(I will be reposting this each Ash Wednesday.)
My late son Larry always seemed to enjoy Ash Wednesday. Eleven years ago in 2013 I went up with him to receive ashes. He heard the traditional admonition: “Remember man thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return.” and had the ashes placed on his forehead. He then did the normal circle turn that he did after receiving Communion, and we went back to our pew.
Little did we know that this would be Larry’s last Ash Wednesday. He died in the wee hours of Pentecost in 2013 of a seizure. (On that dreadful date I said to my wife that one of the greatest gifts God has given us in this life is our inability to see the future.) Now Larry’s physical body is well on its way back to dust, awaiting the Resurrection when it will be reunited with his soul.
Larry is now in the land which knows not Ash Wednesday, but only Eternal Easter, and we are left to experience this Ash Wednesday without him. I have always found Ash Wednesday to be a bleak day and it will be much bleaker yet without my son. However, Ash Wednesday, like death, is not the end, but merely a beginning. As Ash Wednesday is the portal to Easter, death is the portal to eternal life.
Saint Paul noted almost 2000 years ago that if our hope in Christ was limited to this life only that Christians were the most pitiable of men, and that those who slept in Christ would then be the deadest of the dead. Our hope, however, is not limited to this brief sojourn through this Vale of Tears. Christ taught us to call God Father to remind us all that we are children of a loving God. His resurrection revealed to us that God’s mercy and love is not limited to this world, but is for all eternity to those who love God and our neighbor.
Larry, I am confident, now enjoys the Beatific Vision. During his 21 and three-quarters years on Earth we loved him and cared for him to the best of our ability. Now he enjoys the eternal promise of Easter. Ash Wednesday reminds us of our mortality, but it also directs our minds and souls to what lies beyond death, and that is what I will remember as I receive the ashes and hear again, “Remember man thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return.”, and I am sure, that while I can not see him, Larry will be doing his turn of joy at that moment.
Requiem æternam dona ei, Domine
Et lux perpetua luceat ei:
Requiescat in pace.
Amen.
Prayers for you Don, your bride and Larry. As a wise person once said, grief is the price we pay for love. Jer. 31:13.
It’s always beautiful to read this Don. Your dear Larry is indeed enjoying the Beatific Vision.
Donald, you and your bride, Larry’s mom will know him again in heaven.
[…] – ChP The Ash Wednesday Phenomenon – Philip F. Lawler, Ph.D., at Catholic Culture Larry & Ash Wednesday – Donald R. McClarey, Esq., at The American Catholic Your Ash Wednesday Sermon Notes & […]
What glorious reunion awaits.
❤️
Thank you for this beautiful remembrance of your son. I am so sorry for your loss because I know somewhat of how you are feeling. I lost my 17 year old granddaughter in March 2021. As we sadly approach the 3 year anniversary of her passing, I appreciate your reminder that Ash Wednesday and Lent are not the end, but that “death is the portal to eternal life”.
Thank you Gerri. The anniversaries are hard. Prayers for your granddaughter who I expect is now enjoying the Beatific Vision.
Our son Michael died on Pentecost 2014. He was the youngest of 8 children and our love strong. However, he was 32 years old when he died but an angel while I was stationed in Korea in 1964 told me I was going to have 8 children but one would died. However, he said, it’ll be OK. I had 2 children at the time. I never told Barbara of my encounter with a solider I later recognized as an angel in 2021 when I finished writing my book. Tenderness Kindness Forgiveness.
From personal experience Raymond I know that the barrier between this world and the next is far more permeable than most people think. May our two sons who had the privilege of dying on Pentecost now be enjoying the Beatific Vision.