The hardest thing

Tomorrow I'm doing the funeral for a good friend.

 That is one of the hardest things I do as a priest.

I've performed over 500 funerals in my time. Many of them were people I either didn't know or knew only briefly.

Good friends is a different deal all together.

T. was one of my favorite people at St. John's in Waterbury. Full of life and humor and wonder at being alive.

And now he's dead--just about the age I am.

And I'm doing his funeral tomorrow.

Deep breath....exhale....try to relax.

His wife, who I love dearly, will be there in the front row.

That makes it even harder.

I haven't seen them for 8 years since priests are supposed to cut ties with people in a parish they leave. (Another rule Dangerous Mystics and Spiritual Rebels should stand up against.)

But the absence has made the heart grow fonder.

It will be a hard day for me tomorrow.

Pray for me.

And for T. as he goes gently into that good night.