New Year comes and things start to swing back to normal. The school is back, work starts up again and by now you will have an inkling of whether you will keep up with your New year's Resolutions.Here's something I would like to share with you that may inspire.
Ruby (on the right) died before Christmas but her funeral was only last Friday.
At funerals, sometimes family members pay tribute themselves: sometimes they leave it to the clergy.
In this case, Ruby's sister, Myrna, paid a short tribute: she had cared for Ruby in the final two years of her life, after Ruby suffered a stroke. I feel that what she had to say was absolutely extraordinary so (with her permission) I am sharing it with you now:
"On Tuesday 11th December, I sat with my sister Rubina for four hours. I did not realise it was my goodbye. She died the next morning.
do I truly praise and exalt the Lord above all, even if just with my being?
When I was given the task of helping with both my sisters, I was called on many occasions by various peoples of social services and hospitals.
In life, we don't know what to do; the path we are on changes radically, ends abruptly or is enveloped in darkness. At such times, how does God lead us? how does he show us the way?
One way God led me was through prayer. By sitting patiently and trusting, gradually feeling for the next step, a comment from a good friend, scriptures, sacrament, a word from a spiritual director - for me, the best spiritual director is life itself, because God teaches us and leads us the way we should go. My sister Ruby's total dependence and vulnerablility was hard to bear; she was such a free spirit.
She was unable to cope with such a situation but sometimes this vulnerability and complete dependence is also the mystery we call God.
My dear sister, lots of love till we meet again.
Good bye, Myrna."
Fare well, Ruby. One of several loved members of our congregation who died in 2007.
But then death is part of life.
Fr Robert
