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Ed Horvat on "Robert"
Communion of Saints
During the ten-week period leading up to Pascha (Easter) in the Byzantine Catholic Church, five Universal All Souls Saturdays are set aside to honor and pray for the dead. I look forward to these events because the priest chants the names of departed family and friends during the Panachida service. Parishioners who wish to participate provide the priest with an Hramoty, a written document listing deceased family members.
Unfortunately, I missed the first All Souls Saturday service. Nevertheless, I smiled during the time of the Panachida, knowing Fr. Kevin would be chanting out the names anyway. That night I had a dream. I was making rounds in the hospital where I work and entered “Robert’s” room. I greeted him, but I was thinking, “Robert is dead, how can this be?” I reconciled the dilemma in my dream by thinking, “You must have dreamt that he was dead. See, he is alive!” We had a good visit because we had not seen each other for a while. Eventually, I remembered that I had an appointment, and told Robert it was time for me to leave. Robert replied, “So soon?” I said I could stay for a few more minutes and sat down next to him on his hospital bed. He told me I looked tired and took my hand. The touch of his hand dissolved tension and worry. I lay down and fell into a deep sleep. In the morning, I awoke refreshed and renewed.
My Hramoty is divided into three sections: my family, my wife’s family, and persons not related by blood but who have touched my life in some way. Robert is on my list in section three. A man of Native American descent with a strong life force, I held his head when he threw up blood. He approached the dissolution of his body with great courage. Now he held my hand. We are all “Robert,” and we will all be in that bed one day. There will come a time when nothing can be done to stop our evolution as we leave our physical body. When we close our eyes that last time, we can rest, connected as we are to the communion of saints. When we awaken, what a wonderful day that will be! I look forward to Pascha and the glorious proclamation we will intone, “Christ is risen from the dead! By death He conquered death, and to those in their graves, He granted life!”
Ed Horvat, a secular Franciscan, is board certified through the NACC. He is Coordinator of Pastoral and Spiritual Care at Monongalia General Hospital in Morgantown, WV. Ed appreciated Robert’s concern about looking tired and made arrangements to go on a winter retreat at Mount Carmel Spiritual Centre in Ontario, actualizing more fully the rest he tasted in the dream. Thank you, “Robert.”
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