2
2towers
Guest
I hope this is not improper for a prayer request thread, but the Priest who is doing the funeral wanted a tribute from the family. I had to keep it short as there will be a mass at the service.
" The “Parable of the Talents”, in Matthew 25:14–30 tells of a master who was leaving his house to travel, and, before leaving, entrusted his property to his servants. According to the abilities of each man, one servant received five talents, the second servant received two talents, and the third servant received one talent. Upon returning home, after a long absence, the master asks his three servants for an account of the talents he entrusted to them.
This well known parable is a metaphor, a reminder, that one day we will stand trembling before our merciful Lord to return the talents that represent the graces given us during our lives. Our deeds, our kindness, the Love shown by the Shepard to his faithful followers as they graze towards eternity. Surely the talents returned by our Dad to a most merciful God, will place him at the table of the banquet of our Lord. Our Dad was first and foremost a devoted husband to our mother, a good provider, a teacher, and a skilled and talented philosopher.
As children, it was difficult to really know him. My early memories of him include chalkboards in the study, smells of coffee brewing for his philosophy groups, whom he entertained and enlightened as far back as the 1960s. The smell of books and cherry pipe smoke. Lofty things far beyond the understanding of us as kids. My biggest lament is the loss of his manuscripts and sermons. It never occurred to him to save most of them. By the time it dawned on us, to save and archive them it was too late, so most of these things will have to live on in the memories of those who shared with him.
But isn’t that not like life? As Psalm 103 reminds us, The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; 16 the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.
Death is simply a flick of a switch. We his children imagine our Dad now continuing to do what he loved best, flying an airplane, loaded with books and ideas, and maybe a thermos of coffee flying towards eternal bliss.
We shall all miss him greatly.
+++
Dad for years flew a Cessna, that is where the flying part comes from.
Code:
+++This well known parable is a metaphor, a reminder, that one day we will stand trembling before our merciful Lord to return the talents that represent the graces given us during our lives. Our deeds, our kindness, the Love shown by the Shepard to his faithful followers as they graze towards eternity. Surely the talents returned by our Dad to a most merciful God, will place him at the table of the banquet of our Lord. Our Dad was first and foremost a devoted husband to our mother, a good provider, a teacher, and a skilled and talented philosopher.
As children, it was difficult to really know him. My early memories of him include chalkboards in the study, smells of coffee brewing for his philosophy groups, whom he entertained and enlightened as far back as the 1960s. The smell of books and cherry pipe smoke. Lofty things far beyond the understanding of us as kids. My biggest lament is the loss of his manuscripts and sermons. It never occurred to him to save most of them. By the time it dawned on us, to save and archive them it was too late, so most of these things will have to live on in the memories of those who shared with him.
But isn’t that not like life? As Psalm 103 reminds us, The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; 16 the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.
Death is simply a flick of a switch. We his children imagine our Dad now continuing to do what he loved best, flying an airplane, loaded with books and ideas, and maybe a thermos of coffee flying towards eternal bliss.
We shall all miss him greatly.
+++
Dad for years flew a Cessna, that is where the flying part comes from.
Last edited: