An impetuous breath

About ten years ago, the mass celebrated for my mom’s funeral, 93, left me an intense memory. With Maryse, the parishioner delegated to the funeral, we had prepared a cheerful ceremony full of hope, like my mother.

A few months later, Maryse invited me to join the parish service of the funeral. A proposal that I decline because I know myself shy, I feel capable of writing a word of welcome or to rub shoulders with death regularly. And then … I welcome eight grandchildren during the school holidays! But Maryse’s request remains at the bottom of my heart.

Why do one day, I decide to participate in the parish of the parish of the parish? I systematically avoid this meeting, because I do not readily express my emotions, my personal ideas. I feel this time, I have to go there: this Japanese film, Disadvantagesawarded to the 2009 Oscars, stages a man who, to live, accepts a work of preparation of the bodies of deceased. Viewing is a revelation: respect manifested to the dead, the appeasement of the main character, reconciled with his father whose body he prepares for his death, touched me deeply. A memory comes back to me then. The hospital where my father died – the year of my 23 years – had refused to prepare his body. A aunt, nurse, and a comrade of my father had paid the task.

And what do I serve? I go to mass during the week, I pray, I visit the sick … but I feel like I am falling back on myself. From this moment, an impetuous breath crosses me. Seven years after Maryse’s request, on Sunday, I answer her “yes”. His “Hallelui!” »Resonate with my joy to answer the Lord’s call, filled with unspeakable happiness.

Now my journey seems coherent to me. God gave me the gift of patience and listening, now at the service of bereaved families. To support them, to appease them, to testify of my faith with simple words, this is the beauty of my commitment. And since then, what beautiful meetings with proven families, often far from the church! The rare weeks where I have no family to accompany, I miss it. I take advantage of my bad nights to pray for the people who die and will be entrusted to me.