Remembering Gail & Giving Thanks

First of all, I would like to direct you to Carmen's blog. He has kept this since March after Gail was diagnosed with cancer in early February. There are a lot of wonderful memories on here, especially what he has written this past week in honor of Gail. I want to honor Carmen for his powerful witness to love and service of his wife these past seven and a half months.

Since my own mother's death, Gail has been like a 2nd mother to me. I will miss her greatly: the profound friendship she had with Cynthia, her love for Faustina & Jude, her model of motherly goodness, the fun she and Carmen had together, and her kindness to me (among many other things). As I reflected yesterday, she treated me as if we had a special relationship; certainly we did, but she treated everyone that way. I am grateful to God for having Gail in my life.

Although I have faith that Gail is now with the Lord and I perhaps will earn the privilege to see her again in Eternity, it was still somewhat frustrating to go over to their place tonight and not see her; I had a hard time not talking about or thinking about her. The thoughts and feelings are the same as they were in 2003 (and I suspect will be for some time as then), and I don't think I can say much better than I did here.

Deo gratias. Thanks to everyone for their prayers and help these past days. The following is from the beautiful ending of Dante's Paradiso (XXXI, 1-42):

Then in the pattern of a pure white rose
Was shown to me the saintly soldiery
Whom Christ has made his bride with his own blood.

But the other host — who, flying, see and sing
The glory of him who fills them with his love
And the goodness that made them magnificent—

Just like a swarm of bees, alight in flowers
At one instant and in the next returning
To where their toil attains its fragrant taste—

Flew downward into that vast flower, fringed
With myriad petals, and rising up from it
Sped back to where their love forever rests.

Their faces all glowed with a living flame;
Their wings were gold, and their whole form so white
That no snow ever rivaled such pure whiteness.

When they dove to the flower, row on row,
They spread some portion of the love and peace
Which they won when they waved their wings on high.

Nor did the flight of such a multitude
Coming between the upper light and flower
Block out the vision and the sea of splendor.

For the divine light through the universe
So penetrates in measure to its worth
That there is nothing to stand in the way.

This jubilant and ever-restful kingdom,
Thronging with people of old and modern times,
Kept gaze and love all focused on one goal.

O threefold Light which, in a single star
Sparkling upon their sight, so pleases them,
Look down here on our storms that rage on earth!

If the barbarians, come from the North
Which day by day is spanned by Helice,
Rotating with her son on whom she dotes,

Were struck with wonder when they sighted Rome
And her high-towering buildings, at the time
The Lateran surpassed all mortal works,

I, who had come out of our human life
To the divine, from time to the eternal,
From Florence to a just and wholesome people —

What was the wonder which welled up in me!
In truth, what with my stupor and my joy,
I happily heard nothing and stood silent.