Ten or twelve years ago, I came across a Catholic blog, written by a woman, Amy Welborn. I followed her blogging and writing career, occasionally emailing her.
Last Tuesday her husband, Michael Dubriuel, himself an author and blogger, collapsed and died while in the gym. He was 50, and they had two young children, while he was step-father to her three older children. His funeral was today. Here's his website – Michael Dubruiel – Official Website .
Devastating.
Even though I only knew them through their writing and my email correspondence to her, it was as if the husband of someone I knew quite well had died. I suppose this is the nature of blogging and email; kind of midway between exchanging letters and having a casual conversation.
Here's some additional information – LifeNet: Michael Dubruiel's last column and here's the complete text of a column he wrote for the Diocesan newspaper, the day before his sudden death. Prescient?
"none of us knows what the future holds…"
While in Washington, D.C. several weeks ago, I ran into an old friend, Father Benedict Groeschel, CFR, with whom I have collaborated on several books. We met after a Mass for pro-life leaders at Trinity College. It was exactly five years and 10 days from that night in Orlando, FL when Father Benedict nearly lost his life in a tragic accident, and almost four years to the day that I spent a week with him in New York, assisting him in putting the finishing touches on a book that he co-authored with Bishop Baker.
Working with a very frail Father Benedict at the time, I was reminded of an interview that he had given some years earlier at EWTN with Doug Keck on Booknotes. During that interview, when Father Benedict’s book Arise From Darkness was first published, Doug asked Father Benedict to elaborate on something that Father had called the “big lie” in his book. The “big lie,” Father Benedict said, (and I’m paraphrasing him at this point), is to think that if we say all the right prayers and live correctly, then nothing bad will ever happen to us. Sadly, there are many good people who have lost their faith by believing such a lie, and that makes it a big one indeed!
One only has to think of Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, and how much He suffered on the cross, to correct one’s view on this matter. In our own day, there are many whom we know have lived saintly lives, many who have prayed much, and yet have suffered too.
This brings me to another incident that I learned from Father Benedict while working with him four years ago in New York. I was waiting for him to make some corrections on a text when I noticed what looked like a wedding program. I asked him if it was for a relative or a couple he had married. He replied that it was neither, but told me the story of the person behind it.
Diana was a young Puerto Rican woman who grew up in a very faith filled home. Even though they were poor, her mother taught her at an early age to trust God above everything. By the time she was old enough to go to college, Diana found a way to pursue her education – again something that she credited to her strong faith – and became the first member of her large family to graduate from college. She then married and was hired by a large investment firm in New York.
Even though her job kept her busy, she found time to attend Mass everyday. When her friends threw parties, Diana made up goodie bags for them that included candy and make-up, but also a prayer book and holy water. When a member of her family couldn’t pay their bills, Diana secretly paid them. When someone in the family got into trouble she bailed them out of jail.
One night Diana had a strange dream. In the dream Jesus appeared to her, dressed in a white robe, standing on a cloud of smoke. He was beckoning her to come to him, telling her not to worry, that he was going to take her with him. Then it seemed to her that the whole world disappeared from beneath her and she awoke. She told her husband about the dream the next morning, but he didn’t want to hear about it—it scared him.
The next few nights, the dream repeated itself. She told her mother, who wondered what it could mean.
A month later on September 11, 2001, Diana was at work at her investment firm in the World Trade Center on one of the top floors. She phoned her husband and mother on her cell phone after the second plane struck the tower below her. She reminded them of the dream, just before the tower crumbled.
What is the opposite of the “big lie”? Trust.
When questioned by an English journalist about the future of the Religious Order that he co-founded, Father Benedict gave a simple reply, “We have no plans, except to be led by God.”
None of us knows what the future holds, but hopefully we can embrace what is inscribed in our coinage, “In God we Trust.”
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