Gotta Love the Title

Deathbed Reflection: ‘Tell me About the Trinity’
By Deacon Keith Fournier5/17/2008
Catholic Online (http://www.catholic.org/)

“Tell me about the Trinity” Jerry asked me. He also brought me closer to the Dance of love that he has now joined. The encounter filled me with unspeakable joy.It still does every time I reflect upon it.

LOS ANGELES (Catholic Online) - It was June of 2005. I was at the bedside of a dear friend, a faithful and inspiring Catholic.

He was dying.

Just the night before he had received the news that he had less than two weeks to live. The cancer that he fought with such heroic courage had spread throughout his lymph glands.

He was preparing for the passing to the Father with the dignity and beauty that authentic Catholic Christian faith can forge in a soul receptive to grace.

Jerry lived a full and fascinating life.

He was always a staunch and courageous defender of the Catholic faith. He reminded me of the great lay evangelist Frank Sheed - at least what I imagine Frank Sheed was like, since I never met him.

My friend loved to tell anyone who would listen of the beauty and fullness of truth found in the Catholic Christian faith. In fact, he would engage any issue concerning that faith, with anyone, and at any time.

He especially delighted when Christians of other communities would come home to the full communion of the Catholic Church.

As a Deacon of the Church, I had the privilege of bringing Viaticum to him on that day. His beloved wife sat next to him, displaying the courage, beauty and dignity of sacramentally grounded, faithful married love.

Theirs was the kind of transforming love that had stood the test - and the invitation- of so many years and had only grown stronger and deeper. It no longer needed words, only presence.

I prayed with them both that day, at that bedside.

After the completion of the Viaticum Service, during a tender and profound moment of silence, Jerry turned to me, focused his piercing, peaceful, and intensely inquisitive eyes upon my own, and asked a question that was so unusual - and so profound- that I have dwelt upon it since.

I will carry it within me for many years to come.

"Tell me about the Trinity”, my friend asked me, “are they really happy?”

By God’s grace, I was not taken aback by such a profound and unexpected question. In fact, the Holy Spirit gave me an immediate response. Full Story