December 17, 2023
They gathered to remember husbands, wives, children, parents and friends. They gathered in love and grief around a 10-foot-tall Christmas tree at St. Joseph’s Center in Trumbull and hung ornaments dedicated to loved ones who died.
A sister who lost a brother to brain cancer. A friend who lost a best friend to Lou Gehrig’s Disease. A woman who lost a mother to Alzheimer’s. A mother who lost a daughter at 36. A father and son who lost their wife and mother. And a community of elderly who lost some 50 residents during 2023.
“Hanging an ornament with the name of a person you love who has died can be so healing,” said Carolyn Killian, Director of Bereavement for Catholic Cemeteries, who organized the event. “It can take a hard time and transform it into a healing moment, and when you heal, other members of your family heal.”
The tree, which is in the chapel, was blessed by Father Nick Pavia, chaplain of the nursing care facility and of the Bereavement Ministry.
Fr. Pavia said: “In preparing the blessing, two words came to mind, ‘blessed hope.’ Hope is not just wishful thinking; hope is insurance that comes from love and faith. And this community of Genesis St. Joseph’s Center is a community of love, of kindness, of compassion and of hope. We face death every day because death is a passage to our eternal hope.”
“Heavenly Father, we are blessed with your hope and with all your blessings,” Father said. “The word ‘compassion’ means ‘able to feel with and identify with the feelings of others.’ You, Father, teach us how to have empathy and compassion for others, so bless this beautiful tree, this Christmas tree, this tree of hope, this tree of assurance of blessed hope in your promises. Dear Jesus, you understand us like no one else ever could because you walked in our shoes and deliberately took the role of the Good Shepherd to lift us up and carry us home to Heaven.”
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