Too Real

Today is 'Pretty Happy Funny Real' at Like Mother Like Daughter. I was going to post something pretty and funny and happy. Really I was. But last night, I was informed that both of my college classes were cancelled (and most of the classes in my department) and so I am officially unemployed outside of the home for this semester. Any kind of financial challenge makes me panic a bit. Yes, I am going to put my anxiety at God's altar, soak more beans, ask for partial scholarships for the kids' activities and turn off the lights. We are so blessed in many ways; it will be okay.

After I got laid off last night, priest-husband told me about something far worse, a real tragedy. The 24-year old nephew of a parishioner was closing up at a burger place where he worked. A co-worker knocked on the front door, and he let him in along with two friends. The trio proceeded to rob the place and killed the three people in the restaurant including the nephew, Jesse. Now our parishioner is planning how to get across the country in time for the funeral.

Why do bad things happen to good people? I have never been very good at answering that question. I usually never say much of anything to someone who has experienced loss. I just make a meal and sit there with them if they'll let me. I do 'buy into' the Catholic notion of redemptive suffering, but I think that comes a long time after the initial shock of a loss. So all I can contribute is the words of comfort brought by the Church:

O God of spirits, and of all flesh, You have trampled death and made the devil powerless, and have given life to Your world. May You, Yourself, Lord, give rest to the soul of Your servant who has fallen asleep, in a place of brightness, a place of refreshment, a place of repose; where all suffering, sorrow, and sighing have fled away.
Since You are a good and loving God, pardon every transgression which he has committed, whether by word, or deed, or thought; for there is no one who lives yet does not sin, for only You are without sin. Your righteousness is an eternal righteousness, and Your word is truth.
For You are the resurrection, the life, and the repose of your servant who has fallen asleep, O Christ our God, and to You we give glory, together with Your Father, Who is without beginning, and Your most holy, good, and life-creating Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.

May He Who rose from the dead, Christ our true God, through the prayers of His most pure mother, of the holy, glorious, and all-laudable apostles, of our pious and God-bearing fathers, and of all the saints, place the soul of His departed servant in the mansions of the righteous. May He grant him repose in the bosom of Abraham and number him with the righteous; and may He have mercy on us, for He is good and loves mankind.