November 22, 2023
The following reflection was written by the late Mother Angelica and is excerpted from her book, “Answers, Not Promises.”
It takes a lot of trust to know that God, in his perfect mercy, takes our loved ones at the time that is most favorable for their souls. There are some who are ready to be with God in infancy. Although we cannot know the nature of their mission, we must trust that they have fulfilled it.
Others among us need many years to work on our holiness and lots of time to repent. All of us have been given a unique meaning to our existence, and until that meaning is fulfilled, we must continue to wait for God to call us home.
An Irish priest once shared a comment made by a parishioner in his hometown in County Mayo. It was the evening following the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The townsfolk had gathered at a neighbor’s house and, as was their custom, they talked and visited into the night.
“’Twas an awful thing, Kennedy dying so young, and with so much left to do,” the town elder said. A few heads nodded. “A shame it was. I think if he’d lived, he might have saved the world.”
There was a silence in the room and finally an old woman broke it with her deep accent, “Ah, but we don’t know that, do we? We don’t know anything. Only God, in his wisdom, knows why young Kennedy’s left us. Our Jack must have done what God put him here to do.”
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