Death of My Priest friend from Trinidad Fr Moses

Hebrews 7:17 For it is declared: "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek."
There is a beautiful writing titled “Thou Art a Priest Forever” by Fr. Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire,OP(1802-1861).
To live in the midst of the world with no desire for its pleasure...To be a member of every family yet belonging to none...To share all sufferings; to penetrate all secrets; to heal all wounds...To daily go from men to God to offer Him their petitions...To return from God to men to offer them His hope...To have a heart of fire for charity and a heart of bronze for chastity...To bless and be blest forever.O God, what a life, and it is yours, O Priest of Jesus Christ!
2 Samuel 12:
15 After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife had borne to David, and he became ill. 16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground. 17 The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.
18 On the seventh day the child died. David's servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, "While the child was still living, we spoke to David but he would not listen to us. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate."
19 David noticed that his servants were whispering among themselves and he realized the child was dead. "Is the child dead?" he asked. "Yes," they replied, "he is dead."
20 Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate.
21 His servants asked him, "Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!"
22 He answered, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, 'Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live.' 23 But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me."
I know I am not able to put myself into your shoe. Only God, who knows the secrets of the heart, is truly capable of fathoming such grief, and of providing comfort.
Indeed, the human capacity for being consoled is hardly explicable. They say that time heals all wounds. But it's not true. Some people never recover from their loss. The biblical patriarch Jacob mourned over his son Joseph for 22 years, mistakenly believing that he had been killed by a wild animal. Jacob only stopped mourning when he discovered that Joseph was alive and well in Egypt. Until then, he could not forget his "dead" son.
That is because it is only by Divine decree that the pain of bereavement eases, and that only goes into effect when the person is really dead. The decree did not take effect for Jacob because his son was not dead.
Consolation is not a natural process. Neither the passage of time, nor the awkward, well-meaning gestures of others can remove the memory or wipe away the pain. That is why we ask God to comfort -- because we cannot.
Just as his life was a part of God's plan, so too is his passing from this world to another yet more real world.
In the spiritual reality, nothing is lost: Not the beloved one's purpose, nor their goodness, and nor even their real existence. The soul continues to exist eternally. At the end of life, every soul returns to its unique "place" in the "world."
If you could see The Place where the deceased now dwells, you'd be comforted.
For those who have placed their faith in Christ. We know they are safe in heaven, free from pain, sin, temptation, enjoying the Presence of the Lord, and we know we will see them again. And that is a comfort, it really is. It is for those reasons alone we would not wish them back when our own grief longs for them.
But when we say we’ve lost them, we don’t mean it in the same sense that we lost our car keys or puppy dog. We’ve lost their presence, the ability to be with them, share with them, talk with them, experience life with them. It’s a very real loss and there’s nothing wrong with grieving over it. As far as I can recall, there was only one person in Scripture who was told not to grieve (Ezekiel 24), and that was a one-time object lesson to the children of Israel. The fact that he was told not to grieve indicates that grieving over the loss of his wife would have been the normal course of action. Paul said that he would have had “sorrow upon sorrow” if Epaphroditus had died of his illness (Phil. 2:25-30).
We do sorrow, but not as those who have no hope (“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.” I Thess. 4:13-14.
God wanted us to cling to Psalm 89:1-2:
I will sing of the Lord's great love forever; with my mouth I will make Your faithfulness Known through all generations. I will declare that Your love stands firm forever, That You established Your faithfulness in heaven itself.
Just like Job, we need to come to the point where we could say, Just like Job, I was to come to the point where I could say, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him"."Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him".
These are the tears of wisdom. At the least, you have learned the pain of losing a loved one. Now, when others are feeling the same sorrow, You have the capacity to help, and understand their pain.
Do not blame yourself...Every survivor feels a great burden and restlessness because they continue to live although their loved one died. And, it is not rare that this feeling turns to unwarranted guilt. The truth is, many people continue to blame themselves for even the smallest things they did or did not do immediately before the death of their loved one.However, the reasons are almost always subjective. Surely, if they really had been wrong, they would be receiving a just punishment from society. They are thinking too little about that person and too much about their own failure. Only unless you live like a saint can you live without regrets.Please, do not blame yourself.
Revelation 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes And death shall be no more, Nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, For the former things are passed away.
Footprints on our Hearts:"Some people come into our lives, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same".
What a wonderful time we had with him; O priest of God what a wonderful life!
May He rest in peace.
With love.
Fr Sunny John O.Carm. (Fr Vincent Pazhukkakulam O.Carm.)
March 12, 2008