According to Lebanese tradition, a "40-Day Mass" is celebrated in memory of a deceased loved one, bringing to a conclusion the official period of mourning. My daughter and I will be attending the Mass at noon today at the Maronite parish, Our Lady of Mercy, in Worcester.
My own "official" period of mourning will last until Easter sunrise; unofficially it will last for as long as I live.
In my morning reading on this Feast of the Annunciation I came upon a passage from Cardinal Ratzinger/Benedict XVI which sums up almost perfectly Liz Bailie's fundamental religious attitude:
That which is truly great grows unnoticed, and silence at the right moment is more fruitful than the constant activity that only too easily degenerates into spiritual idleness. In the present age, we are all possessed by a strange restlessness that suspects any silence of being a waste of time and any kind of repose as being negligence. … Even in the religious sphere we tend to expect and hope for everything from our own activity. We use all kinds of exercises and involvements to evade the real mystery of interior growth before God. And yet in the religious sphere receptivity is at least as important as activity.The co-creative mystery of receptivity, this was at the heart of Liz's life, as it is what we celebrate on the Feast of the Annunciation.
1 comment:
Gil,
I received a note from Julie Shinnick that Elizabeth has died. I remember her bright face one morning at breakfast in Koblenz. That her face has been taken away from you is so very sad. May the period of mourning for you and your daughter be blessed by God's Holy Spirit. May your grief be that "godly grief" spoken of by St. Paul, which continues to shape us after the image of our Lord who suffered and prepares us for suffering. Elizabeth is due high honor for all the good she did in Him in her life with us.
George Cooper
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