Hope Does Not Disappoint

And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever.  Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.  It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.  This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.  Isaiah 25:7-9

Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.  For Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly.  Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die.  But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.  Romans 5:5-8

He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”  Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.  He said to them, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:16-21

Piety

Let us pray.  O God, by the life, death and resurrection of Your only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ, You purchased for us the rewards of eternal life; grant, we beseech You that while meditation on these  mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of our Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Pray for us Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.

Study

As you look at these scripture passages above, you are probably wondering from what Lectionary these came.  These are not passages from the readings for today’s Mass – the Memorial of Saint Irenaeus, bishop and martyr. 

Instead, these readings are from the Mass of Christian Burial for Ruth DeCristofaro, my mother who will be laid to rest today.  Mom died after a long goodbye fighting the devastation of Alzheimer’s that finally extinguished the last spark from her bright eyes.

Since her birth in 1932, those eyes paired with her infectious smile to dance throughout the East Coast.  They danced down the aisle of Our Lady of Pity Church in Staten Island on November 26, 1955 when Ruth Rizzo married Salvatore DeCristofaro. 

At the end of the Rosary, we pray we may imitate what the mysteries of the Rosary contain and obtain what it promises in the name of Christ our Lord.  Mom lived in imitation of the mysteries of the Rosary, especially the Joyful mysteries and her beads were wrapped around her frail hands as she was laid to her final rest. 

How often she “announced” to us the good news – how our grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and others surpassed some special milestone.  Sometimes the news was not always good, like when Dad was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease in 1986.  Sometimes, it was great, like when she tearfully called to say she won the lottery in 1992 -- relieving her of financial worries for the rest of her life and paving the way for her five grandchildren to attend the college of their choice.

“Visitation” was so much a part of her life – visiting and being visited – that she did indeed live Hebrews 13:1-2 (“Let mutual love continue.  Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels.”)  Not a holiday passed that without either our home being filled with revelry or that we packed ourselves off in the family car to visit other family members.

Those eyes danced for the “nativity” of her three children, five grandchildren, nieces, nephews and her extended family, until the joy of life gave way to the victory of the resurrection on June 25. 

She presented us in the temple for our rites of passage and initiation of the sacraments and then witnessed those self same rites for countless others in her extended family and parishes.

She never ceased teaching us the values that she learned from her loving parents, Helen and Tony Rizzo and her three sisters’ families – Helen & Romeo Landi, Marie and Al Ponterio, and Dorothy & Bill Downes – and their families as well as her sister-in-law Micky & Bill Lawler. 

Nothing would come between Mom and her prayer life.  When she had to go in for an MRI test, she had to set down the Rosary beads.  No worries though.  She still had ten fingertips upon which to count out the meditations and the decades of “Hail Mary.” 

As her earthly memory and body began to fade, she would sometimes “wander” away from her home in Belmar.  But where did she go?  She was found in the “temple” of St. Rose Church – just like Mary and Joseph finding their son in the temple.  He was teaching at the beginning.  Mom was teaching to the bitter, sad and joyful end.  Memory may fade but the love of our God and his attraction to her would not.   She will be His child always and He will be her God.

Action

Now, the Lord is entertaining a new angel.  There’s one less harp and one fewer pairs of wings in St. Peter’s closet.  And there’s one more guardian angel who continues to watch over all of us until it is our time to join her on the cloud of witnesses.

What angels are you asked to entertain?