Reblog: Please Pray For John Vennari, II

 

 

Well, there is no good way to convey this. 

The terrible news is here. 

Vennari is (with Ferrara, Matt and Verrecchio), one of my Four Musketeers. One had a selfish hope he would stay with us for many years more.

It was a selfish hope. It appears the Lord has sent the message, that He wants Vennari with him at some point in the, alas, not too distant future.

Sad as the news is, one tries to see it from a broader perspective. A life of such beauty that goes now slowly towards its end should fill our hearts with consolation, not sadness. We will all be called one day, and I wish so ardently I could, if it came for me today, take the call with the serenity Mr Vennari shows in his post, and with the same quiet assurance of a life well spent.

God calls the good and faithful servants to him, that he may have them near. We, wretched sinners, will have to fight for who knows how long still, and I doubt we will go to our judgment with the same confident serenity of this good man.

John Vennari requests our prayers. Let us do for him a tiny fraction of the good he has done to all of us. 

And let us pray that, one day, we may go to our Lord with the same strong faith he has graced us with, with the same serenity he shows in this hour, and with the same chances of salvation with which he will present himself to His Judge.

Please pray for John Vennari.

M