Sadness in Joy

A damper has been put on my Easter joy. My mother called to tell me that my grandmother passed away this afternoon. It was not unexpected; she had been ill and steadily declining for the last two months. I have no fears for her in the afterlife, as she had been receiving the Eucharist almost daily since she'd been in the hospital, and had the Anointing of the Sick about a week ago. I am sad for two of my cousins who had not seen her since Christmas, and for my grandfather. He is a fairly resilient person, cheerful and outgoing by nature, and he is in good health and has many friends and activities to keep him going. Still, they were married for more than sixty years, and he is 89 years old. The transition to living by himself will be difficult and lonely.

Please keep in your prayers the repose of the soul of my grandmother, Margaret Mary Barnett Fitzgibbons, and the consolation of her widower, Kenneth.