Saturday, June 16, 2007

Dad's death on June 3, 2007

The last I posted about my dear Dad may be found on my old site, http://www.catholictothecore.blogspot.com/

Thomas J. aka T.J. was called by God to depart from his body on Holy Trinity Sunday at 12:24 am. June 3rd was special not just because he died this early morning-he was also celebrating his Baptism Day! How cool is that? He died on the anniversary of the day he began his sacramental life in Christ, in order to begin his eternal life in Christ. Dad was surrounded by all his considerable family: wife, nine children, their spouses and children...to be exact, thirty-six. We prayed the Holy Rosary, the Chaplet of Mercy, we sang hymns and prayed the Pieta Prayers for the dying. I suppose that death is always ugly, but this death was holy! For days we kept up the "death watch" and I am assured of Jesus' Mercy towards my Dad, who didn't want to be canonized by us, but rather would prefer the prayers for his soul!

As a child who just lost her father, I feel very sad. He lived with me and my family. I loved him very much, I looked up to him, I respected him and I enjoyed his company and all our in-depth discussions on the state of the world and the end-times happenings.

Tomorrow is Father's Day and I am going to pray exceeding hard for my Dad on this day as I have since he became ill. Since yesterday was the Feast of the Sacred Heart, I asked Jesus to allow my father special consolations, if he is in purgatory. Daily Mass is a boon to us and to those suffering in Purgatory...I might even come out holy from all this extra devotion to prayer!

My children will miss Grandpa, especially, as he was a daily part of their lives. He was never able to play with them vigorously as he was always overweight but as they grew he talked about a lot of things with them. They will remember him unlike some of his youger infant grandkids, who will miss out on knowing what a great, gentle man he was.

DearDad,

I love you and I miss your presence here. I hope God will give you a break on the temporal punishment and let you in Heaven earlier than He planned. I hope God will take into consideration all the needs we have here and allow you to be able to interceed on our behalf. Thank you for standing behind my decision to homeschool and encouraging us! Thanks for the times when I disappointed you and you never let on. Thank you for making me feel special, like I was your favorite. Thank you for not sharing your fear and pain about dying-I wouldn't have been able to bear seeing you suffer. Thank you for being my Dad. I hope to see you again in eternity in Heaven someday.

Love,
Your daughter