Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord

and may perpetual light shine upon them.

 

Today marks the fifth anniversary of my Uncle's death. Since I only ever had two uncles and this one lived nearby, he was the favorite. It went way beyond that, though. I loved so much about him and especially I loved to hear him speak. He seemed like one of the most intelligent people in the world to me. He was down-to-earth in ways that few others can grasp. "Things" meant nothing to him...people were most important. He and my Aunt were seasoned professionals, married later in life and had no children. We were so blessed to be "adopted" by them in so many senses.

After losing my own father too early, he was the one to walk me down the aisle. I still remember, just before we started toward the altar, he turned to me and said, "it's not too late...we can make a run for it." Funny that since the man he lead me to is like him in so many ways. How blessed we were to have this smart, funny, passionate man in our lives for so long.

We went to Holy Hour for Families tonight with the intention of praying for my dear Uncle. How appropriate then that we heard that the mother of my daughter's schoolmate also died today. She had battled breast cancer for so long and finally moved on to her eternal rest. I am just so sad for Angelo, the dad. I saw him last week and he looked, I told my husband, like a man who's wife was dying. Part desperation, part exhaustion, part extreme sorrow. The kids are so sweet. It will be a long road. Please keep them in your prayers. 

Our kids all thanked us for taking them to Holy Hour tonight. I didn't take the time to ask them why. I think they all had different reasons (like #5's reason would have been - thanks for letting me run around the entire hour but not for stopping me just short of the altar!). Whatever the reason, it was good that we could be there as a family; praying for other families and for the family of the Church. As I have said before, I'm always astonished when I look around and see so few others in our situation. I just say a prayer and trust that they are on their own path toward God and that one day we may actually all be in the same room. 

The homily was about the abuse of busyness today. How we are all too busy to eat, talk or pray together with our families and children. Let's try harder over the next few days to find that time so that next Thursday we can truly be grateful for all of our gifts.

We are so blessed.