Honoring Those Whose Shoulders I Stand On

My Dad died at a fairly young age.  He developed a rampant cancer that took him in a very short time.  I flew home to spend a month with him before he passed, and to help my Mom and family travel the challenging road of watching someone you love die.  During this time together, my father and I were able to talk about death and dying.  One of the things that I liked to do as he grew too frail to read for himself, was to read to him.  Once a week or so I would collect up the numerous cards from well wishers, and I would read then aloud to him, and then he and I would talk.  There were a couple that really touched him profoundly and one of these was from his secretary at work.  She had sent a card, sharing that she had started to lobby prayer on his behalf - in a really BIG way.  She had started with her prayer circle, and then taken it to her church at large, and then had written letters to numerous Catholic monasteries, and had networked with other Catholic prayer groups.  My Dad was amazed and touched by the hundreds of people, who didn't know him personally, who were praying for him.  He said to me, "but I'm not even Catholic, why would they do this?"  "Because," I said, "one person, who loves you dearly, and truly SEES the light you bring to this world, so profoundly believes in you that she felt impelled to reach out, on your behalf to try to DO something personal and life changing, not just for you, but for everyone who CHOOSES to include you in their prayers."  He was touched that those exercising that power BELIEVED IN HIM and in the difference that prayer could make in his life, and death.  In that moment when he realized he was not forgotten in his frailness and dying, but was held in reverence and love in the hearts of those who prayed for him, he found peace.