by Br Joe Nuber, Guardian
When people join our community they become family to us. They are, of course, still members of their original family, but they are also part of our family. So when members of our community leave this world and enter into eternity with God we grieve along with their family members. We have recently lost two professed members of our community just days apart from each other, Br. Luis Rivera, CFC and Sr. Patricia Rhoads, CFC at the end of January. Both of them had suffered for some time with their health and yet they were always positive people who clearly carried their crosses following Jesus with love in their hearts. I was fortunate to be able to attend both of their services along with other members of our community. In both cases I was blessed to hear the priests speak of how they lived out their vows and had lived lives of service to others often even when they themselves were not feeling well. They are both examples to us of what it means to be Franciscan.
I wrote to Sr. Patricia’s husband, Br. Robert, something that has been helpful to me in the past. I took a portion from a Carly Simon song, Life is Eternal. It goes like this, “Life is eternal, Love is immortal, and death is only a horizon and the horizon is nothing but the limit of our sight.” As followers of Jesus we believe in eternal life and we believe that God is love and so love must be immortal. We have all experienced the horizon. For example, I cannot see the ocean from where I live, but I know that it is there. And so it is with our loved ones who have entered eternity. We cannot see them anymore, but we know that they are there in God’s loving embrace. And so Br. Luis and Sr. Patricia are still part of our family. They are now with Br. Francis and Sr. Clare who have taken them to be with God.
