Marie died suddenly Friday morning. Her funeral is tomorrow. I'm to be one of the pallbearers.
She'd been battling cancer, and took a sudden turn for the worse Thursday evening. Extreme shyness had kept her home and out of the public eye -- including away from Church -- for some time. In the hospital, when her husband asked her if she would like a priest, she replied, "I am a Catholic and I want to die as a Catholic." A priest was called to give her Extreme Unction.
None of us deserves a chance at Heaven, but God Who is good and kind gives us many opportunities anyway. Marie was lucid and had a few hours to prepare for her particular judgment, and she took the last chance when it was was offered to her. That one decision, like that of the penitent thief at Calvary, could make all the difference.
Next Saturday is a first Saturday, a day that is especially precious to the Blessed Virgin Mary; may she look favorably on the last act of the woman who bears her namesake and escort her to the realm of the Blessed.
Requiem æternam dona ei Domine; et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.
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