The “When” Prayer

When the signs of age

begin to mark my body

(and still more when they touch my mind);

when the ill that is to diminish me

or carry me off

strikes from without or is born within me;

when the painful moment comes

in which I suddenly

awaken to the fact that I am ill

or growing old;

and above all at that last moment

when I feel I am losing  hold of myself and

am absolutely passive within the hands

of the great unknown forces

that have formed me;

in all those dark moments,

O God,

grant that I may understand that it is you

who are painfully parting the fibres of my being

in order to penetrate

to the very marrow of my substance

and bear me away within yourself.

 

 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ

 

Perhaps you sent a lovely card,

Or sat quietly in a chair.

Perhaps you sent a funeral spray,

If so, we saw it there.

Perhaps you spoke the kindest words,

As any friend could say.

Perhaps you were not there at all,

Just thought of us that day.

To all who sent condolence messages, who shared in the celebration of Patricia's life at the Requiem Mass, who sent flowers, who assisted with the food and the singing and the preparation of the service, who attended Masses in her memory elsewhere in Australia and overseas, Patricia’s family sincerely thank you.