Good morning, Digital Neighbors! A blessed and peaceful Friday to all. I had planned to play with the word of the day and dig up an interesting or esoteric word to share with you all, but I received word late last night that a priest friend of mine died in a motorcycle accident. While I am ready for death at any moment and know how fragile this life of ours really is, my heart is very heavy at the loss of Larry.

Though I am deeply sad at this loss, and it will be a terrible sorrow when I attend his funeral, I am so thankful to have known Larry. He was a great friend, a charismatic man of faith, and a wonderful shepherd of souls. I will miss him dearly. I was hoping for so many more chapters of life spent knowing and loving him, but I am grateful for our shared faith and that we were coworkers in the vineyard together. He made a good return to the Master. Larry took his five talents and used them well for the Master’s name and benefit. “Well done, good and faithful servant! Come share your Master’s joy!”

I posted this prayer back in February over on my Substack, and it has now become my go-to prayer for remembering and praying for my beloved dead:

We give them back to You, O God,
who gave them first to us.
Yet as You did not lose them in giving,
so do we not lose them by their return.
Not as the world gives, do you give, O Lover of Souls.
What You give, You take not away,
for what is Yours is ours also if we are Yours.

And life is eternal
and love is immortal,
and death is only a horizon,
and a horizon is nothing,
save the limit of our sight.

Lift us up, strong Son of God, that we may see further;
cleanse our eyes that we may see more clearly;
draw us closer to Yourself that we may know ourselves
to be nearer to our loved ones who are with You.
And while You prepare a place for us,
prepare us also for that happy place,
that where You are we may be also for evermore.

Bede Jarrett, O.P.