Love Beyond this Life

The sudden death of our president Sister Angelita Zawada on September 15 has left our Ursuline family reeling. As sisters, associates, family and friends grappling with this incomprehensible loss, we find comfort and support within the circle of all the lives she touched. We rejoice in the life of this good and faithful woman, and we thank God for the faith, enthusiasm, service, and spirit that are her legacy to us and to all who knew and loved her.
Well done, good and faithful servant!

Our faith fuels our belief that in death all of our loved ones become part of the eternal community of all the beloveds of God. In a very real sense, though, they seem to enjoy a kind of dual citizenship, for even as they dwell with God, they continue to live on within and among us. In the people, places, sights and sounds of each day, in the amusing and touching memories we recount again and again, Sister Angelita and ther departed Ursulines, family members and friends are with us still; they are and will ever be part of the very fabric of our lives.

Our interactions with them have changed us forever. They live on in us who are their sisters, children or parents, siblings or friends. As the words of the funeral rite remind us: for God’s faithful ones who die, life is changed, not ended. Likewise, our relationships with those who have died are changed, not ended. Because we are rooted together in God, the source of all life, our lives are forever intertwined. Nothing can change that, not even death. Our loved ones have a permanent place within and among us. We have only to stop, to listen and to look. And in the familiar laces, sights, sounds, and stirrings of the heart, we will encounter once again those hom we have loved.  And we will rejoice! – Susan Bremer, OSU