One of my long-standing friends and Brother Knights of Columbus died last Saturday. We had his Funeral Mass and Burial yesterday. He was a long-standing stalwart of the Bass section of our Choir - and one of only a couple of second Basses we had. We stood and sang to mark his passing - we could do no less in light of his many years of service, in our Choir, in our Parish, and in our Community.
The music was not what I would have chosen, but I was fortunate to sing it for his family, and most glad to stand for him at his passing. He was buried in our Parish Cemetery, with his late wife, near his parents.
"Dia shábháil ar fad anseo!"
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This is the Arabic character "nun" – the first letter of the word "Nazarene." I post it as my avatar in solidarity with people of all faiths suffering persecution at the hands of Islam. Many of them are members of the oldest of our Christian Communities, dating from the days of the Apostles. They endure cruel, merciless and unrelenting persecution. They are Orthodox and Catholic, Protestant and Evangelical, Coptic, Pentecostal, and Baptist. To the persecutors they, and we, are all "Nazarenes." |