Several years ago when my wife and I went to a Daily Mass we were delayed due to a funeral being said before the regular Mass. We had to wait for a while in the Adoration Chapel adjacent to the Church proper, when the final hymn was sung (“On Eagle’s Wings”) we moved over to a rear pew and waited.

Anyway, while we waited for the hymn to finish and the mourners to leave, I pondered what was going on. Reflecting on the fact that my Mom had died nearly 3 years ago (at the time this post was originally written in early 2009, please see the NOTE at the end), and that event deeply and sharply impacted my life, I wondered about the people there.

A number of them will deeply miss the deceased. A few will miss the deceased in a profound way, perhaps requiring counseling.

At least one will consider themselves crazy for being (at least for the time being) unable or unwilling to move on.

There is a hole in a number of people’s lives, and some healing that needs to be done.

Perhaps the person who died left some unfinished business with others, and that can now no longer be done. Opportunities for reconciliation gone.

Makes you think. As I chanced upon a funeral, one day I could chance upon death. Will I be ready? Will you?

NOTE: This is a “retropost,” a post from an old blog I wrote on “The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven (& Purgatory) and Hell” that I shuttered a few years ago. Individual posts are being transferred to either In Exile or Sober Catholic, whichever seems appropriate. Some are backdated, others postdated, in case you’re confused as to why you never saw a particular post if you’re a diligent reader. The process should be completed sometime by early 2022.

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