A young woman wrote to me about how God brought her family back together with an estranged grandfather. He had Alzheimer’s disease and, bedridden following a bout of pneumonia, was being cared for by his family.

After a prolonged illness, a wonderful man died a few years ago. He was abundantly kind by nature, caring for people from all walks of life. I do not remember ever hearing him utter an unkind word.

He had a practical way of looking at circumstances and people, and he was always grateful when you stopped by for a chat or quick prayer.

I made a new friend, Marlene, at a recent Magnificat Group event in Illinois. She loved her very sick husband dearly, but she had so many decisions to make she did not know which way to turn. ­

She asked me to pray for her and I promised I would. She had been a very faithful Catholic all her life and it had been her habit to sit before the Blessed Sacrament for an hour or so each day. But she had not been able to for some time due to all of her responsibilities and she missed it very much. When we sit quietly alone, that is when we hear God’s voice most clearly.

Dear Trudy,
I want to tell you about the recent loss of my father.

Dad was a very strong Christian who would preach to those caring for him.  Once he asked an orderly in the hospital. “Son,” he said, “do you have a personal relationship with God?”

“No one has ever asked me that question before,” the orderly replied.

Years ago I had in my care a three-year-old who was dying from leukemia. He was the brightest little child I had ever met. He seemed wise far beyond his years and sometimes said the dearest things imaginable.

While he was king of the roost at home, he was also very aware of the needs of others and expressed these concerns quite well. He had been sick for some time when I met him and his loving and devoted parents did everything they could to help him.

My friend Mary, whom I’ve known for more than 65 years, called me recently. She was born in Ireland and was brought to this country by an aunt and uncle to have back surgery. This was not a simple procedure and so she wound up staying in America to recuperate and be educated in the best possible ways.

Her aunt and uncle raised her to become a very successful woman, and they had a wonderfully loving relationship with her all their lives.

A doctor from North Carolina wrote to me a while ago about her dad, who experienced “a tremendous story of faith and hope.”

“People think miracles only happened in the Bible, long ago,” she wrote. “Nothing could be further from the truth. The Word still lives for those who believe.”

When she completed her medical education, the doctor returned to her small hometown to serve the people that she loved. She felt drawn there and now realizes the plan God had in mind when he directed her return.

We have all lost loved ones; some, like elderly parents, we were happy to see go on to be with their life partners. Some brothers and sisters have died too soon; friends who have died ahead of their time we mourn deeply. But children are a whole other story. Parents are never supposed to outlive their children.

It is an amazing gift to receive so many letters from sons and daughters, husbands and wives about their loved ones’ dying time. People are eager to share what occurred at the bedside as a family member entered heaven.

A dear friend and coworker in our local hospice program was reminiscing with me recently about the deaths of a few of her patients. They remained clear in her mind because each of them had told her about seeing heaven.

In each instance she noticed a very real physical change in them from her previous visit and told them so. They exhibited a peacefulness they did not have before.  She told them that the fear was gone from their faces and in its place was a new calm and joy. And they wanted to tell her all about why that was.