Bleeding Hearts

“Three midgets walk into the Guinness Book of Records building …”

The first line of the joke lit up his face with a smile. That’s all he can do for he couldn’t move much any of his muscles. It was a small and subtle smile but bright as the sun. He moved his eyes. He looked up the ceiling and then down … and his smile went away. Gone.

At this point, there was panic from his children.

They called for the nurse. His son felt for a pulse on his left wrist. His daughter felt a weak pulse on his neck. His body was dying.

“Follow the light, Dad. Go to the light.” His son said loudly.

“Go to Jesus, Dad.” His daughter added.

The nurse arrived and confirmed he’s dead. 6:41 pm, October 16, 2014.

Surrounded by his wife and children, he died a happy death.

Death opens hearts and eyes. Death makes us realize that nothing else is more important than the ones you love and close to you. Death minimizes our big problems to a livable tolerance. Nothing seems so bad anymore. Death makes you reach out, it makes you closer to life itself and appreciate what you have.

There is no great escape. No escaping from death. Everyone dies. However, as a Catholic, it is in dying that he will be born to eternal life.

November 1, 2014, All Saints Day, is a good day for a funeral.

“O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.” ~ St. Francis Prayer