Tuesday, August 19, 2008

To My Hurting Niece

An open letter to my niece about my brother's - her father's - death:

You're most welcome, M*******. I'll keep this short, and take it for what it's worth, if you'll bear with me for a few sentences.

Your Dad's death doesn't make sense. But life is a gift and privilege, not a right we can expect life to honor (on our time table).

The longer I lived, the more I realized how few answers I had not only to the big questions, but the multitude of tiny questions of life. Being a preacher for 20 years didn't help. Life was extremely complicated, sometimes brutal, sometimes wonderful. I couldn't find answers in 'Christianity Lite', so I looked at the big, old, complex Catholic faith. I wasn't turned off immediately by the ways it didn't jive with modern life, lifestyles, and acceptabilities, but gave it a chance to see how IT'S answers worked with life's realities - like how to live and how to die, how to forgive and be forgiven, love and be loved. All Christianities came from it, historically. And everything we love and hope for are there, I am convinced.

I'm not trying to convert you, just telling you what I've found there.

I pray for your Dad every day, and I ask him to pray for us, if he will and can. I look forward to seeing him again.

Best to you, T**, and R****. I keep your Mom and family in my daily prayers.

Uncle J.

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