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    LET IT aLL sTART hERE                                                        
 For Catholics who care...

April 10th, 2015

4/10/2015

5 Comments

 
All week I have been searching for the notice of my friend Gary G.’s death in the local newspaper.  I found that there was no “notice” of him, no obituary.  Its absence caused me to pause and wonder:  Why?  Someone said:  He didn’t want anyone to have to spend the money on him....”  As if $1.25 a word to write a life, or to acknowledge a soul’s passing, would break anyone.  But perhaps my friend didn’t see the value in his own life.  There is where the shame of it lies.  So I ask myself:  How do we live worthy lives?

Obituaries are not unlike resumes.  Both are a “summing up” of one’s history.  Both try to convince the reader that the person whose name appears in the bold letters is or was “somebody”.  So, in a way, a person becomes a product or a thing that is “sold”.  Sadly, if the product isn’t or wasn’t useful enough... it is in that same way... discontinued. Not thought of.  Not noted.   

I have built a lot of resumes in my time.  I’m good at constructing a life that “sells”.  And yet if I were to die tomorrow, would the notice of my death convince anyone I was worth knowing? I hope someone would spend $55.00 on an "obit" and write the following about me:   She was poor in spirit.  She was meek.  She mourned and was comforted.  She hungered and thirst for justice.  She was merciful.  She was clean of heart.  She was a peacemaker.  She suffered persecution for justice’ sake.  And . . . The kingdom of heaven is hers!

I will miss my friend Gary whom God sent into my life to assist me in living a life of value.     

5 Comments
Richard Anthony link
4/10/2015 06:35:37 am

Condolences, Evelyn, on the passing of your friend Gary. In my experience, obituaries need not necessarily be paid notices. For two of my family members, the local newspapers did beautiful tributes. My father's was headlined, "Pillar of the Community" and my sister's was, "A Ray of Sunshine." My mother's only obituary was the one that I wrote, which the newspaper published and like the others, was free of charge.

Since your friend was important to you, it's possible that he will eventually be eulogized by someone, and if he is, I'd like to read more about him. So please keep us posted should that occur.

Also, in the "in search of" department, I am still on the lookout for publication here in your blog about the excellent information that Christopher Schaefer submitted on March 30, 2015 about bells rung at consecration of the host during mass. Were you able to find out why Christopher's remarks never appeared? I am certain that others would find them as interesting as I did.

Meanwhile we can offer prayers for Gary and for all our dear departed friends and loved ones. God rest them all.

Reply
evelyn link
4/10/2015 08:13:37 am

Thanks Richard. I will try to send you Christopher's reply. I saw it when you asked last about it and thought you did as well.

Reply
Richard Anthony link
4/10/2015 10:03:30 am

No need to send it; I already have it. It's the same text that I emailed to you, which had been emailed to me. I see that it now does appear in the comments for your March 27 post, "ex-post-facto" for me but it's there. Only it's dated the day before I wrote that I didn't see it. Your intro that day talked about "seeing what isn't there;" so was I not seeing what WAS there? Cyber gremlins!

Apropos of which: Two readers of the March 27 post commented about a "powerful photo" (Michael Veitch 3/31/15 and Ken Humphrey 4/02/15) but where's the photo?. Did they see it elsewhere, or do they mean the photo you described in your intro? Forgive my nit-pickyness, Evelyn; just trying to stay on the same page with y'all.

Reply
Fr. Michael
4/14/2015 11:39:55 am

I was happy to hear that a graveside service will indeed take place for Gary ... I hope you can make it there to honor him, Evelyn.

How do we live worthy lives? By making other people know and tangibly feel their human dignity and value ... their God-given worth.

They will surely be made fully aware of this when they see Him face-to-face, and perhaps for the very first time, know how much they have always been loved. Then, they will not care how their lives and deaths are being noted and remembered here below.

The irony is that God relies on us to assure people of His love for them, to assure people they have the dignity and worth He gave them from the moment they were conceived.

That affirmation can be life changing. It will help them live worthy and dignified lives because they will be living in anticipation of being eternally enveloped in Love Himself. And living from that stance, with eyes focused on that horizon, cannot but make one ready to meet the Maker.

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