Wake and Funerals

Wakes and funerals still affect me.  The memories of Carmen become very fresh.  So it produced mixed feelings when I've received news of the death of two acquaintances in the last couple of days.

I knew one man from Toastmasters and we got along famously at the beginning, but after a few years he changed and became less friendly to many of his fellow Toastmasters. I did call him on it and he told me that he does not live with Toastmasters so he does not have to be nice to them.  There is a wake, with a prayer service afterwards.

I knew the other man from my parish.  He was a fixture at daily and Sunday Mass.  I served with him on Cursillo weekends.  He was a Knight of Malta.  I watched him care for his wife for years before she died. He always had a pleasant word for all he met.  All in all, a really nice guy.  There is a wake at our church with a funeral Mass the next morning. 

I will be remembering and honoring both of these men at their wakes.  Two different lives, two different philosophies, but the world is a different place without them.  I've recorded their names in my daily book of prayers.