IN MEMORIAM - Index

THERE ARE many legacies that may be bestowed in this life and from the next. Perhaps the most powerful of all is the prayer of one who loves us—a prayer that we will be delivered from trial and distress, that we will be given happiness, and that we will not be separated from the Sovereign Lord who created us and gave us a covenant of life and love.

As I begin this difficult and very human task of voicing the sorrows and the hopes of all who are present here today, I pray for God’s Holy Spirit to speak a word that lifts up and heals our troubled spirits, strengthens our faith, and magnifies our love for one another.

FOR MY part, I’m not aware of having offended anyone, but if I have, I beg their forgiveness; and if you know anyone who has not been edified by my attitudes or actions, ask them to have compassion on me and to forgive me. In this last hour, I feel calm and sure that my Lord, in his mercy, will not reject me. Unworthy though I am, I wanted to serve him, and I’ve done my best to pay homage to truth, justice, charity and the meek and humble heart of the Gospel. [Pope John XXIII]

Michael Burns was 23 years of age when he died at home, handsome and young. Born to Louise and Jack Burns in Sydney, Australia, he was the youngest of nine children....At the time of his death, he had completed his junior year at the University of Texas. An honor student and an enthusiastic rugby player, Michael suffered from severe depression which, in the past few months, became very acute.

THE TREE and the leaf symbolize both beauty and industry, two things that are sometimes in contradiction. As winter approaches, when beauty and hard work are accomplished, the tree and foliage take leave of one another. The earth, in whose realm the seeds germinate and take root, is newly enriched.

The world was never more beautiful, nor life more precious, nor the news more cruel than on the morning in early February when the doctor told Ben that he was mortally ill. Stunned by this news, Ben and his mother and father broke down in agony. They held each other and cried, "Where will we go? What will we do?"