Words of Comfort

I have lost several friends in the last year or so. And it is so hard to know what to say to those who have lost family members and best friends.


I have found comfort and have sent these words to several of those that have lost loved ones:

"I came upon earth's most amazing knowledge--someone is hidden in this dark with me."
--J. Powers



My favorite Benediction that I love to use at funerals comes from the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead.

"Into paradise may the angels lead our sister (brother), at her (his) coming may the martyrs take her (him) up into eternal rest and may the chorus of angels lead her (him) to that holy city, and the place of perpetual light. Amen."



And from John's great vision in the book of Revelation, I lift up the whole world:

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husand. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'See, the home of God is among mortals, He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.'" (Rev. 21.1-4)

(The picture shown above hangs over the altar at the Roman Catholic Church on St. Giles Street, Oxford, England. This is the parish church where Gerald Manley Hopkins served as assistant curate early in his career.)