and controversy, who was loved by many and scorned by others – “Jesus of Nazareth.” They gathered, he said, in thanksgiving for the blessings that Jesus bestowed on Justice Scalia and all of humanity, through Christ’s “atoning death and life-giving resurrection.”

At the majestic basilica, scaffolding was in place in preparation for the upcoming installation of mosaics in the shrine’s Trinity Dome, and pews in the front section had been removed and replaced with chairs. In his homily, Father Scalia spoke of another kind of ongoing improvement, as Christians like his father did, recognize that they are imperfect and seek perfection in Christ.

Father Scalia said his father disliked eulogies and excessive praise for the deceased even if they were virtuous, and the justice once wrote to a Presbyterian minister thanking him for the way he had conducted a funeral service, noting that too much praise for the departed “can cause us to forget that we are praying and giving thanks for God’s inexplicable mercy to a sinner.”

The priest asked those in the congregation to pray for his father that he will find eternal glory with Jesus in heaven, but he also encouraged them to reflect on their own eternal destiny. “We must allow this encounter with eternity to change us, to turn us from sin and toward the Lord,” he said.

Later during the prayer of commendation for Justice Scalia, his son, Father Scalia, prayed that God would grant the justice a merciful judgment. As the congregation sang, “O God Beyond All Praising,” Justice Scalia’s casket was carried down the basilica’s center aisle, accompanied as he had been in life by his family, and then they left for his private burial ceremony.