It is probably good to question your religion now and then in order to affirm your beliefs. I had often questioned the ‘life hereafter’ as I grew up, but then, I had not had the experience of the death of someone close to me.
My father, who had been my mentor in life – both personal and business – died in June 1972. I found it difficult to manage without his counsel.
One week, about six weeks after his death, I stood up and said to my wife Denise, “I’ll just phone Dad – he’ll be really interested in what happened in Finglas today.”
“But…” she said.
“It’s okay” I interrupted, “I won’t be all night – he’d just love to hear about it.”
“But he’s dead,” she exclaimed, and I suddenly realised that in my enthusiasm to tell him of the incident, I had forgotten that I would never again be able to be in touch with him.
About a week later, going through some of his papers, I came across a number of foolscap pages in his handwriting. They were a long ‘advice’ to me that covered many subjects including business. He had written them on holidays a couple of months before his death but had never got around to posting them to me.
I suddenly realised that he was not gone – he was still able to communicate. Each week at Mass, when we say “We look for the Resurrection of the Dead”, all we need to do is just that – “look for”.
