My family and I are so touched by the kindness, love and prayers you’ve extended to us at the unexpected death of my father, Antonio Nascimento, on Saturday, December 14. In spite of our loss, we can look at the event with gratitude, that God had so blessed his life. Though he had a difficult start in life, never having known his biological mother and his own father died when he was only 7, yet the Lord always surrounded him with people to mentor and to guide him into adulthood. The Lord provided him with a lovely wife and her own stable family of a father, mother and 6 brothers and sisters quickly became his own.
And although starting life here as an immigrant in his early 50s was difficult, yet he worked hard and with God’s providence, was able to provide for our family and give mom a stable financial future in retirement. As a teen, growing up with my dad was not easy because it was either his way or the highway. But I discovered at his passing, the truth of the words that “Love is stronger than death.” What remained after his death were not the silly arguments or disagreements. They all seemed to evaporate as if they were nothing. What remained in the end was his unconditional love for us.We may have different ways of seeing the world, we may have different ways of expressing our love, but however love is displayed, what remained was his love for us.
So though we’re dealing with the shock of his passing, we’re comforted that in the end, what matters are faith, hope and love. Faith, that helps us believe in a God who loves us unconditionally and wishes to bestow eternal life upon all His children. Hope that we will one day be reunited in the joys of paradise. And love that continues to embrace and accompany us through this life and into the next.
Our family was so surprised at the number of people who showed up at the vigil, the funeral and the number of cards and emails who have offered us their prayers and love. Truly, you were like life preservers that kept us afloat. You were like stars, shining in our moment of darkness. And your kind thoughts and prayers are carrying us through that unimaginable time into a brighter future.Time is a gentle healer. Already, it has become easier to embrace his death. And mom, who had been praying for dad to return, was granted her wish. At the January’s first Friday Charismatic mass that I celebrated at the Cathedral which my mom attended with me, during the singing of “Our Father” she felt someone take and hold her hand. But when she looked around, there was no one beside her, yet she felt a hand heavy upon her own. She believed it was dad who held her hand that night in prayer, as he had done so many other times before.
So God has blessed us even through our loss. God granted him a peaceful death, gave us each other to hold and support us through our darkness and helped us to sharpen our faith in what matters. “So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).
To all of you who have lost someone recently or in this Season, our family prays and mourns with you. And thank you to all of you for the kindness you have shown us. May the Lord richly bless you in this New Year!
