Dear friends of CUF,
It is with sadness that we must relay the passing from this life to the next of our beloved spiritual advisor, Fr. Ray Ryland. His life of 93 years is reminiscent of the words of this morning Mass’s first lesson from Jeremiah:
Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose hope is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted beside the waters
that stretches out its roots to the stream:
It fears not the heat when it comes,
its leaves stay green;
In the year of drought it shows no distress,
but still bears fruit.
More tortuous than all else is the human heart,
beyond remedy; who can understand it?
I, the LORD, alone probe the mind
and test the heart,
To reward everyone according to his ways,
according to the merit of his deeds.
In his recently published memoir, Drawn From Shadows into Truth, Father wrote poignantly about his great longing for union with Christ in Heaven:
Like millions of other parents, we read to our children C.S. Lewis’ seven volumes of fairy tales known as the Chronicles of Narnia. One of the most charming characters is Reepicheep, a valiant, two-foot-tall talking mouse.
Early in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Reepicheep recalls that when he was in his cradle at Dryad, a wood woman spoke these lines over him: Where sky and water meet/Where waves grow sweet/Doubt not, Reepicheep/To find all you seek/There in the utter East.
In the unfolding of the story, Reepicheep learns that though Aslan appears in Narnia to those who know him, his home is in the “utter East.” The company of the Dawn Treader discovers that to break an enchantment binding three lords of Narnia, it will be necessary to sail to the world’s end and leave one of the company behind. Reepicheep eagerly volunteers.
“That is my heart’s desire,” he said, to go to Aslan’s country. So eager was he that he never thought the ship sailed fast enough. He spent his days sitting on the prow, gazing toward the east, sometimes softly singing the song the Dryad had given him. We read that when Reepicheep parted from the company to go alone to Aslan’s country, “he was quivering with happiness.”
Though not as impatient with the passage of time as Reepicheep, I, too, am sailing toward Aslan’s country. At this writing I am very near that country.
I share Reepicheep’s excitement at the prospect of being forever with Aslan–with Jesus Christ–in His country.
Come, Lord Jesus.
Join us in praying for the happy repose of our dear Father’s soul.
Eternal rest, grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen
