How often do we look back on the year and wonder where the time went? No one is immune from the passage of time, and we all look back with amazement when realizing how fast we are traveling through the time God has given us. We blink and it has been one year, five years, ten years or more since a loved one has gone home. They may not be here, but our memories of our loved ones are vivid, and they bring us both gladness and sorrow. The joy comes from them being part of our lives and of course the sadness is found in their absence. As Catholics, we acknowledge our beloved dead, because their bodies anointed with holy oils and baptized in Christ are in a sacred place awaiting the resurrection. Each of us knows the way as we journey together toward the dwelling place prepared for us by God.

I had the good fortune of standing with my father when one of my friends approached him and asked a direct question about his life. My friend looked at him and reflected on my father’s life, one torn apart by war, his family destroyed as communists took over his homeland, crossing a barbwire fence to escape, coming to a strange land, making a new life only to have it ripped away a few times, but when asked why he always seems ok, my father smiled at my friend and simply told him that faith in God let him know everything would be ok. Putting his trust in God gave my father a peace that comes with the knowledge that life’s burdens are made lighter when God is invited along for the journey. When my father’s earthly journey ended, I was sad for us because gone was his physical presence, but I smiled because I was blessed with a loving father who gave me the gift of faith in God and I believe my father went home. In faith we find hope.

It is hard for me to understand why anyone would choose to deny God’s powerful presence in our lives. As Catholic cemeterians, we do not see our ministry of burying the dead as a grim task but rather one filled with hope and the knowledge of what is yet to come. Our faith teaches us that death is simply the path we must all follow toward our heavenly home. Our journey begins when God sends us into this world and gives each of us the freedom to find our way toward Him or to choose a life without Him. Each life is filled with much joy and of course sadness, but the trials and tribulations are lighter when we invite the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to join us along the way.

I pray that as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, that we reflect on our relationship with God and the Son and allow the peace of our faith to wash away the anguish that comes as we journey home.

Andrej Lah

Director of Cemeteries