Christmas lights still gleamed on Jan. 10 at Our Lady of Angels Church, where Danny Cordrey's service was held. Father Jim noted that Danny loved Christmas, and he kept the lights and decorations displayed for his parishioner and friend. Danny's widow, Angie, thanked Father Jim and her family and friends for their support, and then she blessed God for the gift that Danny had been.
Angie had lost her beautiful, sweet daughter, Erika, just a year earlier, in a freak accident, without warning, without any preparation, and Danny was there to wrap her in his arms and soothe her sobs in the night. And now Danny, her strength, had left Angie's life. She told the mourners that both Erika and Danny had been blessings and joys in her life, and that their love had given her strength and courage. She said she would be strong because of that love.
Loss has a way of making us feel diminished, less-than, "without". But for Angie, loss has brought a sense of inner strength and courage that she didn't recognize, or was not aware of, before. Loss has forged a will to live even more fully, more aware, more intensely than ever before, more appreciative of the gifts that Erika and Danny were in her life, and that they continued to be. Angie believes that their spirits continue to "be", and that she will one day become pure spirit and rejoin them.
Demeter initially mourned the loss of her daughter, Persephone, but when the girl returned from the underworld, was "resurrected" from Hades, the mother's heart was so warmed that the earth immediately flowered and was made fruitful once again. Though she knew the visit would be only temporary, since Persephone had eaten the "seed of change", and become fully human, Demeter was strengthened by the love her daughter left with her mother and the promise of a return in the next cycle. Demeter could bear the separation, strengthened by her daughter's love, and assured that the separation was only temporary. She could full embrace life, secure in the knowledge that Persephone was content with her life as Queen of the Underworld, and the realization that she would see her once again.
If we can be sure that loved ones are content and that one day we will rejoin them, we can embrace life once again with joy and hope, with courage and strength, with energy, and vigor, and we can take "a juicy bite out of life" as Persephone did, with her pomegranate seeds. We can begin to become, like Kore, "fully human", enhanced, enriched, blessed by the gift that loved ones have been in our lives.
Angie had lost her beautiful, sweet daughter, Erika, just a year earlier, in a freak accident, without warning, without any preparation, and Danny was there to wrap her in his arms and soothe her sobs in the night. And now Danny, her strength, had left Angie's life. She told the mourners that both Erika and Danny had been blessings and joys in her life, and that their love had given her strength and courage. She said she would be strong because of that love.
Loss has a way of making us feel diminished, less-than, "without". But for Angie, loss has brought a sense of inner strength and courage that she didn't recognize, or was not aware of, before. Loss has forged a will to live even more fully, more aware, more intensely than ever before, more appreciative of the gifts that Erika and Danny were in her life, and that they continued to be. Angie believes that their spirits continue to "be", and that she will one day become pure spirit and rejoin them.
Demeter initially mourned the loss of her daughter, Persephone, but when the girl returned from the underworld, was "resurrected" from Hades, the mother's heart was so warmed that the earth immediately flowered and was made fruitful once again. Though she knew the visit would be only temporary, since Persephone had eaten the "seed of change", and become fully human, Demeter was strengthened by the love her daughter left with her mother and the promise of a return in the next cycle. Demeter could bear the separation, strengthened by her daughter's love, and assured that the separation was only temporary. She could full embrace life, secure in the knowledge that Persephone was content with her life as Queen of the Underworld, and the realization that she would see her once again.
If we can be sure that loved ones are content and that one day we will rejoin them, we can embrace life once again with joy and hope, with courage and strength, with energy, and vigor, and we can take "a juicy bite out of life" as Persephone did, with her pomegranate seeds. We can begin to become, like Kore, "fully human", enhanced, enriched, blessed by the gift that loved ones have been in our lives.
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