My brother called me a day or so ago and expressed an interest in going to Mass with me and then visiting our paternal grandfather’s grave. I hadn’t been there since his funeral in 2000, and I don’t think my brother had either, but I was glad to share this with him today.

He didn’t end up going to Mass with me, but I headed out to the cemetery after lunching with some friends. I had to call my mom to find out what part of the cemetery the grave was, and eventually found it. It had become a little overgrown with grass and weeds:

So, I cleared it off:

It was near the memorial of The Lord’s Supper:

Which had some great marble work, an example of which is this photo of the detail of Our Lord:

Then, my brother arrived, and he brought a flower:

We sat and prayed and remembered our Grandaddy, and told him that we loved him and we missed him. I think it was a hard, sad thing for my brother. But I was filled with peace and joy. I felt comforted, knowing that he was in the hands of God.
Here’s a close-up of his pretty rose, with The Lord’s Supper in the background:

After some time, we left, but as I was leaving, I felt compelled to go inside the chapel. There was a service going on, which I did not attend, but instead wandered around looking at things. I was, as a nuke, delighted to find these signs all over the building:

and was quite taken by some of the stained glass windows:

Before I left, I came upon a woman, who was visiting her mother who had passed nearly two years ago.  I shared my faith with her, and I can only pray that it brought her some consolation and the same sense of peace and joy that I have found in Him.

Wisdom 1:13-14a, 15 [from Office for the Dead]
God did not make death,
nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.
For he fashioned all things that they might have being;
for justice is undying.