I received a message from a dear friend that he was visiting the Shrine of St Rita in Philadelphia today. He would be praying for sister.
He did not know that… she was as devoted to St. Rita as I am, nor that she was buried with beads from Cascia and a holy card of the saint in her hands. Also, I had just come from a Mass in the parish that I had requested weeks earlier in honor of St. Rita.
What a beautiful way to start the day!
Saturday morning, my wife and I returned to the funeral home where we had been the night before. My sister was a much-loved woman and many people had come to pay their respects. As is the case for an Irish wake, there were tears and laughter, and praised be to God, more of the latter than the former.
We returned on Saturday for the private little service that funeral homes do right before heading to the church. In other words, I went to see her for a final time on this earth. All was fine until the words “please pay your final respects and kindly head to your car” were said. I approached her casket with my wife. They had taken away the kneeler so we could get closer. I placed my hand on her arm, remembering how her beautiful life and mine had intertwined so many times. And just as the remaining siblings who were also there did, I wept as I moved forward. Tears of joy, truly… mostly.
Friends, God picked a good time for her to go. The first full week of November? Plenary indulgences abounded. My most sincere thanks to all who prayed for her, who visited cemeteries and gained an indulgence, who have had Masses offered. Thank you to the priests who have already said Masses for her. And thank you to all who came or who reached out in other ways. Your kindness will not be forgotten.
Please continue to pray for her.
What’s with the title? Oh yes, load up. Thats what we did before they closed the lid. Do you know how many broken rosaries, tarnished medals, and torn holy cards we found in her apartment? She never threw those things away because they were blessed. So they went into the ground with her along with a holy card in her hand of St. Rita, for whom my sister had a particular devotion (as of course do many in my family). It is my hope that we continue to load up the prayers for her soul and as I’ve said once or twice before…
Stay confessed.
I opened my suitcase to find this.
For the unfamiliar, when one checks a bag at the airport, the lovely fed boys occasionally determine it necessary to open said bag and check for supposed contraband.
Whatever.
They leave the above show calling card. Thats cute.
Whenever this has happened to me I usually look through to see if they took anything. Usually they have not but in the past I’ve discovered whole unopened packs of Marlboros missing. I guess that’s their “fee”.
This time I could find nothing missing until this morning when I opened my shaving kit and discovered the following:
If you don’t know, that’s an empty container. It is sealed as it was beforehand. Only now, the approximately two ounces of holy water has been poured out. I always travel with this. I use it to sprinkle around hotel rooms, etc. and to bless myself each morning. Gone.
So to recap: they opened a large suitcase, opened the side panel, pulled out a smaller bag and opened that, went to the bottom of that bag (past the 10 oz bottle of contact lens solution), and poured out a bottle of holy water.
I do sincerely hope it did some good for whomever it fell upon.
And it was Epiphany water too…
If you said anywhere but the Garden State, you’d have been wrong.
My home state tends to surprise the uninitiated. This particular view is over the Delaware Water Gap.
Have I mentioned that I really wish I didn’t have to be flying home right now? I love visiting the family and the old neighborhood but not for Maureen’s funeral.
Please continue to pray for her and thank you from the bottom of this baby brother’s heart.
It appears the openly gay, secretly Jew’s slaughtered the openly Jew, secretly gays tonight.
I can’t take credit for that one. I just can’t find the source. Heard it earlier.
“This morning, the Son of God Incarnate, Jesus Christ, condescended to come and dwell within me; and gave Himself to me!”
If there are more comforting words, I do not know them.
Thanks be to God! He has given me such wonderful priests. One of them, a dear friend, offered his Mass for my sister’s repose this morning on this All Souls Day.
