CathNews New Zealand

I used to have a strange, very naive idea that I would be closely united with my father after his death.

I know that we are united with the communion of saints, and that death no longer separates us (Romans 8:38-39).

I believe we can pray to the saints, and even pray to and pray for our relatives who have gone before us.

But I guess my interpretation of what that union would look like differed from reality.

I thought that all I had to do was pray and that my dad would visit me in my dreams, or that God would send me endless consolations to constantly comfort me.

I believed that my father would send me signs of his present happiness from “the other side” in big ways.

I probably picked up this idea from other people’s anecdotes.

I’ve heard of people smelling their loved one’s cologne, or of finding an old voice message at just the right time, or of visits in dreams.

I was so sure of how things worked that, when my sweet atheist brother insisted that we stop trying to comfort him with talk of heaven, my sister boldly assured him that he would be surprised and change his mind when my dad visited him in his dreams from the afterlife.

He looked pointedly at both of us, and told us we would be surprised when he didn’t.

I had a friend who told me that her mother appeared by her bedside one night.

This friend had cancer, and she was in deep anguish over leaving her children behind.

Her mother appeared beside her in bed, and came to comfort her with a smile.

I asked her if she was terrified; and she told me she wasn’t at all.

I believed every word of it. My friend has since died. Continue reading

Source

• Victoria Gisondi in Catholic Stand

Victoria Garaitonandia Gisondi is a resident of Bucks County, Pennsylvania and mother of five children.

Additional reading

News category: Analysis and Comment.