Remembering and Celebrating Lives

Yesterday I neglected to recall that it was the 2nd anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II (1920-2005). He and I didn’t agree on everything but he was a larger than life presence in the Church and I doubt if I’ll ever see a Pope who served as long (over 26 years) or had as much of an impact on the world. Today is also the anniversary of the death of my grandmother, Emma Allain (1887-1988). She was a woman of deep faith and it was appropriate that she died on Easter Sunday. She was 73 when I was born and the whole time I knew her she was almost blind; it prevented her from reading but always had her rosary with her. You can see her wedding picture from 1918.