IN PERSPECTIVE

Tonight, I received news that brought a lot of things into perspective to me. It taught me a very real lesson in fragility of life. Just before we began our choir practice tonight at church, we received news that one of the elderly members of our parish had passed away as the result of an automobile accident. She turned 89 just last week, was at church each Sunday and always enjoyed playing her versions of “Amazing Grace” and “He Touched Me” on the piano each week prior to mass. She was alive, right there with us on Sunday. And now, today, she’s been taken from us. Her memory wasn’t the sharpest—she would always tell the same story about how she had been playing music since she was 12 when the nuns taught her how to play the pump organ. I suppose she never remembered from week to week that she had shared the story before, but it never stopped her. She was always encouraging me.

I only met her about ten years ago. I recall her southern accent as she would read the scriptures as lector. Nobody on earth could possibly say “The Word of the Lord” quite like she could. She was a faithful member of the church, had a sincere love for her God, and was involved in the choir until just a few years ago. She was a Sacristan until just a couple of years ago. She was a widow lady who lived alone and, while in recent years, her body was in pain, she persevered and continued to just keep on, taking life in stride.

Here’s my confession: Perhaps I’ve learned a lesson from my late friend tonight. Life is fragile. Live each day to the fullest. Overcome your obstacles. Who knows if we’ll be here tomorrow? Those we expect to be with us forever might just be taken from us in the blink of a moment. There’s a bit of sadness that this fixture of my church family won’t be there anymore, but a bit of joy that she is no longer in pain and is at rest. The lesson to be learned here is to live like today is your last day on earth. It may very well be, or we could have decades left. No time is promised. All the more reason to embrace the gift of life each new day brings us.