During the service, Fr. Dave used the term "stillness" to describe my aunt's body. The stillness is so different from the life she led. She was smart, stylish, patriotic and beautiful. Her smile brightened a room. She helped her fellowman. Now her body is still, which is so far removed from who she was.
A couple years ago, she told me about a letter she received from a 95 year old cousin in Italy, whose final line translated "until we meet again in Paradise."
I was comforted by the reunions that took place when my aunt passed peacefully into the awaiting arms of Jesus. No doubt she met up with her noble and hardworking parents, my grandpop her loving brother, her husband and many others who went before her - including the cousin in Italy. When you pass away at 88 you have buried a lot of good friends and family. All the more to welcome you home though.
"Until we meet again in Paradise," and so she has, though her body is forever still on earth this devoted Catholic woman is now enjoying the reward of a life well lived. I am pretty confident that her feet are anything but still as she strides over to her loved ones in her pump shoes and greets those who have been waiting for her in Paradise - where things are probably anything but "still".
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