In my 6th year at Saint Patrick’s Elementary School, I became an altar boy. It was a milestone in my Catholic school training. As an altar boy, I served at Masses, weddings and funerals by holding candles, crosses, Bibles, and on occasion, the water, wine and bread used to celebrate the Catholic Eucharistic Feast. Sometimes, I even got to ring bells at Mass. That was my favorite part of the job.
One morning, the Pastor of my church called our school principal and requested that I and one of my friends be excused from class, because the Pastor needed two altar boys to serve at a funeral that day. My friend and I were delighted to escape the confines of our classroom, even though it meant attending a somber funeral. After the funeral Mass was concluded, the attendees in the church loaded into cars and made their way in a funeral procession to the cemetery where the deceased was to be interred. My friend and I rode with the Pastor. On the way to the cemetery, he instructed us that our job was to stand on either side of him at the grave site holding candles. Our instructions were easy and I didn’t think there would be any problems at the grave site. Was I wrong!
In the midst of the graveside service, while the Pastor was reciting prayers next to the coffin, the wife of the deceased suddenly stood up and threw herself upon the coffin. She started pounding her fists on the metal box and began screaming.
“He’s alive! He’s alive! He’s calling to me! Open the coffin!” The widow wailed. “Open the coffin. He’s alive! He can’t breathe! My husband can’t breathe!”
The Pastor must have realized that I was on the very of cracking a smile, or worse – chuckling, and he shot me a glance that conveyed the warning that I might be dead if I did. I didn’t crack that day, but I’ve never forgotten that death has a way of affecting some people; and it’s next to impossible for some of them to let go of their loved ones.
The recent death of Jahi McMath is a case in point. The doctors have proclaimed the girl “brain dead,” because there is no brain activity occurring in the little girl’s body. The family, however, refuses to concede the 13 year old girl’s death, because the girl’s heart and lungs continue to function while connected to life support equipment. According to the medical community, when Jahi McMath is eventually removed from the life-support equipment, her heart and lungs will stop immediately.
I believe that Jahi McMath has died. Her brain ceased functioning weeks ago, and although our scientific equipment can keep her heart and lungs functioning, the essence of Jahi McMath no longer inhabits this Earth.
When I think of the McMath family I think of that screaming widow at the graveside service. She wanted to believe with all her heart that a miracle had occurred, but death was ultimately not denied its bounty. It’s the same with Jahi McMath. May Jahi rest with Peace…and may Peace be with her family, too.
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