Thursday, March 21, 2013

A Good Funeral

Just over a month ago I was called to the hospital to visit with a gal in ICU who apparently had connections to the Episcopal church.  She had some kind of intestinal discomfort and was really in a great deal of pain.

A few days after that, I went back to visit with her as she  had been moved from ICU to a regular bed.

About a week or so later, I was back at the hospital because she had suffered a major stroke.  I met her daughter and son-in-law while there and we talked.

Last week I got called to a local nursing home where she was now on the verge of dying.  I got word that she did die within the next two days.

Her funeral was yesterday.  It turns out that her grandson and his wife used to attend my parish before I arrived, and the daughter and s-i-l attended off and on.  I finally put all the pieces together and was reintroduced to them.

I managed to give a pretty good homily at the funeral home, and then we went to the cemetery for the graveside service.  After that, the family invited me to join them at their house for a "traditional Irish wake."

I went, had some good conversations, talked with the daughter and s-i-l about coming back to church, and had a shot of Irish whiskey at the family toast.

It was a good day.

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